Unbelievable! Sudocrem and attitude!

[woadie]

Hi all,

I've been a member of mumsnet for just a short while, and generally I don't feel the need to speak out, preferring to read. Most of my questions have been asked before so I always find excellent advice from the Mums in here just by looking through threads :)

This, though, I have to share!

My daughter (mow 11 months) discovered she could get the lid of the sudocrem a couple of months ago. She also decided to dip her hand in and take a nice big mouthful of the stuff before we could grab her. Sudocrem everwhere and a good amount noshed off. We would have taken this as a one-off incident but she did it again. Both times we piled up to the doctor and both times, yes she had side effects.

She will try to grab whatever nappy rash cream we have to hand. Luckily for us, it's only the sudocrem she can get the lid off, and it's only the sudocrem she seems to favour wanting to eat. Less luckily for us, we like the sudocrem best!

So, we scooped the sudocrem into a jamjar with a good screw on lid, and I decided to contact Sudocrem to tell them what happened and point out that their pot design is a bit rubbish for our child (who I would take as a pretty average baby/toddler).

Their reply was basically to keep the pot away from her (doh! yes I think as a mum I know that one, but we all know nappy change time!). But more to the point, my daughter was then sujected to a lab-rat set of questions with very shallow apology but plenty of interest in side effects.

I was pretty disgusted and decided just not to reply to their email but today I got a second one from the same lab person, again requesting info:

"Further to my email, I am writing to follow-up the incident whereby your 11 month old daughter ingested Sudocrem Antiseptic Healing Cream on two occasions. I sincerely hope she is well and has fully recovered from both events.

It is our duty to follow-up such medication errors, and I would be most grateful if you could provide us with the following information for our safety records:

(1) Your address, or if you do not wish us to have this detail, the geographical area in which you reside.

(2) The initials of your daughter.

(3) How much of the 125g pot of Sudocrem do you think she managed to eat on each occasion? Also, do you happen to know the dates of these events?

(4) Did your daughter suffer any side-effects from the ingestion of Sudocrem Antiseptic Healing Cream? Has she fully recovered?

(5) Did you take her to the doctor? If so, what was the outcome?

I thank you in advance for your time and co-operation regarding this matter. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes (name)"

Now, am I right to feel so utterly ANGRY about this?!!!! My daughter is the most precious thing in tjhe world to me, and much as I wqould hate any other parents children to suffer through sudocrem ingestion, I do not wish my child to be seem as some lab-rat to add to their case studies!!!! As much as anything, it was the whole tone of this that set my teeth on edge.

What do you think?

By the way, my daughter had runny poos for days after each ingestion, much as the doctor said she would, so eating sudocrem isn't something I would like her to do again.

Thanks for reading :)

Hmmm, as pixie said. And lock away that pot please!

I think you are being rather strange. If it helps them why on earth not answer the questions? Lab-rat??? Hardly.

Because I contacted them about the pot design and not what happened when she ate it. They seemed to bypass what was to me the main issue, the pot design, and instead I get a barrage of questions about the ingestion.

As someone medical by profession myself, I've never come across this kind of research collection by a pharmaceutical company. They are usually much more courteous in their request for further information and will fully acknowledge your concerns before asking their own.

Perhaps they need to know more about side effects before they decide whether its worth the investment of changing their lid design.

The pot is out at nappy change at the moment it is needed, not left around. I don't leave anything around that might be harmful, ever. But I do need to use it at nappy change time.

The cream in now in a pot she cannot open.

I don't quite understand your issue? Surely for the sake of future young-sudocream-ingesters you could answer a few of their questions.

Of course the sudocreme makers need to know about potential side effects of ingesting their cream. And they can hardly force-feed it to babies to find out now can they?

Your ddd ingested it (not once but twice!) and very obviously (and thankfully) lived to tell the tale. So to me it makes sense the makers of sudocreme want to find out how she coped, what the doctor said, how long she was unwell for etc. I assume they want this information from you so they can advise and reassure the panicked and worried parents who rings them up in the future wailing their child has eaten sudocreme.

