June 27, 2009

What To Do If Your Child Swallows A Penny

Oh dear.

I am actually surprised we've made it this far with four kids and the oldest being eight- and none of them has swallowed something not meant to be swallowed. Until Monday.

The boys had just been put to bed and I heard a little coughing from Gray. Soon he was out of his bed asking for some water because his throat hurt a little because a penny went down into my tummy, Mommy.

I got all shaky and gave him a cup of water, quizzing him- are you sure? Was it only a penny? How many? Just one. Okay. Only one? Only one. Okay.

I almost twittered about it but wasn't sure I was up for the judgment or being scared into rushing to the ER. So like most good parents (nervous laugh heheheh), I went straight to Google. (There's actually a pretty good chance that someone reading this right now found me by googling the same thing. Hi!)

It was a relief to find that this is quite common (I even think I swallowed a coin when I was little. My Uncle Randy swallowed a HAT PIN when he was little and my Mom ate glass, or drank gasoline, or both.)

I even came upon an old blogging acquaintance's post about this very thing. And it made me feel much better. Further googling and scouring of doctor's suggestions on the matter left me eager for a little bit of a treasure hunt in Gray's pull-up for days to come. (Oh, and yes he's still in pull-ups but that's for another post.)

Of course I watched his every movement and facial expression and skin color closely and made sure he didn't show any signs of acting stranger than he already does. The next couple days he was fine and went fine with no signs of the penny. I thought that if within four or five days it hadn't come out that I would take him to the doctor, just in case.

On Thursday I was getting anxious about it and remembered a hilarious story some friends told me about Fiber One bars and what they have been known do to the digestive system... so for one last try I bought a box.

We got home and I gave him the yummy treat- he didn't need much convincing because it was chocolate- and he ate it up.

Later that day I smelled its success and was excited to see the results. I'll spare you the unpleasant details but let's just say that we hit the jackpot. There was the penny. Right next to ANOTHER PENNY.

Those Fiber One Bars really paid off.

We're in the trenches of getting a very strong-willed child to go on the potty consistently and the past few days he's now even more excited to go on the potty because every time he thinks he'll find more pennies!

Those Fiber One Bars are really paying off...


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By Stephanie Precourt, Adventures In Babywearing - 6:42 AM
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86 comments:

  1. LOL! Wow, we haven't swallowed coins yet...but I remember my brother did once when we were waiting for the ice cream man. :-)

    Glad to hear Gray is ok.

    Those Fiber One bars sound pretty catchy in this kind situation...I'll have to remember that.
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  2. my oldest daughter swallowed a penny about 6 months ago. freaked me out at first, but we just waited it out and it came.

    glad gray is ok!
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  4. LOL! Kids.

    Great advice with the Fiber One bars - filing that away. HOpe to never have to use it.
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  5. Glad to hear your son is fine after swallowing a penny. We have not had that situation with our kids yet, but my son DID stick a screw up his nose one time! lol! have a great day.
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  6. LOL I love me some Fiber one bars!
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  7. We have many products on children try to find view.
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  8. I laughed my butt off at reading this! So I assume he ate more than 1 penny?
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  9. This morning I was running around getting things done and stepped on something that stuck to my foot. I shook my foot to get it off and kind of forgot about it for about thirty seconds. At that point I turned around to see Bub shoving the offending thing in his mouth and declaring, "PANCAKE." And it was. Pancake that had been on the floor and my foot. I have a feeling pennies aren't far off for us!
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  10. You are lucky things "came out" the way they did. My then almost-five year old swallowed a penny last year. Unfortunately, it got stuck. We had to go to the ER, and then take an ambulance to a Children's hospital, where it was extracted in dramatic fashion. He was fine after, and every time he finds a penny he tells me he is not going to swallow it. For which I am very grateful.
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  11. I don't think my girls ever swallowed any coins, but Alisha did shove candy up her nose once. I couldn't get it out, so I took her to the doctor where they strapped her on the papoose board and got it out with long tweezers. You think it will scar them for life, but they don't even remember! I did have to do the heimlich on a little girl I babysat because she swallowed a penny and it got stuck. Scariest thing ever to happen to me. The parents took her to the ER for xrays to make sure it wasn't lodged in there. A few days later, same with Gray, it came out the other end.
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  12. Ok, I'm TRYING not to laugh, but it's hard.

    I'm glad he's alright!!
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  13. Oh my word. Fiber One Bars. Who knew?

