OMG.... My 4 month old was munching on a wrapping paper...

[TrippleBerryFairy]

as I was wrapping the presents he got a piece of paper and was munching on it for about 10 minutes... Got a piece of paper from his mouth- was stuck to the palate...
I am shaking now. How could I let this happen?.. Where on earth were my eyes?...

He seems to be fine now, thank god almighty he did not choke on it. But I am woried sick - can the paint from the paper do any damage to him? What if he has swallowed a small piece?.. Will it just come out from the other end with no harm?... I tend to think he hasn't swallowed any and want to believe that after playing with the paper for a minute or so he dropped it as I found it near his head but can't be absolutely sure. Can such a small baby actually swallow paper, all that's been into his mouth till now was breat milk only, would he physically be able to swallow the paper?...

Please please if anyone has any suggestions of what I should do - please talk to me...

My dd ate a scented candle once. Handed me the wick as if it were an apple core.

She went through a phase of this as a toddler, had to watch her like a hawk else she'd be squirting a tube of nappy cream into her mouth or chewing a bar of soap.

She is 12 now and as far as I am aware isn't drinking bubble bath, or adding soap flakes to her cereal, so seems to have survived unscathed

At about 5 months DD2 once ate a googly eye that DD1 had been sticking with.
First I knew of it was when her nappy looked at me the next day.
I nearly shat myself.

Don't worry about it, all babies eat paper, amongst other stuff you never thought of putting in your mouth....

Lol, Jack!

Oh Jack, your story has brought tears to my eyes (of laughter!)

And yes, shineoncrazydiamond, with the retrospect I should not have called the NHS Direct but hey, at least I hope I cheered up the nurse with my panicky first-time mum's story...

< felling slightly ashamed of having wasted poor nurse's time emoticon >

Did NHS Direct make you go through all the meningitis questions?

I love NHS Direct. You phone up because you're worried you've trapped your finger in the drawer and it's swelling up and they ask a million questions about whether you hit your head at the same time.

But, are you sure you didn't hit your head? Do you feel dizzy? Are you cross-eyed? Can you remember your name? Look, we'll send an ambulance anyway, just in case...

I jest.

My old GP told me that when NHS Direct launched it had a glitch and the page on cystitis had 'call an ambulance' under the advice bit. So lots of ambulances sent to women with burning wee that weekend until tech fixed it.

OP, it's nice to have somebody with a medical qualification tell you to stop being silly relax isn't it?

DD was 4mo a few Xmases ago, and we went to the local baby group for a xmas party.
The next day I found a balloon 'end' (you know the circular thick rubber bit) in her nappy.
Not sure where the rest of the balloon ended up!