DS maybe drank calpol, have been to a and e. Feel absolutely wracked with guilt. Anyone else had this?

[Overthinker89]

Hiya,
Has anyone else had this experience?please be gentle I am already berating myself beyond belief and have put all medicines away in a locked box. On Monday night DS 2 (12.5kg) possibly (quite unlikely) drank some calpol. I'd just given him his evening dose and set it back on the table and he asked for his water cup. Without thinking I went into the next room to grab his water cup (I was gone very briefly!!just dashed next door) when I got back I realised I'd left the lid of the calpol. Now, there was no evidence he had drunk any but of course I was very briefly out of the room. It seemed to be in the same place but my brain is doing the what if, what if, thing. I told 111 and we went to a and e, we did an estimate of how much, went for worst case scenario and we were sent to monitor from home without a blood test. They were lovely and said it happens all the time but obviously I'm really upset with myself.

Mainly looking to hear if your little ones have managed to drink a fair bit of calpol and if all was fine. I keep replaying it in my head and thinking what if he had more than I thought. Bottle is the infant strength 120mg per 5ml and there is 100ml in the bottle. Anyone else had this if so how much did their DD drink and was it okay?

I know I've made a mistake so don't worry, lesson well and truly learned!

P.s posted something similar in talk as I wasn't sure where best to put it (new to this Mumsnet stuff)

I know a kid who drank a bottle around age 3 they were fine.

My 2 year old dream half a bottle and 111 weren't concerned

whats your best guess of how much was in the bottle versus how much is in there now?
That may give you an idea of how much if any he has had.

From what you’ve said it doesn’t sound very likely at all that he did, so I’d try not to worry.

also it’s not that easy to get it out now without a syringe is it? It comes out really slowly (I know because I’ve lost all my syringes and have to wait for it to dribble onto a teaspoon!)

Sticky mouth and sticky bottle would be the giveaway.Absolutely no spillage and signs would reassure me !

This is the best lesson you will ever learn so leave the guilt behind you, it will never happen again.

My friend came into her kitchen to find her older child playing doctors and spooning nurofen into her baby’s mouth, and half the bottle was empty so she didn’t know how long the game had been going on.

She nearly passed out with the
fright and she is a nurse herself!

I would think if a 2 year old had picked up the bottle they wouldn’t put it down in exactly same place you left it (although I know in a panic you question where things were). If you were quickly in and out the room if he picked it up would he have had chance to put it down? Can you remember how much was in the bottle before putting it down? All you can do is what the hospital said and just monitor, if they thought any harm was to be done they wouldn’t send you away. Try not to beat yourself up accidents happen and lesson learnt

This is quite common. For every child that won't go near the stuff is one that loves it.

The infant calpol is quite low dose and a small bottle so it's not usually an issue - the 6+ is more so.

Lesson learnt. Pick yourself and carry on.

My oldest drank out of a bottle of calpol at a similar age. Phoned the ho and they were very reassuring

dont worry, as long as they’ve been checked out they’ll be fine. I gave my youngest his brothers Ritalin once. When I phoned the gp, they practically laughed at me … (kindly)

”he’s not the first 4 year old to be given his brothers medication”

It sounds almost certain that he didn't drink any. Even if he did it was not a harmful amount. The hospital are clearly not concerned. He's fine. You don't need to beat yourself up!

My DD took an overdose a couple of years ago. The hospital told me that 2 packs of painkillers (the stuff you buy and are limited to 2 packs per customer) would not cause any long term damage and this is why you are limited to 2 packs.

Now I will be honest, I don’t actually know if calpol has the 2 pack purchase limit, but I would assume the same anyway.

It sounds like the very strong likelihood is that he didn’t actually drink any?
My DC1 picked up the bottle and took a gulp while I was sat next to her, before I could even react. I think she was 2 at the time. Based on how much was missing from the bottle the Dr said she’d be absolutely fine, and she was.

The treatment threshold is 150mg/kg in children. So depending how much you think he drank you can calculate from this. I’m sure the hospital done this though and that’s why he didn’t need his bloods checked. It’s very common for children to do this ❤️

Yeah I was going to say this, it's not an 'open' top, it flows very slowly so even if he did (you'd probably know as no doubt there'd be stickiness or spillage) I wouldn't imagine he'd have had time to have much?

Not calpol but my ds ate a full bottle of peppa pig vitamin gummies whist I was on the loo once. I took him to a&e then got a call from the health visitor to tell me off.

111 have a script and are not medically trained so, yes, they'll never be concerned.

I don’t think it’s that easy for a 2 year to chug from a bottle tbh, it has a sort of cap on the inside to insert the syringe. Surely you would see how much was left? Sounds like you have health anxiety.

My toddler ds was mistakenly OD'd on calpol by a children's nurse after surgery. They kept him in for a few hours extra and then sent us home. He never had any side effects that I was aware of. I'm not trying to say paracetamol isn't dangerous but I would trust the HCP's that have assessed your child and will have a lot of experience with accidental paracetamol OD. I hope you're okay

Your post sounds like you have a heightened anxiety, OP.

I would have easily done this too and to be honest it wouldn't have crossed my mind when I returned to the room that he might have drunk some. If he had I'd have seen it. It would probably be all over his hair. It definitely wouldn't still be standing in the same place without pink splodges all around.

My lovely ds1 and 2 climbed on top of the fire guard and found a packet of ibuprofen and tried to feed ds3 them. I spoke to a Dr at A&E and he laughed and proceeded to tell me a story of something similar happening to him as a baby. He told me that they do not worry as long as the dose is less than the maximum daily dose. When I stopped panicking I checked more thoroughly and found bits of crushed ibuprofen tablets down the side of the sofa.

I have a friend who was a Heath Visitor for going on 15 years - she told me this was among the most common reason she used to see for kids going to A&E - happened loads and she was quite nonchalant about it as were the docs from what she told me....things like circular cell batteries not so much, so save the anxiety for their storage/location.

Don't beat yourself up, easily done, especially when tired. You've actually reminded me I've left a calpol bottle out on the kitchen top this evening (anticipating the molar coming through) which probably wasn't sensible when the toddler is zooming around and into everything at 6am with a couple of zombies for parents.

Ours did the same at 2.5years.
I phoned the poisons line... and was told the dose was too low and the bottle too small!

However-the sweetener in Calpol does give the runs when taken in excess.

Children do weird things. I remember my 6 year old cousin wanting some attention at the table (he hasn’t changed much now aged 25 grabbing my uncle’s beer and downing the lot before anyone registered and grabbed it off him. He lives to tell the tale (and still loves a pint).