Poison Control - Member's Club

I seem to be becoming a regular customer of the Poison Control Center. In the last year, I have had to make that call 4 times. So far, Isabella and Nicholas are even with 2 and 2. I never once called poison control with Taylor or Shea. What gives with these little ones? It must be because they are Nick's kids. (Just kidding darling).

The first time was last summer when Isabella ate a packet of flower food. That was the day when I called 911 to get poison control's number, and the overzealous dispatcher called every fire truck, sheriff and ambulance to our house. It was a very exciting day at the homestead.

The second time was a few months ago when Nicholas found a tube of hand cream in my diaper bag and figured out how to open the top. By the time I realized how quiet he had become, he had a glob of hand cream coming out of his mouth. I read the tube and it said "Keep out of reach of children". I scooped most of it out of his mouth, but I had no idea how much he had swallowed. The nurse told me that because the hand cream had all natural ingredients, he would be fine.

The third call was about a month ago. Nicholas likes to stand on his tippy-toes and reach his hand above his head into my bathroom drawer to look for treasures. This particular day, he found my face cream and unscrewed the top and was eating the lotion off the pump. I quickly checked the ingredients, and was not so lucky with the "au natural". It had Alpha Hydroxy in it and said if ingested, seek medical attention. Poison control said that it's not so much the ingredients but that the lotion is so thick, that they worry about gagging and choking. I was pretty sure that I had removed most of the lotion from his mouth with my hand, so we seemed to be ok once again! My bathroom counter is a mess of scattered bottles so that he can't reach any more lotion in my drawers!

The most recent call was Monday. Isabella has a cold with a cough. Last winter, she had a bad cough, and the pediatrician's office told me I could give her Triaminic. The bottle had expired, so I bought another one, and gave her a dose before her nap so that she wouldn't be up coughing. Out of curiosity, I read the back of the bottle about an hour after I put her down for a nap, and it said "Do not give to children under 4". I was instructed to wake her up from her nap to make sure that she was able to be aroused. It worked, thank god. The nurse said the American Academy of Pediatrics keeps changing the age for when it is safe to give children cold medicines. So, 6 months ago, it was perfectly fine, because the age was 2 and up. But now it is not safe because it is 4 and up. I thought I had poisoned my own child with cold medicine, and then sent her off to a comatose sleep. But 6 months ago, it was perfectly acceptable to give her cough medicine so that she could sleep soundly. These doctors are going to make me crazy.

The poison control center always asks for my name, my child's name and our zip code. The next time I call I am going to hear a game show bell - Ding, ding, ding! That crazy guy's voice will come on the line and say, "Let's tell her what she's won! A free visit from social services!" Yay for me!!!