Hi, my 20mo old daughter got into my purse while I was out of the room and got my gum. It is Trident so the smaller pieces and I found 8 wrappers and no gum to go with them. I want to think she swallowed them all! Although she might have given them to the dog. I'm not sure what to do. Of course its Friday and now her Dr's office is closed so do I call the poison control center, or take her to the ER or give her a bunch of peanut butter to eat? Should I just wait it out and watch her poop or does her stomach need to be pumped? If anyone knows what I should do please let me know.
Thank you all for your advice. Here's what I did. Nothing haha. I kept my daughter under watch for the rest of the day and she was fine, she pooped alot too. I don't know if there was gum in it or not, if there was it digested. She has been eating just fine and her plumbing seems to be working fine too. I will keep watching her though and may mention it to the Dr on Monday. Thanks again everyone!
I found this helpful:
http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/question/dieting/swallow_g...
Basically, her body should just send it through her system without any ill effects. However, since it was a fair amount for a small child, I would just watch her carefully. If she complains of cramps, stomach ache or becomes constipated or runs a fever, I would take her to the doctor.
The previous answer sounds like a reasonable idea. If you are very concerned keep her awake and close to you for a while, I haven't ever seen warning labels on gum so it is probably not a big deal. If she ate it she may not be hungry for a while too, don't worry about it, that would be normal too and she'll make up for it later.
wow sounds like what my daughter did a few days ago... We have just moved and I am still looking for my stuff.. Such as my birth control... well we had a lady come talk to us about insurance day before yesterday and when she was done I turn around and my 2 year old has my birth control in hand with 2 more pills missing than should have been!!! Wow a two year old on estrogen...hmmm! Well I don't think she got much down because she had most of 1 sitting in her hand and the other she must have tried to get out of the bubble pack with her teeth because most of it was there stuck pretty well due to all the slobber!
i just figured I would watch her and see if she doens't act right.
did you look all around where your little one was sitting to see if any of the gum was around... if it were my little one she would first take them all out of the wrapper just because it was fun or someting... then she might start to eat it or play with it.
good luck... if anything you'd think she might get quite the stomach ache and throw up. Trident is pretty harsh depending on the flavor.
My personal non-medical response is that I wouldn't even worry about it.
IF in the next week or so there seemed to be a problem, I would decide what to do next.
On many occasions when we are not sure and our Dr. is closed, we have called a hospital or other call-a-nurse service for advice.
Call childrens hospital and talk to some one on the nurses line!!!! If you do have to go to the ER, you should go to one of the Children's Hosp urgent care centers. I have had really good experiences with them and it's alot faster than going to the ER.
C.,
Your doctor's office should have an on-call doctor available. I would try them first. If no luck there, poison control is helpful as well or if your health insurance offers an "ask a nurse" hotline. Because of her young age, I would definately try to get a hold of a professional to get your questions answered. I'd try to get your answers by phone, before you panic and sit in the ER for hours, that is never fun with a young one either.
Good Luck,
TRUDI
