I have had some pretty awful days this week. I am writing this to let everyone know the dangers of something so common I never gave it a second thought on it bieng dangerous.

Sunday my 11 year old daughter asked me if she could make her and her 3 year old brother some lunch. I jumped at the chance to let her do it as as I was sitting on the couch doing homework on my laptop and was too "busy". About an hour or so later my son seemed very angry and not feeling well. I thought he was just bieng his normal moody self until he started throwing up all over the place. I assumed he had the stomach flu and while I was cleaning up all the vomit his sister came home and asked what was wrong. I told her that her brother had the stomach flu but seemed to be feeling better as he was laughing and running around playing again. After another two hours my son started throwing up again and my daughter came out of his room holding an empty flinstones chewable vitamen bottle. we had both just realized that he had eaten the whole bottle. (there were at least 50 vitamens left in the bottle). I called poison control immediately and then 911. by the time the ambulance got to my home my son was not breathing and totally motionless. upon arriving to the hospital and blood bieng taken, they said he had iron poisening which causes liver/kidney failure. We were devestated and i was wishingn i would have kept a closer eye on him and called 911 sooner. They were able to give him some sort of medication that binded with the iron and made it leave his body. He is much better now and home from the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. I didn't realize until later that my daughter had taken the vitamens off the fridge when making lunch and gave them each one and put the bottle back on the counter without the lid. I should have watched closer, I should have known something else was going on. I had no idea that a child could O.D. on flinstones' chewables. I'm glad I learned from my mistake without permanent damage. just thought I should share that story.

Oh my God, that must have been frightening for you, im so glad he is ok.

My 3yr old did the same thing 2 weeks ago but there was only 15 left in the packet so she was fine luckily!

Do not beat yourself up about it though it wasnt your fault, kids will get up to mischief all the time and you physically cant watch them 24 hours a day!

Take care,

Donna x.

Oh you poor thing! I can imagine how scared you were. My DD was with me at my parents one day, and she found my Dads Mace (this was years and years ago---when carrying it was legal), he used when out walking. She thought it was like the breath spray her Dad used and sprayed herself in the face from like 2 inches! She blistered her mouth, her eyes---it was awful, and I remember feeling just like you do now....WHY wasn't I watching her closer? It happens! You handled it when you figured it out. I am so glad everything is ok now. Lesson learned the hard way for ALL of you.

Thank you for sharing the story, and reminding us. I watch my granddaughter (DD to the one with the mace!), and I need to be more vigilant I am sure. Thanks for the timely reminder!

(((hugs))) to all of you---I am so glad he is ok!

Kat

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad everything is going to be OK. That is so scary, but don't blame yourself: there is just no possible way to guard against all the things little kids can get into. Just thank your stars that no permanent damage was done, and be sure to tell your children about how dangerous things like that can be!

Big hugs to your little one, I hope he's feeling much better soon.

Oh my, how awful! I am so sorry you and your family went through that. Like the others said though, no one is to blame, accidents sometimes happen. What is truly important is that your son is going to ok!

A few years ago my brother-in-law was giving his kids their vitamins and the littlest one grabbed all 3 and swallowed them up. He didn't think anything about it as it was only 2 flintstones chewables. He put her to bed and then went to bed himself. Several hours later she came into the room crying saying her hands were hurting. Well her elbows, wrists, and all the joints in her fingers were swollen and very red. After a trip to the ER where they determined it to be a vitamin overdose, she was fine. The ER doc said they see many many cases each year. I have a friend that used to tell her daughter that the vitamins were candy. One day my friend was taking tylenol and her daughter asked if she could have some of her candy too...that scared my friend into explaining what medicines are and that there is a difference in medicine and candy. I am lucky, my daughter asks about everything, even candy from my parents before eating it. She has other medical problems so she knows to be careful when eating anything. I am sorry that you had to go through this, but I'm glad everything turned out ok. ~Mandy

Don't beat yourself up. My kids' pediatrician once told me that if they haven't made a trip to the ER by the time they're 10, they are being over-protected.

FSC:

So the Vitamins are under lock and key now right?

motionless and not breathing, how frightening!

Glad things turned out the way they did, thank goodness for paramedics and 911!

Holy smokes, Becky. I'm so glad he's alright now. That must have aged you a few years!

I heard of a girl who was sensitive to aspartame who died after taking a Flintstone Vitamin with aspartame in it. That was a few years ago, so they might have taken that ingredient out.

I'm glad he's ok, and I would like to add that my niece drank an entire bottle of children's Tylenol when she was three and her liver also shut down. Thank God she recovered after a week in the hospital and being seen by a specialist who had to be flown in...

I think they should not make children's medicines so delicious that kids want to eat/drink it. Medicine should be like it was when I was a kid: disgusting.

I think it's an example of the over-pampering children get in our society these days. Everything has to cater to them so much that medicine is made so delicious that they eat a whole bottle of it.

thank you all for your support. I never realized how common cases of kids eating stuff like that was. So many people have come out of the woodwork to share their similar stories. every emergency room nurse had a story involving their own children/grandchildren in very similiar situations. Yes what medication is left in the house is not only under lock and key but even out of my immediate reach. (i'm very short anyways so you could probably put it on the kitchen table and I would need a step ladder to reach). Not to make light of the situation but yes there are no more vitamens in the house because Xander ate them all. The funny thing is, they weren't even the kids' flinstones. they were mine. they are the only multi-vitamen i have been able to stomach since my lap band surgery. They were MY pills. Talk about hard to explain that to people.

this is xander in his last day at the hospital.

He's a cutie!! :welldoneclap: ~Mandy

What an addorable young boy!! And he's lucky too!

What a cutey and how scary. I glad he is ok now.

Thanks for sharing, that reminded me my 3yr old gson is coming over for the night, I need to clear out the nightstand. He's so cute! Hope your daughter is not traumatized by this.