What do you do if you think your child has put household chemicals in mouth?

[expatkat]

Does anyone know what to do if you suspect your child has ingested something she shouldn't? Dd seems to have taken a small amount of shoe polish, the liquid kind with a built-in sponge. She seems fine, but I'd like to be sure. . .

I'd say ring NHS Direct, but they will tell you to go to A&E. You really need to know what is in the shoe polish - if there is any thing that can be harmful even in small quantities. Does the company have a contact number on the bottle?

Personally I might be inclined to wait and see, especially if its a really small amount, but then I would spend the rest of the day worring I'd done the right thing!

There should be a contact number on the bottle to give advice of such things. Or failing that do an internet search on the product. There is a legal requirement to inform about hazards & handling of such things. If it is hamful it should say on the container.

Hope shes OK

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When DS2 was about 19 Months, he somehow managed to get the top off the bleach bottle and I could smell bleach round his mouth but couldn't be certain whether he had drunk any or not.

Gave him lots of milk to drink then I phoned NHS Direct (while quite shaky) and went through a series of questions with her. In the end she told me that he would actually need to consume something like 100ml's for it to be dangerous and that he probably got a little taste from top of bottle and didn't like it (hence why I could smell it round his mouth) but told me to watch him for next 24 hours and gave me symptoms to look for and if he got any of them to take him to hospital. Thankfully he was fine, but I made sure that all cleaning stuff/medicines were put in a high cupboard as I know now not to trust so called child proof tops

This has happened to me before (ds1 fed ds2 with anbesol). Ring the doctor (or NHS Direct). They then rang a poison unit in a hospital and got back to me with the answer. BTW it was simply that the child would probably be alright (which he was) or might be a bit sick (which he wasn't). Good luck.

My mum tells me I took a swig of jeyes fluid poison S4 when I was a curious toddler... I was fine...
Shoe polish should be ok but I would ring the docs to check and to be sure

How is your DD, expatkat?

Just noticed this--sorry, all, that I didn't follow up. I didn't ring NHS Direct, knowing (like lydialemon said) they'd send me straight to A&E, which I didn't think was necessary, as I was about 99% sure she didn't actually get more than a dot of shoepolish in her mouth IF that. So I just watched her and she was fine.

Still I'm grateful for these responses b/c I knew whom to call in the US in the event of poisoning, but had no idea what to do in the UK. Very helpful info, everyone, thanks.