To have not taken DD to A&E?

[fadingfast]

We've just returned from a week of camping at a small local campsite.

There were lots of children there, and my ds and dd spent many happy hours exploring and playing with them. So far so good, and we actually had a lovely time apart from some truly shocking weather.

One evening, dd (7) found a plastic syphon tube in the woods at the edge of the site and was dared by some other children to drink what turned out to be residual diesel from the tube. She said she spat it out straight away but a small amount went down her throat. She rinsed out her mouth lots of times and we gave her plenty of water to drink. We were in a bit of a panic about what to do, but once we'd all calmed down we thought it would be best to keep a close eye on her and see how she was over the next 1-2 hours.

I kept asking her if she had a sore throat or tummy or felt ill at all, but she seemed absolutely fine (apart from obviously being upset about the whole incident). She slept well and was fine the next day.

Several parents have since said that they would have taken their child straight to A&E if it had happened to them. It's starting to make me think we were negligent parents for not rushing her to hospital.

What would you have done in this situation? We were approx 40 miles from the nearest A&E.

For a bit of perspective Birds, when the family member I mentioned earlier was fed food with diesel in it, she had enough that she was unwell and vomiting. She was taken to A&E. They rehydrated her and kept her a few hours for observation. She was showing symptoms of illness and they still didn't do all the tests you seem to think are standard.

I agree the sole purpose I've camped with dc has been to give them unsupervised roaming which they can't have at home.

I drank far worse when a child and survived - you did fine!

Oh please, kidney failure, needing a transplant, could have died....blah blah blah.

child felt and looked fine. It was a small trickle of diesel. Your kidneys don't suddenly explode with no outward signs of illness whatsoever. Kids don't just die from a little diesel.
She didn't take a massive risk, or even a tiny one. You would have sat in a&e for hours with a perfectly healthy child.
It's would have, btw, no would of.

One of my friends found her 3yo son after he had taken some of her contraceptive pills. NHS direct (or what they are now) were great- checked out the toxicity/side effects etc with the experts and called her back with the correct info. All without her having to go blues and two to A&E...turns out the only possible effect would be....he would not get pregnant that month .

I am with the sensible people here. You did the sensible, sane thing. A&E would have been total over-kill and a waste of our overstretched NHS resources.

Oh and my DCs having been running around campsites in varying degrees of being "unattended" since about 5yo.

Looking at my earlier post, I of course mean 111 rather than 101. Definitely no need to ring the police

TBH....I would me more worried about the child falling prey to dares.

Some remedial work needed there, with conversations about fingers in the fire etc....and more supervision until child can stand against possibly fatal peer pressure.

You have to give children the opportunity to run around unsupervised. Most healthy (physically and mentally) children learn all manner of things from being free to roam.

I'm not that old and I used to be out all day in the summer hols, just popping back to some one's house for dinner and tea. (or lunch and dinner - a whole other thread LOL)

A friend of mine swallowed a mouthful of petrol while syphoning it out of a car he was selling. He smelt funny for a while but was okay.

Urethra - would have LOL

My ds took a big swig of weed killer when he was 2. I was in the other room and he had in the space of 3 or 4 minutes got past a cupboard lock and was spraying it into his own mouth [hmm
I was convinced he was poisoned but since we were ages from and a and e and I didn't have a car I called nhs direct to see how bad it was. In my head it was a Toss up between ambulance and taxi

They spoke to a poisons person who pretty much said "meh he's fine" in posher sounding words

I would have given my child lots of water to drink while I double-checked with 111. I absolutely would not have gone to A&E unprompted by symptoms/confirmation from 111.

Birdsgottafly- I have rarely come across a more scaremongering, less factually correct post in a long time on mumsnet. Believe you me, there is ZERO risk of kidney failure/death without any outward symptoms, and given the circs, ZERO chance of the tests/investigations you mentioned being carried out. But why let the truth get in the way of a good lot of bollocks judgemental 'advice'.

Oh and it's could/would/should/had (etc) have, not of.

IIRC, diesel tastes disgusting, yeah? Not the kind of thing any non-starving child with normal taste buds will swallow much of. I have children near that age who genuinely gag if I buy the wrong brand of sausage. Hence bittering agents are sometimes added to prevent child and pet poisonings with great success.

*sometimes added to otherwise neutral-tasting cleaning products and other household chemicals to prevent poisonings

People run screaming to A&E at the drop of a hat these days. No common sense, no thinking for themselves, no basic first aid skills, just panic panic panic. I have friends who must take their kids to A&E practically once a month for all sorts of imaginary rubbish. We have been very lucky. DD2 is 9 and has never needed to go. DD1 (12 almost) has been twice (within the space of two months, natch, 2 years ago) for a broken wrist and a broken toe.

Well it's a guaranteed comments gatherer for facebook statuses.

DS swallowed one of my antihistamines when a toddler. Being fairly medically literate I thought this wouldn't do him too much harm but also being good his mum I thought I'd contact NHS direct to check. They put me on to someone who told me I had to get him to A&E immediately. Took DS there only to be greeted by a Dr who rather bemused told me he'd be fine, to take him home and that the only likely effect would be that I could expect a decent night's sleep for once.

I'd have done exactly what you did. Diesel is only oil after all and it was just a trickle.

My two year old drank perfume and 111 advised us to take him down. The advice they gave us was exactly what you did.

I wouldn't have gone to a&e either. I drank some castrol GTX out the garage when I was younger (for no reason other than I wanted to!) and I've turned out fine

My son ate my contact lenses - I phoned nhs direct and they spoke to a toxicology unit to double check and he was fine.

Years ago our water was contaminated with diesel in parts of Glasgow ( council accident ) we were drinking it for 2 days before we were alerted. Recommended to just drink clean water and watch for symptoms. No mention of hospital as it's relatively harmless if you don't get symptoms. YADNBU

With a verbal child, I think you did the right thing.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Let her roam free with a warning about staying safe, and kids don't always know best!!