Child Proof My A$$!
By CRIVAS
@CRIVAS (1815)
Canada
February 18, 2009 11:28am CST
Well I had quite the scare this morning. I was in the bathroom this morning about 2 minutes after my children woke up. I had only been in the bathrrom for a few minutes but when I came out and went into their room to bring them downstairs I was given a nasty surprise. I have written a few discussions about how my daughters have been sick. Welllast night I gave my daughter a dose of Triaminic cough and cold night time formula. I figured that becuase it was a child proff bottle, it would be safe to leave on the bedside dresser for the next dose. Big mistake. I have no idea how she did it, but my three year old daughter managed to open the bottle. I am sure that you parents are familiar with the little plastic cup that they give you to administer the meds, well she took a full one. For those of you who don't know, that means she took an adult doseage. I was in a panick. I call the health link number only to be put on hold for 10 minutes before I gave up and called the number on the bottle, they couldn't even tell me anything. I then called the children's hospital only to have them tell me to call Poision controll. I finally got through to them and was happy with the news. It turns out that she had just taken the daily max and that she would be fine. I was so relieved I cried. I am also extremely angry. When on the phone with poison controll, they said that this is a very common occurance and that the bottles aren't really child proff they are just child resistant. The women on the phone joked that it means that instead of only taking one second to open the bottle, it will take a child too. I failed to see the humor in this especially when you consider what could have happened. I am glad that my daughter is well but I really think that more people should be aware that our children really can open these so called "child proof" containers. Has anything like this happened to you? Am I a bad mother for not putting it away right away?
4 people like this
17 responses
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
18 Feb 09
I feel for you!
My kids have been sick lately too, and I've also kept their medicine on the dresser in the bedroom. Luckily for me though, my kids hate taking their medicine, and put up a huge fight when I try to give it to them, so I don't see them trying to administer it to themselves for any reason.
Once however, a number of years ago, my twins who were only around 2 at the time, did get their hands on an entire bottle of Tums. I'm not sure how many they ate, but you know Tums just seem like candy to little kids, so they probably ate quite a few. I too called poison control, only to be told the kids would most likely be fine, and at the worst they may get an upset tummy, in which case it would be okay for them to vomit. She also told me to just be careful what liquids I gave them because they could interact with the Tums and cause upset tummy's. She said to stick with clear liquids for a few hours to see how the children handled it. They turned out fine, didn't even get an upset tummy at all.
2 people like this
@dfollin (25351)
• United States
19 Feb 09
I understand how you feel,but you are not a bad mother.But since your daughter cannot understand that she needs to not drink the medicine in the bottle then I guess you are going to have to put it away or up somewhere higher.
I am glad that she is alright.
@lvhughes (545)
• United States
19 Feb 09
I have 5 kids ranging from 13 years to 4 months there is nothing my kids could do to surprise me. I know if I cant open something give the 2 and 5 year old a try. they canprobly get it in one try. mark it asa lesson learned and move ahead from the next lesson because trust me you have plent of more ahead. Just be glad you caught it before she did any serious damage . And we are all thankful for the fact that you are a caring mother that was and proble still is worried about it.
1 person likes this
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
18 Feb 09
First off and foremost, You are NOT a bad mother. You were caring for your child. Yes, there is a difference between child-proof and child-resistant. Locks only stop honest people. Remember that. My son picked the locks on my desk when he was 4 years old simply to see if he could do it. There was nothing in it he wanted. He just got curious about locks.
Children get curious about things and they are very creative. Children are little geniuses. Do not trust them to stay out of things. Again, you are not a bad mom. Your children are just very smart.
1 person likes this
@GAUCI123 (1042)
• Malta
18 Feb 09
I am glad that your child is well, and it is true that children really need attention every second.b I know what you felt and what a great fright you had, I have a toddler of three and know what small children can do in a split of a second. However the cap was not childproof since she opend it and I think that medicines should be child proof 100%.
1 person likes this
@TLChimes (4822)
• United States
18 Feb 09
Don't you miss being able to go potty? I look forward to one day, being able to go potty all byself with no one knocking on the door or having to take ten minutes to lock the house down.
You aren't a bad mom. Let go of that.
I would not have handled it as well if she had made a joke like that to me.
You certainy had a wonderul morning, I hope the rest of the day went better.
