Thursday, July 23, 2009

Child Proof is for Other Kids

Just so you all know, it turns out that toddlers can handle a large amount ibuprofen. Trust me, poison control told me so. After I called because my amazing two year old ingested an unknown amount of Children's Motrin the other night.

You see, Londo was on the phone dealing with something while I was nursing the Pookie and when Londo turned to look at the Pumpkin, she was standing on her steps at the sink, drinking from that measuring cup that comes with the medicine bottles. She had apparently opened the childproof container, poured an unknown amount of medicine in the cup (spilling a lot in the sink), and then drank from the cup. The cup is pretty small, so we are sure there was no more than 3 teaspoons in it, which is only two times her dosage amount. We've been giving her a dose every night before bed because her two-year molars are coming in (one of four is in!).

We have only a vague idea of how much was left in the bottle before she opened it and no idea how much spilled in the sink. She might have had just a taste, she might have had 3 teaspoons. No clue.

We called our doctor (they paged her and she called back). She wasn't worried and said it was probably not a problem, but told us to call poison control to be sure. We did, and they were so helpful and reassuring. Apparently, children's bodies can handle way more than the dosage they are prescribed. They said she might have some gastronomical intestine issues like diarrhea or nausea, but that it would work out of her system and she'd be fine.

Whew!

So now we know that children can handle a lot of Motrin (not that they should get a lot if you can help it). And we also now know that our daughter can open childproof bottles. Wheeee!

Oh, and she's getting really close to figuring out how to unlock the deadbolts on the doors that lead outside (and yes, she can reach).

Life with the Pumpkin is going to keep me on my toes. At least it will be interesting.

12 comments:

Becoming Mommy said...

Hmm...
THanks for your message. It's kind of a heads up. Sasha Looooves his Claritin.

And yes, he can undo deadbolts, too. It's annoying.

electriclady said...

OMG, what a smarty-pants! I worry about that, esp since BG always asks for more medicine after we give her a dose. Why do they make the stuff so sweet and (apparently) yummy?

Anonymous said...

Oh my!

We often leave our front door open with the screen door latched to let in the breeze. We recently discovered that my daughter can take her toy guitar and reach the latch on the screen door and walk out of our house. And this is only the beginning...

Cloud said...

Oh geez, what a scare! I'm glad it was ibuprofen and not Tylenol. An overdose of Tylenol would scare the pants off me.

@electriclady- they make it yummy so that the kids will actually take it when you need them to do so. An untreated high fever scares the pants off me, too!

We've been trying to talk to our Pumpkin about how medicine is something adults are in charge of. I seriously doubt the message is really getting through, though. It came up because she sees me taking antacid A LOT these days, and wanted some.

Anonymous said...

My brother had particularly tall, quick, and devious children. He put slide locks at the top of all the external doors! This also helped with one who was also sleepwalking and ended up on the porch one night - ack!

BisBink said...

Whew is right! I am glad she is ok! And that is great information to know, you know, for the day the Main Man decides to take medicine without carrying on about that bloody murder. Hahaha... I crack myself up! But seriously, I am so glad she is fine. I am sure you all were freaking out.

Looks like it's time to slap a chain lock on each of your doors leading outside. But really high, cause I hear that kid can climb!

Parisienne Mais Presque said...

Oh, that reminds me that I really need to find a latch for the medicine cabinet. It is beyond le Petit's reach, but it really should be locked as well...

Le Petit scared us last week by spraying himself in the face with a bottle of (luckily "green" and fairly innocuous) cleaning product. It had been sitting in a bag on the floor instead of its usual place above the fridge because we'd just got home from a vacation where we'd brought it with us. Ugh.

They move fast. And they're just smart enough to be dangerous.

sheSaidC2 said...

Wow! That must have been scary! A few weeks ago Matthew locked Marc out of the house :) He didn't figure out a deadbolt but a small lock like on a bathroom door that is on our backdoor and cannot be opened from the outside. :)

Anonymous said...

Man! What a smart little girl but scary event!

Poison Control is great, aren't they? We've had the misfortune of calling them as well -- once after Monkey ate potting soil (was worried about the fertilizer but apparently it's okay)and once after eating some sunblock (again okay in small amounts). It's amazing how quickly they pick up and you get a PERSON!

cynthia said...

Wow, scary! Our dog ingested an unknown amount of Tylenol from my carryon from my last trip. That was stressful enough, and it would 1,000x more stressful with a child. Glad everything turned out ok!

Karen said...

GAH! Scary stuff. But being a mom for so long has taught me that very same thing - Motrin is hard to overdose on. I've been told numerous times to give a double dose to reduce a fever. Still, I'm so glad everyone is alright.

Shellie said...

Oh, the stories I could tell you about poison control... Someday I'll do a whole series on my blog :) My advice, keep all meds LOCKED up and as for the door, same thing, you need a security latch up high enough that even if she scooted a chair up to the door, it would be too high for her to reach. Good luck, the fun begins!

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