I am a pretty laid back mother. I don’t fret about possible food allergies. I don’t check to make sure my children are still breathing at night. I let my kiddos play in the back yard unsupervised. In fact, there are a few mothering blunders I could share that would make people question my parenting credentials.
So when our pediatrician suggested I save the phone number for Texas Poison Control in my phone, I smugly thought to myself something along the lines of, “Poison Control is for sissy parents.” Of course, I would be eating crow soon enough.
Not long after that, our two-year-old son walked into the room, chugging a bottle of children’s ibuprofen. Yikes! My husband and I scrambled to look up the phone number for Texas Poison Control. The Poison Control representative was calm, professional, and helpful. He assured me that a two year old of my son’s weight could drink a fair amount of ibuprofen before things were dangerous.
Relieved that both my son was okay and that we wouldn’t need to take a trip to the ER, I hung up the phone feeling grateful for a service like Poison Control. I immediately saved the number in my phone, which came in handy the two other times I have needed to call.
Our most recent experience with Poison Control was a bit more harrowing; but again, the representative was knowledgeable and helpful. We called Poison Control one hectic Sunday morning because we thought our one-year-old daughter had accidentally swallowed a tablet of my migraine medication that she found in my purse. The Poison Control representative was very firm in telling me that if there was any chance she had swallowed the pill, we needed to get to the ER as soon as possible.
Of course, this freaked me out, but what it also did was force me to retrace my steps, and by doing so, I found the missing pill we thought had been swallowed. The Poison Control rep stayed on the phone with me the whole time, and only hung up when he too was convinced that our daughter was no longer in danger.
So based on my experiences, having the number for Texas Poison Control saved in your phone is very important. Save it your spouse’s phone too, as well as the babysitter’s and anyone else who regularly cares for your children. I also have the number on a laminated sheet of paper with a host of other emergency numbers tacked to a bulletin board in the kitchen. 
Poison Control can help with so many things besides accidentally swallowed medicine. They are available to help with information concerning inhaled poisons, poison on the skin or in the eyes, insect bites, and venomous critter bites (think snake bites).
Visit their website (click here) for more information. Also, the number is the same for everyone in the US; so even if you are out-of-state, the number works from anywhere.
Finally, my advice would be this: When in doubt, call 1-800-222-1222, and they will walk you through the steps of what needs to happen.
If nothing else, they will put your mind at ease that your child will be fine . . . even if he or she hasn’t eaten a handful of melatonin gummies (Poison Control phone call #2). And as far as I know, they don’t put your name down on a “Bad Parent List.” At least, I hope they don’t . . . .
How many times have YOU called poison control? What other safety tips do you use?
I saved it in my phone even though nearly all the products in our home would be safe to ingest–I know it’s still wise to have available if the need arises.
I think everyone should keep the number on hand, whether they have children at home or not! I recently finished up a wood working project and (of course) I took my safety glasses off BEFORE starting to clean up the project. What a dumb move. The paint stripper can got kicked and in an instant, splashed into my eyes. I would like to think I am a cautious, smart, 30 year old gal ha. I was home alone with my infant, trying to run water in my eyes, and also look the poison control number up on the net. If it had been saved in my phone things would have been much easier. They were great and even called me back to make sure my vision had cleared.
Sara, thanks for sharing your story too! I know, it’s crazy how little things like that happen around the house. Thanks for reading.
When my little girl was 7 months old she got into a top drawer of our bathroom (thanks to the extra height boost of the walker) and grabbed a bottle of Mercurochrome. She had for about 5-10 seconds before I realized. She had red liquid ALL OVER HER. I freaked out of course. Called poison control immediately. Upon further inspection, I realized she never got the bottle open. But her slobber lubricated the dried mercurochrome and the mess was born. She was fine. Thank God. I called a second time last year, but I cannot honestly remember why. Something about medicine again. Eesh.