    I found a paper clip in my baby's diaper a month ago, he was 9 months at the time. I think I'm glad I didn't know he'd swallowed the paper clip because it saved me rather a lot of worry - by the time I found out it was all over. Neither of my kids have swallowed any money yet, though.
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  14. The day we put locks on the kitchen cabinets was the same day I caught Z chewing happily on a (fresh) garbage bag. Sure enough, we had some force flex diaper filling the next day.

    Cracked me UP about Gray wanting to find pennies every time he uses the potty.
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  15. Oh my. Fiber One bars. Who knew!? (Love those things, by the way.)

    My son swallowed a dime when he was about that age. And then my daughter swallowed her HAIR CLIP! Yes, my kids like to eat foreign objects. ;-)
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  17. hahaha... it paid off... too funny!
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  18. This is too funny!! When my sister was a baby, she would eat all kinds of change... pennies were good, but dimes were better. We found change in at LEAST every other diaper, no matter how hard we tried to keep that darn change off the floor and away from her. It was an interesting motivator for changing diapers =)
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  19. That is FUNNY! I needed a laugh this morning. lol

    And meanwhile, I might have to try out those Fiber One bars myself :P
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  20. lmao at "because a penny went down into my tummy."

    Hmmm, I wonder if I could double my 401k by swallowing it?
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  21. Aw, glad he's okay! Great story to tell over and over when he's older, lol! ;)
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  22. Oh my goodness! Quite the adventure you had. Glad the Fiber One bars worked. Knock on wood we haven't had any swallowing incidents yet. Hope you are having a beautiful weekend.
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  24. That is too funny! I'm sure it was scary at the time, but I think Fiber One ought to come over and check out your testimonial for their product! LOL!
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  25. That is HILARIOUS that he thinks he'll find more pennies!!! You could have tweeted about it - that's too bad that you thought you'd be judged! My 18-mo-old eats inedible things all the time, and I only have one to keep track of! Glad everything turned out okay!!! :)
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  27. That is hilarious. I'm surprised my kids haven't done that yet either. My friends baby pooped a button one time. It's crazy what kids will eat.
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  28. LOL Now that's motivation to go to the potty. I'll have to remember that.
    thanks
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  29. LOL. You know it was swallowing a marble and having to look for it was what FINALLY potty trained my daughter when she was 5.
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  30. That is so funny!!!

    It (a little strangely) reminded me of the time Miles stuck a nut (of the nuts and bolts variety) up his nose. That was fun, and only cost $400 to remove...

    ugh...you just never know what's going to happen next :)
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  31. Hilarious. My favorit line:
    "made sure he didn't show any signs of acting stranger than he already does" SO three, right? Glad things seemed to work themselves out...
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  33. We had this fun last summer with my then 2.5-year-old son. He swallowed a nickel. In our case, the pediatrician told us to go to the ER to make sure it didn't lodge in his esophagus. $500 later, we had a great x-ray of the nickel in his stomach and instructions from the ER doc to check his Pull-Ups. 10 days later, I still hadn't found the nickel, and when I called our pediatrican, she told me she tells parents not to even bother going through the poop because if it made it to his stomach, it will come out eventually. Gah! I spent 1.5 weeks digging through poop for nothing! But, because I couldn't help myself I searched for another week and kept an eye on his poop for a while after that. Never found that stinkin' nickel.
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  34. Ooh, potty training could get expensive for you...
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  35. Google and fiber one bars! I'm so glad to hear it all turned out all right though.

    Nell
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  36. I can't remember if any of my boys swallowed a penny but maybe one of my brothers did. I can't remember for sure. I do know that what goes in must come out. Your blog was so funny. Did you have the whole family looking for pennies?
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  37. He managed to turn one penny into two in his tummy! Shoot, I'd want to keep swallowing them if I were him!

    This is too funny.
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  38. You are hilarious!!! And pretty smart too!!
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  39. Oh Stephanie, is it horrible of me to say that Gregg and I just enjoyed a really good laugh over this one? Oh my gosh-what a story!

    Hope Gray doesn't become any richer than he already is at this point! ;-) Glad all is well!
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  40. OH my I wonder if I'd freak out or just take it easy and wait for it to come out. To go to doctors/hospitals is really expensive there!
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  41. About a year ago, my daughter swallowed a penny. I "treasure hunted" for about a week but never found anything. Had a x-ray and it wasn't in there. We don't know if she passed it and I didn't find it or never swallowed it and was just pretending.
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  42. Ben swallowed a dime once so we've gotten more rich off the poo that you! ; )

    Glad everything came out alright (sorry, just had to say it...)
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  43. Crazy boys! I have 3 of them and one has sent us to the ER for shoving metal up his nose! Please post on Gray in pull-ups if you feel like divulging. My middle son will be 4 in a few weeks and refuses to poop on the toilet. He is potty trained other than the occassional accident (not overnight though). Not sure what to do other than pull-ups or washing.throwing away endless amounts of underwear. Love to hear of someone else going through this...Don't share it too much with other Moms because he is almost 4 and I'm sick of hearing how their child was potty trained at 18 months and just do this & this, etc....
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  44. Hilarious!

