my firends girl who is 20 months just ate a bunch of tums

[makippley]

my friends girl just ate a bunch of tums and she is freaking out, her doctors is at lunch, so what should she do???

[Jame0223]

how much did she eat?

[wannabenana]

She should take her to the ER ASAP....NOW!!!!!

[deanne11]

Drs have emergency call service that will page them at lunch or go to ER.

[peekawho]

Are you saying a 20 month old child ate a lot of tums?  

If so, I'd hope that you know she had better be in an ER right now.

[wannabenana]

When there is an emergency like that you should never seek help from a forum. A person can definitely overdose on Tums.

[kellym]

Oh Great!, mine eats them all the time :(  I read that a child ate 16 once and they said don't let it happen again but it wasn't going to kill the kid.  Don't take my advice, especially makes me nervous when peek says take them to the ER, hmmm.

[AndiJ78]

Do people not use poison control anymore?

[Jame0223]

If you can't get ahold of anyone, call a pharmacy like walgreens and ask a pharmacist. Or call an urgent care facility or a poison control hotline.

[have 2 kids]

I was thinking that too!  

[AndiJ78]

1-800-222-1222

[kellym]

I usually do! My dog ate a WHOLE container of Aquafore and they say kids eat it all the time too! It says call immediately for the Aquafore but poison control says it won't harm anything and he doesn't see the attraction, hee, hee...  (on a lighter note :)

[AndiJ78]

When T was little he tried to eat a glade deco-sphere air fresener, called poison control and was reassured that it was made with essential oils an non-toxic. To this day I cannot smell that cinnamon spice scent...T smelled like it for days!!

[girliegrl1723]

oh i have called poison control twice before and BOTH times it was for the dog! first was a tube of A&D and second was a bottle of asprin that she got into. she is fine and both times they assured me she would be. crazy dog!

[amberd5191]

Oh boy

[April2]

I had the same thing happen to me awhile back with a 2 year old. I freaked out too because she got into my purse and ate 3 tums. I called poison control and the lady on there said they get these kinds of calls all the time. She said this happens a lot! She said eating a few tums isn't going to do anything, even if they ate 10 or 12 tums. She said she's had kids eat a whole bottle of tums and in that case they probably will have some gastrinol upset (like upset stomach and diarhea (diarrhea)) but she said it would take a lot. I don't know if that helps or not but I agree with the others. Call the poison control center and ask their advice. In this situation, since she ate a lot, it probably would be best to take her to the ER and have her looked at.
Best wishes.

[peekawho]

The poster didn't say how many.  "A bunch" is all thats mentioned.  A few probably won't hurt, but who knows what the OP meant.  

Poison Control would be good, but where is the person from?  Do they even have one?  

Probably this person won't even be back to read it anyway.  

[AndiJ78]

Hey, offering a number for poison control is better than "so and so did it and was fine" That scares the hell out of me.

And I do agree, no profile no return.

[April2]

Sorry. I guess I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't give the poison control number because someone else did. I guess maybe I thought I was helping a little in that the lady at the poison control had told me that she had seen many, many children eat a whole bottle of Tums and were ok except a little gastro upset. I guess I was trying to reasure her a little. I did recommend she call the number and take her to the ER if you noticed. Why did you say it scared you? Because you thought I didn't care? I did care and I made that call. I was ready to take her to the hospital and they reassured me she'd be fine. It scared me too and that's why I called. You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter. I just hope she's ok.

[AndiJ78]

But the point is none of us know the history of this child. Always, always err on the side of caution with potential poisoning. Some people may be fine, others may find themselves with a baby who is not. And as lame as it sounds, there are people who will take the advice that "so and so did it and was fine" as the gospel and that could have dangerous consequences.

Of course I think it is ridiculous to come onto an Internet forum to ask for emergent advice anyway, likely it is a bogus post.

[April2]

You're right, of course. I didn't want her to not take it seriously.  I honestly thought I was helping but now that I've read your post I realize you're right. This should be taken seriously and we should always err on the side of caution. Who knows, maybe it was a friend who is just worried about her friend. Hopefully, she took her child to the hospital and everything's ok.
I never do understand how people can make up stories though, and post them. That one always floors me.

[AndiJ78]

You and me both, April. But IMHO it is not someone who stumbled upon MH, it is someone bored, likely a member or former member. You still have to look to find MH, so it is unlikely trolls just stumble across it on a whim.

Unrelated, but for some reason these topics bring it to mind how little a parent may know about their child's health. When Jonathan was just 2 years old, I read a story about a mom who was playing with her 2 year old child. She jumped out from behind the corner and her child dropped. Undiagnosed heart condition and a simple game of peekaboo cost her child's life. Something so completely innocent, something that just about every mom has done, and sure 99.99999% of the time nothing happens. But all it takes is once. Now of course I am not saying not to play peekaboo, but I know it changed my approach to it.

[houseofgirls]

You know what you have to keep in mind when it comes to these kinds of posts.  Even if it is a fake post...someone might one day do a search on google about a baby eating too many tums, and of course then they will find this site.  So the advice still might help someone.  Although, I don't know why someone would be looking on the internet rather then going to the ER if their baby just ate a bunch of meds.