# Baby May Have Swallowed Pointy Plastic Bits!



## not_telling (Mar 31, 2008)

Left 10 month DS at my parents' for about 40 minutes while I went to the grocery store near their house. Came back to find out that they had been letting him play (i.e. mouth) with this hard plastic duck that had been one of my bath toys when I was little (so, we're talking plastic that's almost 30 years old). I had seen them offer it to him before, and while I felt kinda uncomfortable about it being old and plastic, I let it slide. Well, while he was playing with it today they realized that part of the duck's beak had broken off (into several little pieces) in DS's mouth. My dad tried to fish pieces out - which DS HATED - and he and my mom felt like they were not able to get every piece. So, there could be small, hard plastic pieces with sharp corners/points in DS's digestive system now.

I keep imagining he'll start hemorraghing or something.

What should I do? Should I be worried?


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## Caittune (Aug 2, 2006)

I think if it it was me, I'd call my doctor just to see what they recommended. I hope everything is ok!


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## Quinn's Mama (Mar 24, 2009)

I'd say call the pediatrician's office and ask if you should be concerned.

If you really want to make sure all the pieces come out you could give baby Ipecac to make baby throw it all up, but I don't know how much is safe for babies. Again ask Pedi about that.

Good luck.


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## saimeiyu (Aug 13, 2007)

I would just watch him for any sign of discomfort, and leave it at that.

The chances that the plastic is hard/sharp enough to cause major damage is rather small so I wouldn't worry. In a day or so you'll see if he ingested any of the plastic bits.


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## ChetMC (Aug 27, 2005)

DS has swallowed lots of stuff. He has two older sisters and gets a hold of a lot of things that are less than ideal. He has swallowed whole almonds and peanuts, a variety of plastic beads and small metal jingle bells. I didn't know about any of these until I found them in his diaper after the fact.

I agree that the plastic is probably not hard enough, big enough or sharp enough to cause a problem. it will probably pass right through. Coins and magnets are of particular concern, but I believe the advice on most inert object is to wait for it to pass.


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## nikkiethridge (May 6, 2008)

I seriously doubt it's anything to worry about.


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## birdie22 (Apr 1, 2005)

I specifically asked my ped about this one time, and she said the real danger is choking. Once the object actually goes down, it usually doesn't cause a problem.

Don't worry-- most likely, your baby spit out the little bits somewhere when you weren't looking.


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## not_telling (Mar 31, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies. I guess we're doing a "wait & see...everything is probably fine" approach. DS already had an appt. with the ped scheduled for tomorrow, so I'll mention it when we're there.

I'll be glad when the mouthing stage is over


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## amberskyfire (Sep 15, 2007)

Every time something like this happens and my baby manages to swallow something I just have to take some deep breaths and remind myself that before we all lived in beautiful houses with smooth spotless floors, we used to live outside on the ground and babies swallowed everything in sight all the time and the human race has survived thus far









I'm sure he'll be fine, just watch for any discomfort at all and take him to the hospital if he starts throwing up or showing any other signs of being in pain.


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## not_telling (Mar 31, 2008)

Well, our ped said that while, technically, yes....the pointy plastic pieces could cause some sort of problem, it would have been more likely a problem as they went down the throat than once they hit belly and intestines. She seemed to think all is fine.


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