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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Baby holding mouse head, I am panicking

50 replies

newmum0604 · 31/05/2022 10:27

Sorry, posting here for traffic.

Was just laying on the living room rug next to my 1 year old daughter while she played. She started rubbing what appears to be the top half of a mouse on my arm.

I have no reason to think she put it in her mouth (other than she is 1 and still puts everything in her mouth) but I hadn't been looking at her for about a minute before this happened. Obviously I've thoroughly washed her hands but is there anything else I should do?! I'm really worried she put it in her mouth but I have no way of knowing.

I always check the floor in the morning because our cat quite often brings in mice and birds but this was really small and I missed it. I don't know how to stop it and I have been dreading DD getting to something before I do!

Please tell me this happened to lots of other people and their babies were fine! 😭

OP posts:
Ducksinthebath · 31/05/2022 10:30

Just wait until the summer, there will be all sorts from the garden going in there. I'm sure she'll be fine but just keep an eye on her for a few days. You've washed her hands but have you given her mouth a swill out with water?

newmum0604 · 31/05/2022 11:41

Thank you. No I didn't think to do that, she would have just swallowed it anyway!

OP posts:
ForestFae · 31/05/2022 11:43

Don’t worry about it. My son was 2 or 3 when we came in having been out, and he ran into the living room, picked something up and said “for you mummy” and shoved it into my hand. It was a dead mouse the cat had dragged in while we were out. Apart from being disgusting he was fine.

maxelly · 31/05/2022 13:03

Urgh! Poor you. She'll likely be absolutely fine, toddlers touch and put all sorts of gross things in their mouth, their immune systems seem pretty robust! One of mine ate what I'm pretty sure was a rat poo once 😨and the other a fair quantity of ant poison, both showed no ill effects despite my absolute panic! She won't have ingested any significant quantity of any nasties even if she did touch her mouth after touching it and I'm sure you've washed her hands and the carpet etc thoroughly now!

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 31/05/2022 13:05

I had 4 cats when my DS was a baby so it happened a lot. I think it's important not to show any disgust of fear though. My mother would shriek the place down everytime there was a spider and I've grown up with a morbid fear of them.

catsnore · 31/05/2022 13:08

My friend's baby crawled round to the next door neighbour's (joined garden) and ate nearly a whole bowl of dog/cat biscuits. He was absolutely fine 😂 think of all the other crap they put in their mouths..... if the mouse was freshly killed it should be fine!

ZandathePanda · 31/05/2022 13:10

I would have thought there would be a bit of blood/mouse hair in or around her mouth if she had put it in her mouth.
The only thing I would keep an eye on is worms but she’s more likely to get them from the cat that the mouse.

Foldingchair · 31/05/2022 13:23

Dd used to like eating cat biscuits. With the cats.

Fb reminded me that I once found toddler ds eating peanut butter out of the tub. Which had been in the recycling bin for a couple of days. He also had a habit of eating random shit he found on hedges. He's fine as a teen. Bit pale, but fine.

TheKeatingFive · 31/05/2022 13:28

My dear cousin was found as a baby sucking on a putrid chicken carcass she'd fished out of the bin. No ill effects whatsoever, though she did grow up to be a vegetarian 😂

Notaneffingcockerspaniel · 31/05/2022 13:29

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 31/05/2022 13:33

How’s potentially sucking a dead mouse remotely similar to eating some cat biscuits?!
I know which I would prefer to do if had to choose one

Ilovenutellaaaaa · 31/05/2022 13:33

There's three possibilities here,

  1. she has a crush on you and thinks you both are more than just friends

  2. she took sent the photo to the wrong person (you) that was meant for her partner

  3. she accidentally sent a photo that wasn't meant for anyone to see

Have you replied?....I would write something like, are you sure you have sent that to the right person?...if she has made a mistake you will know by her reply, if it was deliberate you will know if she says that she intended to send it to you....don't sit wondering about it, just ask her, then you know

Ilovenutellaaaaa · 31/05/2022 13:34

Ooops posted in wrong thread

ClinkeyMonkey · 31/05/2022 13:34

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

Newsflash. Animals kill other animals every single day. It's nature. Nobody said it was cute. Other posters are just trying to reassure the OP with similar stories with good outcomes.

NiceTwin · 31/05/2022 13:36

What happened to the body of the mouse 😮

pastabest · 31/05/2022 13:36

She will be fine.

Perhaps put a bell on your cat so that it's less likely to catch stuff and bring it in.

Ohhelpicantthinkofaname · 31/05/2022 13:41

My cousin used to eat wood lice on a daily basis.

she’ll be fine.

MelonsMelonsMelons · 31/05/2022 13:48

Aren’t cats delightful?

I’ll be honest, DD has never rubbed a mouse’s head on my arm. However, I could spend all day telling you about how she licks shopping trollies, tried to eat soil, put anything and everything in her path in her mouth. No obvious ill effects from any of it.

Just wash hands, sanitise what needs sanitising and don’t give it another thought!

DinosApple · 31/05/2022 13:56

I once caught my eldest with a human bone in her mouth (calcaneus if anyone is interested).
We were on a dig and she'd picked it up from a mole hill. She was just under a year old.

DD1 was fine. She's a vegetarian these days though. I think a mouse head would gross me out much, much more.

She also excitedly brought me a cone from the woods which turned out to be a dried up dog turd 😱😆. Luckily she was older then so hadn't chewed it...

Nancydrawn · 31/05/2022 14:09

Ilovenutellaaaaa · 31/05/2022 13:34

Ooops posted in wrong thread

lol. it took me a second.

Notanotherwindow · 31/05/2022 14:15

I once asked who gave the baby chocolate right before dinner?

It wasn't chocolate...

She was fine. Though grumpy because I wouldn't let her kiss me for days.

EmotionalSupportWyrm · 31/05/2022 14:30

pastabest · 31/05/2022 13:36

She will be fine.

Perhaps put a bell on your cat so that it's less likely to catch stuff and bring it in.

that's a myth, according to news I heard yesterday - cats with bells bring home the most prey 🤷🏼‍♀️ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10866639/Cats-kill-270million-prey-year-study-suggests.html

Crinklecuts · 31/05/2022 14:33

There was a thread here a couple of years ago about a child who ate a dead mouse. Think they will be fine.

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 31/05/2022 14:38

Keep your cat it.