    I especially love that he is excited to poop and look for pennies.

    I too am filing away the Fiber One advice. Sage had swallowed a Pip Squeaks marker cap not too long ago. I did take him to the pediatrician and he laughed at me for bringing him. He told me not to bring another one back for that reason. And he told me not to search for it either that it will come out eventually.

    Kids!
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  45. I have the GROSSEST story about a family of kids that I knew who would swallow coins on purpose. I'll spare you it, because it IS pretty gross.
    I'm glad everything came out in the end...
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  46. LOL too funny!!

    When my oldest was about 7 months old she ate a penny, but I didn't know it until I found it in her diaper. With my youngest, when changing her diaper sometimes I would discover that she had eaten crayons.

    I remember my sister swallowed a quarter when she was little, but the favorite family story is how my mom left a pack of her cigarettes in reach of my high chair, walked out of the room for a minute, then walked back in to discover me munching my way through the pack! I had eaten five or six before she came back in! You would think that would motivate her to quit, but alas, she still smokes today.
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  47. Fiber One bars you say?
    I need to take a trip to the grocery store. For the next time one of mine decides to just hold a coin their mouth. Ugh!
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  48. Oh too funny!! We LOVE Fiber One bars a around here...good to know they work, um, in a pinch too. And hey, if being a human coin machine works for potty motivation, I suppose there are worse things!!!!
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  49. Ha!

    You have such a great way of telling stories and this one made me laugh (although I'm sure it wasn't funny in the moment).

    Thank goodness for Google, huh? It's definitely my go-to source for all sorts of parenting dilemmas.
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  50. Okay, so that's pretty funny! I had a camp councelor once who used to regale us with tales of things she had swallowed (including a safety pin). I don't think I'd worry too much about a penny (no sharp edges) but the hat pin story freaks me out big time!
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  51. Wow, he really hit the jackpot. It seems that money doesn't just grow on trees... Gives "diaper change" a whole new meaning!
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  52. My 4yr old swallowed a penny, his older brother was with him to testify that it was indeed one penny. He was scared and frantic, I don't know why he put it in his mouth but I know he did not mean to swallow it. Well like you I googled I did not know what to do. Luckily I found a web site that told me to take him to the doctors just to make sure that it past into his stomach and does not become stuck in his esophagus and of course take him to the emergency room if he had any breathing problems. Well he was talking and breathing fine. I could not just sit and do nothing or go to work thinking that it will be ok and I am glad I decided to be the over protective mom and just look stupid if nothing was serious. When I took him to the emergency room I got the looks when I told them why I took him there and he was made fun of for doing it but if is a lesson learned. The doctors and nurses all said that majority of the time it will past through his stomach and come out within a couple of days and not to worry about it. When they came back with the x-ray results it showed that it was stuck in his esophagus right above his stomach lining. They held him overnight to watch him and checked again in the morning to see if it would move into his stomach naturally and of course my son, it was still stuck, so they had taken him under and put a tube down his throat to get it out and now I have a momento and a story that it is always better to be safe than sorry. The doctor said with that stuck there it could have caused more serious damage.
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  53. You are so right, I found you because my son swallowed a penny tonight. I will be heading to the store for some fiber one bars in the morning. He was number 4 out of five and not one has done this yet. got to love the little blessings.
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  54. So how long did you wait? And did it seem problematic (painful) coming out the other end? My daughter just swallowed a penny easy as pie but she is only 1 and Im worried.
    CAT
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  55. It was a few days and then when I gave him the fiber one bar it happened within hours- no signs of pain or anything. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't looked for it! Fun!

    He never complained of any discomfort or anything. He is very small for his age- about 25 lbs, age 3.