Fwiw I agree with you about the flimsyness of the lid. We have had sudocreme on carpets/sofas/the tv etc when the dc were little. And it does not was out easily!

was is wash!

I agree with the others. Keep the pot out of your daughter's reach.

Sudocrem is not known to be harmful but they need to ask these questions to find out if any side-effects come to light.

I can see your point. I think the same of the sudoreme pot myself - my problem has always been the mess rather than the eating it. I would just email back saying happy to help, once they have addressed your original questions thoroughly. Sounds like a separate department just focussed on the medical side effects has contacted you and not looked at it from a touchy feely marketing/ customer service viewpoint. Sometimes, scientists can be a wee bit like that? Glad your wee one is OK.

Maybe I wouldn't feel so hacked off if I felt they were bothered about my child ingesting it?

changing the lid design would be a very expensive thing to do but you did right to tell them of your experience. I doubt they haven't realised this themselves by now to be honest.

I would answer the questions as I would always complain when i felt i should because this feedback is so so valuable to companies. If noone speaks up, nothing changes.

Your description of what you wrote to them is not clear that you are only complaining about the pot design. I am not surprised that they have assumed the issue is the ingested contents.

I can't understand why you won't answer them...you contacted them....what do you want them to do? Before investing in a redesign they will have to do a lot of research and build a case.....that's what they are doing

It seems like a perfectly polite and serious communication to me.
They have to follow it up, but you are refusing because you think they haven't couched it in a sufficiently contrite tone?
Oh well.

I don't really understand this. You say that the pot is only out during the nappy change - during which time you are, presumably, changing her nappy - how is she managing to eat large quantities of sudocrem?

I think you need to answer their questions TBH.

But they do sound bothered about her ingesting it.

"I sincerely hope she is well and has fully recovered from both events."

I thought it was rather a friendly and sensible email TBH.

that looks a lot like the yellow card for medicines. I think they are trying to establish side effects if ingested.
glad to hear that they are taking it seriously.
and maybe a report of adverse reactions spurns them on to make a better container!

Thanks curlymamma, at last someone gets why I was so miffed And yes what you say makes sense totally, I guess because of the response, it just got my cuff.

Thanks for the advice. I just wanted them to hear what I had to say about the rubbish pot design; if my daughter had been properly poorly because of the ingestion I would have contacted them about that issue first and foremost!

Regardless, a little more sympathetic response about my daughter would have perhaps made me feel less cross about the questions.

I don't feel half so cross now I've read your responses though, I can see you all have a point.

I don't quite understand your outrage.

If your DD has managed to get a hold of the pot, and eat some of it twice then it is your fault for not learning from the first incident.

She was about 8/9 mths when she did this for the first time?

As to them asking about possible side effects, is that not a good thing? So that they can reassess their packaging, if they feel it is truly necessary.

What do you want from them? A grovelling apology and a bunch of flowers? They haven't done anything wrong! Also, the email was polite, and the writer did say that they sincerely hoped your DD was recovered. It's up to you whether you reply or not. It doesn't sound to me like they are treating your DD like a lab rat, it sounds like they are acting on your concerns i.e. if your DD had been seriously ill then the pot lid will be changed, if not it will remain the same.

I think the sudocrem contains in the main very similar ingredients to what is used for constipation.

I'm not sure what else without looking at a label (pot was binned!); it is supposed to have an antibacterial effect.

Thanks for the responses again :)

SingingSands >>>>

I do believe they should change the pot design to be honest, regardless of whether she was ill, not just if she was ill. If this happened again to someone else I would hope that they do. At the end of the day, you don't wait until a bad incident happens before you do something about it, surely?

WRT to changing the design of the lid - nooooo! can you imagine trying to negotiate a bloody "child lock" style lid at 3am with a baby squirming with a dirty nappy??

Noooooo. Just put the bloody pot somewhere sensible when you have finished putting it on your child!

lol at Lab-rat!

It isnt thier fault you didnt keep the pot out of your DD's reach, not once but twice. Atleast they are trying to show some concern.