“Our family learned a scary lesson yesterday and I feel like more people should know what we didn’t involving something so many people have laying around their household.
Our 18-month-old Graysen, grabbed a bottle of baby oil off the counter and drank a little bit around 10 yesterday morning while we were getting ready for church. Casey caught him quickly and took it away. Gray made funny ‘yucky’ faces because of how it tasted, and we thought that was the worst that happened.
A couple minutes later, he started acting lethargic. Falling asleep sitting up and not answering anyone. Basically, awake but non-responsive with the slowest blinks I’ve ever seen. When we picked him up, it was just dead weight and he kept trying to fall asleep in our arms. We called the on-call nurse only because of how he was acting. Had he not acted any differently, we wouldn’t have thought anything of him drinking a little baby oil.
The nurse directed us to call Poison Control which started my panic. Poison Control asked some questions about his behavior along with his coughing and told us to take him to the ER now in case he aspirated any of it and it got in his lungs. They mentioned most parents don’t realize how dangerous baby oil can be if inhaled. Poison Control told us they would call the hospital to let them know what was coming and that we needed to take him now. Cue my intense panic. Casey took Gray and I stayed home with Bry.
The doctor told Case they needed to stay there until around 3 since that is when symptoms would start if anything major was wrong. If so, they wanted him to go to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital for the night. They did X-rays on his little lungs and told Case it’s the equivalent to you or I drinking gasoline.
What?! How did I not know that?! How has no one I have told so far known anything about how dangerous baby oil can be?! Of course, we should not have had it on the counter where he could crawl up and grab it. Absolutely my careless mistake. And a big one. After researching, I have learned it is a hydrocarbon and falls in the same categories as lighter fluid and motor oil. This is an excerpt from the Poison Control website and exactly what they told us on the phone yesterday morning.
‘Coughing, choking, and fever are common signs of hydrocarbon aspiration. Lung irritation and pneumonia, even death, can result. Symptoms can happen quickly – within a couple of hours or even sooner. If there are no symptoms in 24 hours, the child should remain fine.’
Casey brought mini man home around 4 hours later and we are now just supposed to watch his breathing very closely to make sure nothing was missed as he did not show any symptoms of hydrocarbon aspiration. Thank GOD! So unreal.
We are just shocked this isn’t something many parents know about and feel like more people should know about how dangerous an old nursery staple could be.
So today I feel crazy anxious but extremely lucky as I cuddle my tiny guy and obsessively listen for any changes in his breathing. I also really feel the need to spread the word of how dangerous that little bottle all new Mommies get at their baby shower or have next to the bath or changing table actually can be.
So, thank God it’s past 24 hours now and Gray seems okay. Also, for Casey and his cool, calm and collective self during moments of extreme mommy anxiety because again, thank God where I am so weak, he is so strong.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by JennaJoy Ingraham. Do you have a similar experience? We’d like to hear your important journey. Submit your own story here. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
Read more stories like this:
Please SHARE on Facebook or Twitter to make other parents aware!