My 3 yo daughter drank what I believe was a very small amount of water that was in a cup that had a used toilet wipe my 5 yo son had used after going potty. What can I say? Boys do weird stuff, and there wasn't a garbage handy so he popped the used wipe in the cup and put the lid back on - it was a fast food cup of water from earlier in the day. Later that evening, before it found its way to the garbage, my daughter picked it up from the counter and to my horror put the straw to her lips and took a sip... there's no way she could have consumed much b/c there wasn't much in it to begin with and the look on my face was enough to (almost) stop her in her tracks. My concern is that this happened on a Wednesday evening, and Friday afternoon she had a very horrible smelling BM and within minutes of that began vomiting. After 2 episodes of what I would describe as projectile vomiting she seems just fine. She ate 2 small bowls of applesauce but not much of her dinner and then was full of energy the rest of the evening. She doesn't have a fever either... but now I'm paranoid that she's sick from the yucky water she drank. Has anyone had any experience with this? Clearly if she continues vomiting I'll take her to the Dr. but now I'm worried and wondering how likely it could be that this is making her sick?
Thanks everyone who contributed - your comments reflected my feelings as well. In the absence of any other symptoms I felt like I was just being paranoid but given the drinking "incident" I was more concerned than usual. So, I called the nurse's line and described the situation and symptoms etc. and she said - unless my son had e-coli in his system this wasn't a risk. Additionally, whatever bacteria occurs normally in his stool would also likely be present in her system already so it wouldn't be anything abnormal for her system. The nurse said to monitor her as I normally when a child is sick for signs of fever, continued vomiting and the usual signs of dehydration or any unusual symptoms that developed. She is completely typical today, no fever, no further vomiting or diarhea and normal appetite. Despite the "gross" factor it appears it appears that nothing harmful came from this. As one mom commented, this is a good reminder to reinforce not drinking from others' cups (and a good reminder for me to throw it out right away and not get side-tracked!)
Yes! Take her to see the doctor immediately! This is part of the reason that campers are supposed to dig at least 6 inches down if there is not port-0-o-potty - it is a human hazard.
I agree with the other moms. If she was ill from the water, it would have been much sooner than two days. I had food poisoning once and it took about 4 hours after I ate the food for it to hit me. And I vomited once an hour for almost 5 hours. It was terrible. I thought I was going to DIE! It sounds like she caught a tummy bug.
My niece ate her poo once. My sis called poison control and they said as long as it's your own feces or a family members, it's fine. Feces is a "natural" substance (gag, gag) and it won't cause any harm.
If your daughter had ingested a large amount or had immediately started vomiting uncontrollably, then it would be different. It's gross, but I doubt it made her sick.
Since it's a family member I wouldn't be too concerned as they are exposed to similar bacteria. That said, his bodily bacteria is different from hers and can easily make her ill as her body reacts and develops immunities to it. If she continues to be ill, I would take her in as it could be something else, she could be getting dehydrated or another issue might be at hand. But if she is recovering and doing well, I wouldn't worry. If you want to do something to treat her for the exposure to his bacteria, you could put her on some probiotics to give her some healthy bacteria for balance.
If she was reacting to anything she ate, I think it would be a lot faster than 2 days before she started throwing up. Unless there's a parasite involved, poop is just fiber and undigested food - the leftovers after the digestive process. As for the bacteria, it's usually not a problem unless it gets into the blood stream. Stomach acid does a pretty good job of killing off a whole lot of what we eat. We had a stomach virus go through our whole family last month and we had the throwing up, fever and diarrhea which took us anywhere from 1 to 3 days to get over. That she had no fever and lots of energy once the throwing up was over is a good sign. I think she'll be fine.
Since the "poop wate" came from her brother's poop she was not exposed to anything different than what is already present in your home, unless your son was ill at the time. I agree with Peg M. whether or not she caught the bug from the "water" her system has now developed a new immunity to it. This is a plus for her body.
She could have had a just of the flu when she vomited.... or the worst case scenario is that she has e-coli, it doesn't touch much fecal matter for that to happen. So, be on the safe side and take her to your physician and have her tested. The consequences of e-coli are broad, from very slight to extremely bad, with life long implications.
It's a teachable moment for everyone in your family about washing your hands after using the bathroom and before you eat anything. Talking to your kids about eating or drinking that wasn't their's is important. You never know what might have been in any used cup.
Take good care. Hope it was just the flu bug.
Personally I would be on the phone with the pediatrician right now. Bacterial infections are awful. I have NO idea or experience of what would happen with drinking poop water. But based on your "story" I wouldn't take any chances. Really, they're likely to put her on an antibiotic - cheap, relatively harmless, so why wait? Are you waiting for the symptoms to get worse?
Have you asked a pediatrician yet? Humans have some pretty nasty bacteria in their stool. Even though it was not a lot, I would still ask. Sorry for not being helpful. I hope the puking thing was just a coincidence. Good luck to you and her.