    Steph
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  56. Glad I came across others with my worries! I'm almost positive me 20 mo. old swallowed a smaller paper clip a week ago. Been looking for it & still haven't seen it (I haven't changed ALL the diapers though, so maybe dad missed it, cuz he WON'T check!!) But, ever seen chewed up crayon come out??!! Changed a diaper of my oldest when she was about 18 mo. and there was was a huge round BLUE ball of crayon wax, SEPERATE from the rest of the poop, just as clean as could be!! It's in the scrapbook now! (Just kidding!!) crossin my fingers to see the paperclip tho....
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  57. OMG! MY DAUGHTER, Evelyn (2 1/2) just swallowed a penny! I was freaking out and googled CAN YOU CHILD DIE FROM SWALLOWING A SINGLE PENNY! I even called the 24 hour nurse line my husbands insurance provides us with! Im supposed to give her a banana, but after readng this I THINK Im going to try the fiber one bars LOL
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  58. "There's actually a pretty good chance that someone reading this right now found me by googling the same thing. Hi!"

    And here I am... Hi back at ya! Fiber One bars it is.
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  59. Welllll.....guess what.....I googled "my five year old swallowed a dime" and your blog was the second one I tried. Thanks for calming my nerves and the advice. Fiber One here we come!!! Oh, and another thing....we are right there in the trenches with you about the five year old in pull ups. Our daughter who just swallowed the dime is VERY strong willed too.