1 person likes this
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
19 Feb 09
I am sorry you had that problem with your kids first thing in the morning. I bet you didn't need your coffee today
A lot of "child proof" caps aren't really child proof - they are adult proof. I know my son has gotten open a few bottles that I couldn't open.
A lot of "child proof" caps aren't really child proof - they are adult proof. I know my son has gotten open a few bottles that I couldn't open. 1 person likes this
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
19 Feb 09
no, that happened to us before we had kids. we were babysitting our nieces and nephews when they were young (the nephew in question is not 21) anyways, hubbys sister and brother in law went to a wedding and we were left with the kids and the same scenerio happened to us. we called a nurse we know and she told us pretty much the same thing. fortunately all it made him do was sleep a little better that night.
accidents happen and i dont think you are a bad mother.
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
19 Feb 09
To be honest, I think these so called child-proof bottles give parents a false sense of security.Back when I was growing up...my mom put all meds way up out of our reach because they were a danger to us. Also...cleaning products...anything. Parents had to be vigilent. That is how I was with my oldest daughter who is 32 now. Somewhere along the way they "improved" things. Did we really? Now parents are less cautious. No...you are not a bad mom...you were told it was child proof and you learned the hard way and thankfully not the hardest way that that simply is not true. Nothing is childproof. Given the info you were...I'd probably have done the same thing and gone thru the same nightmare. I am just glad that this story ended on a happy note. The woman that joked had a sick sense of humour. another type of med could have been fatal. a bit off topic but I wrote to the company that put out those electrical socket safety plugs that had a teddy bear in the center of it. it was years ago but I think it may have been proctor and gamble. Why in the world would you put a teddy bear on an item that you hope to keep small children away from...just why?
1 person likes this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
19 Feb 09
No, you aren't a bad mother. My oldest once took a whole bottle of baby aspirins. They told me it was pretty much like taking one adult aspirin. It is a scary feeling, I know. Kids are pretty clever, more clever than we give them credit for being.
Like they say, if you can't open it-give it to a child.
1 person likes this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
19 Feb 09
You're not a bad mother Crivas, but I'm sure you've learned a valuable lesson.......
When my kids were small I always got THEM to open the medicine. For 'child resistent' all it was for me was 'adult resistent'. Kids are smarter than we adults. We need to remember that! LOL
I'm glad everything turned out ok, and the next time you find one of your kids (not that it WILL happen) has taken an 'adult' dose of something, just make them drink a lot of water and don't panic. Most adult doses of cold meds and such aren't all that harmful anyway if you're not giving it to infants..........More serious meds like heart and blood pressure meds though are, and they need to be locked away from kids of any age.
1 person likes this
@heide2008 (53)
• China
19 Feb 09
You are not a bad mum,don't blame yourself.I am glad she is ok now.Something like medicine ,knife,pen,and so on,you should put away from children'room.
Take care!
1 person likes this
@lorraine27 (271)
•
19 Feb 09
hey your not a bad mom and thank god that she was ok, you called the hospital rigth away which shows common scens and quick thinking. and it did say child proof on the cao
@huxen69 (118)
• India
19 Feb 09
It's nice to hear that nothing serious happened to you daughter, companies who make these kinds of bottles and label them child proof should remove it from the label, who knows one day it might do severe injury to a child.Somebody's got to do something...
1 person likes this
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
21 Feb 09
It is a common thing for parents. Those bottles are more adult proof than child proof.I had a similar scare with my daughter. Except that she climbed on a stool then on the toilet to reach the bottle we had. She said she didn't feel well. Glad all turned out ok.
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
18 Feb 09
You are not a "bad" mother, but you did learn a valuable lesson. We keep all of our medications in a locked area away from the children. Children are smart, and you need to take precautions. Our doctor is always telling us at each check-up "Walk at their level and see what you can reach, then move it". So, that's what we do. I'm glad she was ok.
Just a note on those caps. If you don't make sure they are on tight, put back on properly they are very easy to open after that. It's happened to me a few times and I ended up spilling medicine all over me.
1 person likes this
@NessaFilth (341)
• United States
19 Feb 09
You aren't a bad mother! definately not. you did everything you could have done. that story almost made me cry to be honest, just to see how concerned and caring you were. not every parent would do as much as you did. This reminds me of what happened to a little girl my mom used to babysit. her dad took some sort of pills, and had left them in a cabinet or something. i guess the little girl figured out how to open the "child proof" bottle and took a bunch of them. Sadly, she didnt have the fortune your daughter had.
