Is It Toxic?

As all parents have found out, children are sly and quick. They can find their way into the littlest of things and at the most inopportune times, usually when we take our eyes off of them for a split second. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that moment when our children have eaten miracle grow potting soil or grabbed a bottle of cleaning solution. Luckily for us there has been a help line created to find out how toxic these items are to our littlest of people.

I know for my family we have tried to baby proof the most common things that Gavin could get into, but I have found it’s not so much the common things like cabinets he goes for, it’s more like my potted plants and the cat food that his curiosity explores. Recently we had an incident where Gavin drank water from a snow globe. Tim and I had gone out for the evening with friends and we left him home with my brother Nick and his girlfriend Alayna. It was just about Gavin’s bedtime and as most children his age he hates having his diaper changed, he feels he is missing out on valuable playtime. Alayna had just taken him in to change his diaper and he was squirmy as usual so she gave him his snow globe to play with. He was so upset about needing his diaper changed he threw it on the floor, Alayna grabbed it and tried giving it back to him but this time he found the smallest crack in it. Apparently when he threw the snow globe it broke and she found his mouth on it slurping out the liquid. When I got home she was nervous that the snow globe liquid might be toxic. I was a little nervous but was thinking that it’s a Disney product and they know that children will be playing with these items so therefore I figured it probably wasn’t toxic. Just to be sure, we figured it was best to call poison control and double check, better safe than sorry. I called and she asked a few questions as to his age, weight and what the problem was. She explained that it wasn’t toxic but to watch in the coming weeks for vomiting and diarrhea, concerned that maybe the liquid could have been contaminated during the construction of the snow globe. It was a relief to have someone to call and double check our concern about the snow globe liquid possibly being toxic.

Poison Control is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help parents just like myself get answers to our concerns of possible toxic items that our children have come in contact with and ingested. Next time you have a concern give them a call and they are more than willing to help.

Poison Help Hotline: 1-800-222-1222

Also check out their website at http://www.aapcc.org

When baby proofing make sure that you keep all household cleaning supplies, perfumes, lotions, shampoos and any other possible toxins out of reach of the smallest of hands.