    Thanks again!
    Polkadotlady
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  60. well... here i am... googling ... my kid swallowed a penny. my 11th month old has been acting really emo lately and i just found out why... he's had diarrhea and his poo just smelled funky... he passed a penny this morning... :( but i'm glad it came out ! best of luck to anyone w/ curious kids lol
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  61. Glad to know I'm in good company. My four year old told me he swallowed a penny about ten days ago. I have been treasure hunting diligently ever since and still nothing! I will have to call the doc on Monday if nothing turns up....I guess I'll put the Fiber One bars on my shopping list.
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  62. You're very right... I just googled My toddler swallowed 2 pennys and your blog came up first :) My 2.5 year old came running to me telling me that she had swallowed her "moneys" and that it was in her belly! So I called into the Doc, who said to bring her in for an xray to make sure it wasn't stuck. They pulled up the xray and there are TWO PENNYS in her belly right now, stacked right on top of each other!! Fiber one bars here we come!! (this comes just 2 months after she fell and fractured her elbow!! Parenting sure is fun, huh? haha)
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  63. haha, awesome, penny pooper. Something so simple and so entertaining. I am so glad he is ok. I wouldve done the same thing. good to know just incase!
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  64. When pennies were mostly copper they passed easily but now that pennies are made of mostly zinc they are reactive with hydrochloric acid and can dissolve. When zinc is absorbed into the body in high enough doses, it can cause problems ranging from stomach ulcers to kidney, liver and bone marrow damage. So watch for signs and if your childs stomach looks distended od he/she complains of stomach pain don't hesitate to go to the ER and they will remove the coin with an endoscope before any irreparable damage can occur.
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  65. Thank you for your site. I am a father of four daughters. My wife just left with the oldest and youngest to a board game party. So i took my eyes off my six year old for about 3 min. Next thing i know my 10 year old is running out of her room telling me Valeska has swallowed something and is crying. Holy Moley, Liz has been gone 10 min and I just screwed up the evening. Well first i made sure she was breathing, she is, then i found out it was a penny. I sat her down at the table and gave her some bread ( i know, its for a chicken bone) and a drink. She ask how i was going to get it out. She did not understand when i said it was a waiting game. So i explained it. Then IMMEDIATLY googled it and your site was first( thank God, cause i was FREAKIN). Thank you so much. Fiber Bar, never would have thought.
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  66. Hello,
    yes i just googled it as well , my 12 month old daughter JUST swallowed a penny .. well she was chouking on it and my husband stuck his finger in her mouth and i guess it went down.. she seems fine eating and making noises but i am worried so he has taken her to the ER to get checked up ...im glad im not the only one out there and also glad i didnt wait it out .. i want to make sure shes fine.... thanks for your story i will be buying fiber one bars for myself and the family
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  67. Yes, google is a mom's friend and that is exactly how we got here. Mine is, amazingly, years old and just did this. She is certain that she's not going to make it, so as any good mom, I come to google to prove to her how many kids swallow pennies and survive. Our job never ends. :)
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  68. YES, over a year later, I am here because my granddaughter swallowed a nickel and my daughter called me for information. I BINGED it and found your blog. Best info yet...love the idea of Fiber One bars. Guess my SIL will be running to the store for those tonight! Thanks!
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  69. Thanks for making me laugh about the TWO pennies, because yes, my son swallowed a dime, and I'm googling while I wait for the doctor to call us back.
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  70. Hilarious! And I did indeed find this post after googling 'child swallowed a penny' ... for probably obvious reasons. If we don't see anything in a day or two, Fiber One bars it is.
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  71. I also found this post after googling "child swallowed a penny", I just ran out of Fiber One bars (they do work wonders, lol) Guess it's off to the grocery store.
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  72. Wow! Guess swallowing pennies (and other objects) has been around forever. Ah yes, the wonders of childhood. Got to love those little buggers.
    Definitely will buy some Fiber One bars tomorrow.
    THANKS for posting this memorable story.
    I LOVE GOOGLE!
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  73. I need me a good supply for those fibre bars. My daughter has a penchant for eating non-food ...
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  74. LOL! I actually did find you by googling... My friend's son swallowed a penny and of course I immediately turned to the omniscient cyber-guru, google. She's taking him to the ER just in case, since he seemed pretty upset. (seemed to be breathing fine though). Thanks for the great post!
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  75. My daughter just swallowed a "money" of some sort and your blog was they first thing that popped up when Googled what to do. I had to laugh out loud because I did tweet first c[ :
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  76. I googled "What to do if your 2 year old brother swallows a penny" and this came up. Thanks! Now to tell Mom.....
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  77. my daughter just swallowed a dime, i didnt know what to do, i googled "what to do when my child swallows a dime" i was really nervous because when i was younger my brother swallowed a penny and every time my mother would pick him up, he turned green well anyways, i read this and now all i need to do is buy fiber one and well i gotta say im not nervous anymore haha thanks for your great post :)
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  78. My son swallowed a penny Saturday, it's wednesday and no penny he has had 2 poops and no penny:(
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  79. My son is 2 he swallowed a penny Saturday and it's Wednesday no penny yet he has had 2 poops and nothing;( Kmastrude@yahoo.com
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  80. My 2 year old just swallowed a penny today and I got on Google to search "what to do if your child swallows a penny"...haha! Before I even read this, as I was checking on her, I was thinking, "How did I make it through 4 kids and the last one had to be the one to swallow a penny?" ...And my oldest is also eight! So funny, loved your story and I did have fiber bars on hand, so that was her snack for today!
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  81. My 2 yrs old boy has swallowed a 'cent' sat'day night and we were much worried on this... the boy's grand mother informed Banana is the best solution for this. I've given him bananas as and when i think of 1 on sat'day night, 3.5 bananas on Sunday and one on monday morning...
    To the much of our relief the coin is out naturally on Monday morning and thanks to Bananas...
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  82. Well I found this by Google too! This must be a common thing for the 4th... Our 4th child, 3 years old, vomited in our room this morning but has been fine all day. He told us tonight that he ate a penny yesterday - hard to say if he did or not as he is only 3... This makes me feel a bit better - we're probably calling the doctor tomorrow to be safe though ;-)
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  83. My youngest swallowed a round glass gem (marble like). I googled it and here you are! I just had to comment, as the "offender" is my son, Grey!! What are the odds that TWO Grey/Gray's are doing this crazy stuff:-) Thanks for your advice. I called the Dr's to be safe, and they said wait for it to pass. Oh brother!
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  84. My 2.75 year old daughter informed me about 30 minutes ago that she "ate the coin". I know it was a dime because I saw it earlier on the table. I didn't think much of it because she and her twin brother never put things in their mouths! Until tonight. I freaked out. I asked her in a panicked tone "did you really eat the coin" and she broke into tears so I am taking that as a yes. Google brought me here and I am somewhat relieved to read lots of kids do it and a lot of docs advise to watch for it to pass. She seems fine but I think I will have her sleep with me tonight. I sure hope it I am able to find it in the next couple days for peace of mind.
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  85. Wow....Im so releaved to know that others have gone thru this also....I had the worst scare yesterday...I have 3 yr old twin boys and one of them swallowed a pennie early yesterday .His dad comes in all freaked out that he was trying to take a coin away from Ricky because he had gotten a pennie from my purse and just poped it in his mouth like it was candy and swalloed it. Of course I start freaking out also...dont know if to rush to the ER or call 911...but I ended up calling my mother.She told me it would pass and just to keep an eye on him and like you all have said to keep a look out for when it comes out the other end. I have an 18 and 15 year olds already and never had any problems with them swallowing anything.
    Just wanna say to all of you Thanks for sharing your expiriences...even though its a scary situation when this happends it feels a little better that its gona be okay and defenitely getting him a fiber bar tomorrow!
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  86. Here I am googling my three yr old just started screaming when I calmed him til I could understandand he tells me the penny fell down his throat by itself we're fed getting fiber one n the morning thanks
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