My baby just put a dead shrew in her mouth

[BaylisAndHardon]

Posting in AIBU for traffic, and to ask for a hand hold while I get over this horror.

We live in an old victorian house (with many mouse holes) in the country and have a cat to manage the rodent populus, but he also sometimes brings things in . I always check the floor of the snug for anything and disinfect/scrub if he has before putting her down to play.

But this time he put it under a toy in her play pen and I didn't see it and she picked it up and put it in her mouth before I could lauch myself at her to get it out. I am horrified.

Messages of support please. Also accounts of children who have survived to adulthood after putting disgusting things in their mouths. Tell me your worst. I need to hear it.

My dad still quotes a parenting book they had in the early 80s which said: “When can I stop sterilising everything my child touches?” “When you find them licking the bottom of your shoe.”

I once swallowed my mum’s pearl earring - she had no idea where it had got to until she found it in my nappy. She still wears it, 37 years later...

A friend of mine used to eat cockroaches as a child in Singapore. She's fine now.

I’ve found my two year old eating coal a few times (his big brother didn’t think to mention it and was no doubt egging him on!). Also a friend caught her child eating chicken poo in the garden. Toddlers are surprisingly robust!

My daughter ate half a tin of cat food.

@Minty82 that reminds me of when my dd ate a piece of gold wrapping paper and I didn’t realise until I found it in her nappy!

My son and daughter had a fight over a field mouse, then the cat joined in. Poor mouse died (of shock), at which point, the cat dropped it, my 16 month old grabbed it and took a bite her brother grabbed it and spent the next half hour chasing his big sister with the now very dead mouse. I remained on top of the table throughout.

The mouse was the only casualty.

But that apart my youngest used to spend days with slugs and snails up her arm. We'd undress her and they would fall off, leaving all the snail trails on her arm. Her brother preferred eating spiders. But my grandson lived up to their standards by French kissing a ewe full on the mouth😱

My friend's 2 year old daughter bit into a massive slug and started foaming at the mouth , the slug released some flem-like gluey substance as a defence mechanism. They couldn't actually pull the slug out as it was sticking to the inside of her mouth, leeching on . Eventually after 15 mins they got it out . Horrendous 🤢

Oh, and the same friend's son used to regularly lick people's dustbins when we were out on the street !

My extremely tall and strong DD12 ate all of these things as a baby:

• a random mushroom in the park (gave her emetic syrup, that one was a bit of a worry)
• a dust bunny
• and on one memorable occasion, her own faeces (she pooed in the bath and put some straight in her mouth. I had my back turned. Seeing her poo smeared little face when I turned back around and realised what she'd done was my longest moment...). We called the health line over that one and nurse said she'd be fine. And she was.

Omg 😱

If its any consolation my daughter when she was 2 atra snail and spat out the shell .
She lived to tell the tale

My son when he was a toddler ate a tick, I only found out when he started spitting out blood (which was probably the dog’s) when he bit it! The doctor’s receptionist reassured me by telling me her son had eaten a slug. The doc couldn’t find any info about a child eating a tick only a tick biting a child. He’s a rapidly growing 15 yr old now.

Ds ate a gall bladder left my mil cat under the table.

This is a dead rodent you are talking about! Have you called the GP for advise. It isn't a laughing matter or an excuse for a drink or a question of how long as some one lived after doing this. There is a massive difference between eating insects and dead rodents. Your poor poor child.

@Choccylips what exactly do you think may happen to the child?

My son, not yet one, picked up a garden snail, popped it in his mouth and started crunching. I guess it tasted good because I was trying really hard while retching to get him to spit it out, swooping my finger, but he was swinging his head and just swallowed it shell and all.

He survived, is now 11, and is an amazing skateboarder.

Yup, number 1 did this with a dead field mouse, also liquid dishwasher tablet and also silica gel packet. Called 111 twice in a week once, though SS were going to come round.
Dishwasher tablet was the scariest as she started vomming blue foamy liquid. Nearly shat myself. Thanks God, she's still alive!

Harpic loo cleaner used to be in powder form. Sprinkled it round the loo and DD crawled up to the loo, pulled herself up right and ran her finger round the rim and sucked it. On another occasion she sat on top of a pile of builder's sand and ate several handfulls. She's 46 now and no ill effects!

The Harpic-sucker's little sister once drank half a bottle of Tomorite.
The resulting nappy was immediate and spectacular!

I wouldn't wait to see and certainly wouldn't be asking for advise on here I would be calling the GP. Would you put a dead rodent in your mouth without a worry.

My niece once ate a live goldfish, she took it out of the bowl and just swallowed it!! She's 29 now and fine

That is pretty grim Op.

Back in the 80's when we were little and bacon was still sold with rinds on, myself, DSis and the cat would like up as DDad was chopping the rinds off the bacon prior to cooking. DDad would share it between us to eat (yes raw). Different times. I can also remember myself and DSis pretending to be cats and eating the cat biscuits from his bowl. Scar had probably already been in them as was a grazer. Funny both me and DSis are vegetarian now 🙂.

DSis was also known to eat seaweed. I am not talking about the cleaned and cooked stuff from the Chinese. Fresh washed up on the beach sand and everything.

Back on the cat theme. As a teenager on a weekend my DDad would bring me a cup of tea in bed. I would say a sleepy thanks and then fall back to sleep. I would then end up drinking a cold cup of tea later. I woke up and me morning to find our then cat lapping the tea from my mug. I obviously threw it away. It was only later the thought crossed my mind that she had probably done that before 🤢.

My 10 month old baby did the same thing, only with a disemboweled vole the cat bought in, dont think she actually swallowed anything, just had it in her mouth!
Shes now 21 years old, still alive no lasting harm.
I did phone GP, if I remember rightly he laughed and said she would be ok- he was right!
I did feel like a terrible mother thou....

@choppylips . The OP IS doctor , I’m sure she knows what she’s doing .

I had left my toddler with her nappy off as she had a sore bottom from nappy rash. She crawled under the dining room table where I was sat and then I heard "nom, nom" sounds. I looked under to discover she had done s poo and was happily eating it! 🤢