Well, yeah. My 2 1/2 year old got ahold of about 8 cents this evening, and I can only find 7 cents. He came to me and told me, "Mommy, my money's gone, get it out" and I asked where it was, and he pointed to his mouth. He's fine, it went down okay from what I can tell. He's not complaining of pain, he can breathe just fine, and he can swallow just fine. I called the triage nurse with our pediatrician's office, and she confirmed what I thought. Since he's acting fine and no trouble breathing or swallowing, we'll just wait and watch for it to pass.
Here's my question: Is there anything I can feed him that will help ease this process, or speed it along at all? Anything I should avoid giving him until it passes?
Thanks for your help. I can't believe he did this!
Wow, SusieQ, relax! I called the doctor's office, and am following THEIR suggestion to wait it out. If they would have told me to take him to the ER then I certainly would have immediately done so. I care for my child and watch out for him at all times. No mother can be expected to be watching their kid EVERY second of the day, and stuff like this happens. I would never be on mamapedia asking for advice during a life threatening situation, which this IS NOT. He was never in any distress, and frankly, I'd have never known it happened if he didn't come tell me. I know what to watch for and I'm competent enough of a parent to figure out what is truly an emergency and what is a waste of everyone's time and money. I will not be made to feel otherwise, so go take your high and mighty bullying someplace else.
Thank you to all of the other mamas for your compassion and helpful advice.
I would suggest limiting dairy and bananas as they might constipate him. And perhaps look into a children's stool softener.
You might add a little fiber to the diet. Kids process pretty fast so it might end up in the very next stool.
Have fun looking for it :)
And what will you do with it after you harvest it, pray tell?
I was in sort of the same boat as you last year =(. My 1 1/2 yr old got her hands on a jar of pennies (no way to know how many) and we wernt sure if she had swallowed one or not. It was basically one of those what if moments. I am a severe worry wart and immediately thought the worst. She wasnt having any trouble breathing or showing any signs that she had in fact swallowed one but I thought "what if"? So I called the Drs. office and explained my situation and they said that I should take her straight to the Childrens Hospital to have her pinned down in a tube for a bunch of x-rays to check to see where (if at all) the penny was in her system. When I asked them what they would do if they located one she said that they would just send us home with instructions on how to look for it - Duh and then what to look out for in case it did get stuck in her GI tract. Otherwise it would come out the other end. So with that info I decided that the unnecessary radiation and trauma that she would have to be exposed to was not worth while if they werent even going to do anything to get it out unless it was stuck and they would only be able to tell that by the physical signs that she would show if it did get stuck. So either way unless she started to show sighs of trouble at the hospital they would have sent us home. It is definitely nerve racking as a parent but I think you are doing the right thing. Just keep an eye on him for the next few days and keep hunting for 'treasure' in his poop
Good Luck and Happy hunting
Don't listen to SusieQ, it happens all the time. Your son will be fine.
BTW it took almost 2 weeks for my daughter to pass the glass marble she swallowed.
I don't know what would help, I suppose fruit, prune juice etc, Beans (fiber)
I was SOOOOO proud that my son was 'almost five' and hasn't swallowed anything. That was dumb because three days before his birthday last month he decided the small plastic "marbles" from the "Hungry, Hungy Hippo" game looked delish. Two went in and I sure wasn't going 'hunting' for them. Our son passes #2's that I would have to take a knee if I passed them. He's a tough little monkey. LOL!
He keeps telling me "sorry for eating the hippo marbles mom." Only my sister freaked out. My husband and I just laughed and explained why we don't eat marbles.
A friend of mines' 2 yr old swallowed a dime and the only concern was that if it stayed in her tummy too long, it could start to rust and that would mean surgery. Just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't stay in there too long, i would say 3 days tops, if it doesn't come out i would head to my peds office or ER.
Our pediatrician recommended oatmeal.
Try some fish oil gummies...they lubricate everything in the intestinal tract
It happens more often than you think. My daughter swallowed a coin, we never did see it come out the other end. He'll be just fine.
You are doing great. Simply make sure your child is shiwing no signs of distress, eat and drink normally and everything will come out in the end. Amazes me the number of parents whi would run to the ER with this and their child isn't experiencing a single issue. The let their child get extra radiation and are willing to pay or let insurance pay a 2K hospital bill. Call your doc again if any abdominal pain but other than that really nothing to be done.
A friend found a penny in her 24 month old daughter's poop diaper just last week. they never even knew how she got a hold of a penny but there was never any issue with it. It went through her system without causing any harm. stressful as the waiting is, be comforted knowing it most always passes just fine.
