# Has anyone else's child ever swallowed a penny?



## Rainbowbird (Jul 26, 2004)

Yep, my DS swallowed one on Monday. Right in front of me! We were putting pennies in his piggy bank and he tried to hand one to his baby sister. I told him she couldn't have one because she might choke on it. He put the penny in HIS mouth in an instant, right in front of my face. I said, "DS, did you just put that penny in your mouth? Give it to me, please!" I leaned toward him to open his mouth. Gulp. "DS, give Mommy the penny!" "It's in my tummy, Mommy. It hurt my throat!"

Fortunately, the penny went down all the way and he did not choke or anything. I called the dr. and they told me not to worry, as long as it was swallowed and he had no respiratory distress, it would pass. The nurse I spoke to was very nice. She said I could look for it in his stool but that I did not have to. I chose not to.

A day or so later he started having really stinky, loose stools. But we had gone shopping the day of the penny incident and he had chosen fruits and veggies and had been eating lots of them this week. Other than the loose stools, he has been fine, eating lots, playing, no complaints. On the phone to the ped. again today. Once again the nurse assured me that it would not be the penny causing loose stools. She said vomiting or stomach pains would be cause for concern, but the cause of the loose stools is either viral or dietary.

Soooo....here I am trying not to worry even though the nurse told me not to. I wish I had looked for that penny right from the get go! I have started the past couple of days but haven't seen anything, and who knows, it might be too late, could have already passed.

Has anyone else ever dealt with this????

And just a word to the wise---children can pop things in their mouths SO fast even with you right there! My son is almost 3 and I really did not expect him to put a penny in his mouth, he gets all the usual warnings about that and has since he was tiny. But there you go....

My advice is keep those pennies out of reach even when you're right there!


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## klstomi (Aug 17, 2003)

I agree Rainbowbird - get the pennies out of reach!

On Thanksgiving Eve my son had a mouthful of banana or so I thought. He threw his head back to laugh & then started to cry. I thought he may have had a chunk that was a bit big in there so I turned him upside down on my leg and began to thump his back. When he opened his mouth I saw nothing but he kept pointing & crying. I tried to give him a drink but that made him worse. He wasn't becoming cyanotic or having trouble breathing but I was getting scared after 10 minutes. I tried him upside down on my leg again & he started to gag & then threw up a penny! I had been right in front of him the whole time & NEVER SAW IT GO IN!

Scariest 10 minutes of my life! I just held onto him for a long time & was numb after that! Now money in our house is put away at all times!


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## Kristine233 (Jul 15, 2003)

No worries mama! Its hard not to worry but I was assured (the hard way as well) that if it goes down it'll come out. My munchkin swallowed lightbright peds. Not the sharp pointy kind but the rounded kind smaller than a mike and ike. My oldest was playing with her lightbright while Mackenzie was napping, Mackie was about 1 1/2 years old. Joscelyne finished up and didnt put the lightbright away, Mackie woke up and came out and downed a few. (I was changing my 3 year old's diaper.) I paniced and felt awful. This had all happened in a matter of minutes (between oldest walking away form the game and the incident), I couldnt believe it! I called her Ped right away and he said no worries but if I wanted I could bring her in. He gave her a clean bill of health. He said we wouldnt see anything on x-ray because they are plastic but joked that we could "plug her in" if we were bored. (it worked, the joke did soften my mood, lol). The next morning, sure enough, her first poop was explosive, and it wasnt just a few lightbright pegs, it was a bunch. *sigh*. I was mortified, but relieved at the same time. They all came out fine and she was good to go.


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## Slabobbin (Jan 29, 2004)

I never had this problem with my DS but I anticipate having it with my DD. She my child, a copy of me, through and through.


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## Christi (Nov 21, 2001)

When ds was about 18 months. My mom was changing his diaper and she saw a dime in the poop














I was a bit surprised. I was unaware that he was even near any money


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## WuWei (Oct 16, 2005)

Unfortunately, pennies are one of the most caustic items that a child could swallow because of the zinc in them. They could cause problems (a hole in the gut) if it gets stuck; especially in the valve from stomach to small intestine or within the small intestine. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1201033841.htm

A friend's daughter swallowed a marble which I believe took about 8 days to pass. Apparently, a penny needs to pass much sooner (2-4 days) or be xrayed for location and movement. Do continue to check the stool and notify your doctor if it hasn't been found in the next day or so.

Pat


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## christiab (Jan 13, 2004)

I remembered reading how it isn't safe to swallow pennies anymore because they are made of zinc and not copper these days. They can cause ulcers if they don't pass on their own. Here's a link that explains it.

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/199...runc_sys.shtml


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## Rainbowbird (Jul 26, 2004)

I read that article, but I also read an article or two written by doctors claiming that the article is misleading and unnecessarily frightening to parents since it is so very rare that any complications ever occur.

However, I'm generally pretty easily worried as you could probably tell from my post so I am calling the dr. on Mon. if DS continues to have diarrhea. His stool was going back to normal today, though.

All the articles I read mentioned that likely complications from a penny stuck in the stomach would be vomiting and stomach pain, and DS has none of those, thankfully.

However, I still would rec. to anyone else that you do check the stools just for peace of mind.

I swear I will be completely gray before he is in kindergarten.


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## winter_dawn (May 10, 2005)

My oldest DS swallowed a penny when he was about 15 months old, but I never knew until two weeks later. The penny had become lodged at the top of his esophagus and whenever he would try to eat the food couldn't pass, so he would gag it up. I can't count how many trips I made to the ER only to be told, "It's a stomach virus, just keep him on a bland diet.". Finally, after the umpteenth time of me explaining that he gagged immediately, so how could it be his stomach when the food wasn't even making it that far, a doctor had the common sense to take an x-ray and there was the penny. We had to take him to another hospital that had the right size instruments to have it removed, they put him under general anesthesia and he was out of surgery in about half an hour. Other than a sore throat, he was fine, and he still has the penny saved in a plastic container to this day--14 years later. BTW, he swallowed the penny while he was visiting my parents for the weekend, and my then teenage brother wasn't too careful about where he put things, meaning his room was a total mess.


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## Ravin (Mar 19, 2002)

My DD recently swallowed a small wooden bead. No idea where she found it. I discovered it when she pooped it into her little potty, about ten minutes after spending an hour on the big toilet.


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## jenn5388 (Nov 6, 2005)

Well My DD hasn't done it.. but when I was 6 I swallowed a quarter. lol My mom took me to the doctor and all he said was that it would come back to us in a couple days. If you know what I mean.









I have never heard of swallowing something like that causing any problems, if it made it down the throat alright.









Miranda (DD) has swallowed other interesting things though that I didn't know about until i found them in her diaper.


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## canadiyank (Mar 16, 2002)

I found a penny in dd2's diaper - it freaked me out since I didn't know she'd eaten it!


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## jwozy (Dec 14, 2005)

Gosh, I need to tell my husband to be more careful as to where he leaves his change. My ds is tall enough now to reach things on the counter and I found him playing with change and he also got into a box of Godiva chocalates...sigh...


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## Alkenny (May 4, 2004)

My DD swallowed a dime when she was little. It passed, but we were looking for it too.


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## mommy love (Feb 23, 2005)

nop ds never swallowed money but he did swallow a bi black button

I saw him put something in his mouth i went to get it out and bye bye he swallowed it

it ended up in a poopy diamper later that day


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