We have 2 small kids at home, a 3.5 year old and a 10 month old. I’ve always made sure our house is baby-proofed and that whatever they have access to is something they can play with.
I don’t have all my drawers locked and they have access to a lot of things that are mine or my husband’s but none of them are dangerous or things that they couldn’t play with or explore. So if my oldest is playing alone in her room when I’m nursing my baby I don’t worry about what she’s doing because I know everything she has access to.
One day things changed.
One day I realized I could have easily wound up in the hospital and even possibly lose my kid.
I was scared and luckily we had a good outcome but today I want to share with you what happened and what I learned so this NEVER happens to you.
My parents were in town visiting and as usual, they were staying with us. We have a sofa bed in my daughter’s bedroom so that becomes their room while they stay with us. Since all of our kids’ toys are in that room, my kids still play in there and are constantly going in and out of that room while my parents are in town.
One afternoon my parents went out and I was alone with the girls for a few hours. I was nursing the baby to sleep and my oldest was in her room playing. I didn’t think much of it. I could still hear her playing and could hear that she was cutting something.
When my baby was done nursing and woke up I went to look for my oldest. What I found freaked me out. She was cutting the packaging of a bunch of pills. There were pills all over the floor. Some still in their packaging and some opened.
My parents had just returned and I started asking what were these pills for. Turns out they were pain medications and blood pressure medications. Apparently my dad had them inside his suitcase but my 3 year old managed to take it out of the closet, open zippers and find them.
I couldn’t figure out if she had taken any. I did ask her and she said she didn’t eat any but I couldn’t really trust a 3 year old with something like this. I called poison control.
Poison control told me that if she took more than one blood pressure pill that I had to take her into the hospital immediately. They also told me that if she only took one pill I could keep her home. They explained to me that one pill could also have an effect and told me what symptoms to look for and to watch my daughter closely for the next 6 hours in case we had to go to the hospital.
The person I spoke to was really nice and she even offered to follow up with me a few hours later.
As soon as I hung up I started arranging all the pills to see if there were the same amount of pills and open packages. By then my daughter was saying she ate one pill. My heart was racing as I counted all the pills.
After arranging all the pills we didn’t find any missing and we found one that she had licked. I think this the one she was referring to when she said she ate one.
We were lucky. We didn’t have to go to a hospital and we didn’t have any complications. I am so grateful she didn’t eat any of pills. Of course I looked this up online and found that there had been kids that had died from taking blood pressure medicines. We were very lucky.
It never occurred to me before to ask our visitors if they have pills in their bags. Our house is baby-proofed and I assumed anything in it would be safe but I was wrong.
From now on when we have visitors come over we will ask them if they are carrying medicines and if they are we will make sure their bags are stored up high so the kids can’t reach them at all.
I also saved the Poison Control number on my cell phone, and you should too. You never know when you’ll have a question like this and it’s best to have it handy.
The number is: 1 (800) 222-1222. They are open 24/7.
The operator at Poison Control informed me they now have a phone app so you can check if whatever your kid took is dangerous or not. You can download the app here (or by clicking the image below) and I recommend that you install it as soon as you’re done reading this post.
If you find your kid taking a huge amount of pills I would just grab the bottle or package and head on over to the hospital but if it’s just a couple calling the toll-free number or checking the app should be fine.
It’s better to be safe than sorry so, please, check the app or call. Don’t take any chances.
Remember that your guests might not be aware of your curious kid and they could be carrying medication that is easily accessible. Just ask them about it and store those medicines (or entire bag) out of reach. It is better to be extra careful when it comes to something as serious as medication because it could jeopardize the health and life of your child.
Help me spread the word so this doesn’t happen to other moms! Pin this image:
S says
My kids are older now but this post brought me back to the times I had to call poison control and how scary it was. This is great advice especially because it’s something that you just don’t think about. As an aside, I got a lot of guff for baby proofing my house when I had little teenies. (Guff for being so routined, guff for always holding, guff for not letting them cry it out- I’ll stop. 🙂 ) Honestly, having babies changes your life and I felt that doing these things- catering to my babies needs as we learned how to live with each other- went with the natural flow instead of fighting it. For example a good friend (and great mother even though we are different) refused to allow her babies to get too used to sleeping times because she wanted to be able to go places and do things. I was the opposite, I did errands around naps and was home for bedtime routines etc. She felt that my life looked stifled, but I would watch as she took tired babies and kids places where they had tantrums and although she went where she wanted when she wanted- she seemed miserable doing it. Also having your entire house baby proofed gives such peace of mind! My girls are 7 and 9 and I still keep all my cleaning supplies and medicines on high shelves. I love that they have access to everything- it is their home too after all, and I never needed to follow them around or constantly say no. Makes cooking dinner a lot easier in the early years too. Great blog!
Carolina says
It’s so refreshing to read your comment and see that raising your kids this way has worked out so well for you. I am also raising my kids in a similar way and I know most people probably don’t agree but it is what feels right and natural to us. I think I will be just like you and keep those things out of reach as they get older. Better be safe than sorry!