Monday, August 18, 2008

from my MOPS email

I receive weekly emails from the fine people at MOPS - although I haven't gone in quite some time. I just really appreciated this email though. Thank goodness I haven't gone "here" with Duncan (yet?).

On one thing professionals and amateurs agree, mothers can't win.
(Margaret Drabble)

Eating Deodorant

Christy Molnar, Council Coordinator

Yesterday morning I caught my 21-month-old youngest child, Danielle, eating her dad's scented deodorant. Well, actually, when she heard me coming, she ran back into the bathroom and tried to quickly put it away. I saw little, white "crumb-like" pieces all across the floor. As I ran after her, I saw the deodorant and then I caught the full scent. Whew! I grabbed it and saw she had been gnawing on it. The warning on the back said that if swallowed, to contact medical personnel or call Poison Control.

I immediately called my pediatrician's office and they gave me the number for Poison Control. I was in full panic as I waited on hold with Poison Control for what felt like an hour (but was really less than 2 minutes). What has she done? Should I have rushed her to the hospital? WHO eats deodorant? Of course, while I’m panicking, Danielle was over by her toys calmly playing. That was a little reassuring. When I told the operator what happened, she assured me that it would be fine. Thankfully, Danielle didn't get any deodorant in her eyes. And, I was told that if she actually swallowed any of the deodorant, she would probably throw it up and be fine. “Really?” I thought. “You can eat deodorant, throw up and be fine? Ok, thank you.”

What I really appreciated during the phone call was that the operator was very reassuring. I felt so guilty. I felt like a bad mom. Who lets their child get a hold of deodorant and eat it? I defensively told her that I’m the mom of two older boys and have never had to call Poison Control with them. I didn't want her to judge me. She didn't. She said, "Oh, you have a little adventurer on your hands who will certainly continue to be a blessing to you."

Yeah, I have a little adventurer all right. She is taking me on quite the roller coaster ride. In the end, Danielle didn't throw up. As I cleaned all the bits off the carpet and soaked her clothes, it appeared she had really just been chewing it. I don't know, maybe the texture was appealing. Ewwwww....

Prayer From a Mother's Heart

Dear God, help me to understand that your love and validation is not dependent on what I do or don't do so that I can model that love to my child.

3 comments:

PrincessButtercup said...

I am almost teary reading this because of the little *ahem* "adventurers" I have given birth to. All before 24 months my kids ate: crazy glue-Hope, an entire bottle of tums-Austin, Avon footspray-Sam, 2 doses of dimetapp-2 month old Jacob (my fault, TALK ABOUT GUILT), and actually Jackson hasn't eaten stuff, but uh, he's gotten stiches, lysol cleaner in his eye and then a scratched cornea. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THAT NOTE!!!!

Anonymous said...

My 3 year old grand daughter started sneaking around getting the stick deodorants and eating them at the age of two. We are still trying to break her of the habit. We try hiding the deodarnts and changing brands. but she finds them and hides them. Now her mom is probably going to switch to roll ons or spray. So far, she has not gotten sick and this is the only unusual thing she eats.

Anonymous said...

My 18month old loves to eat deoderant for some reason. poisn controll says its not poisonous but I'm sure it's not healthy and i worry about the long term effect of her eating it. There isn't one stick in our house that dosen't have a bite taken out of it.