Kids swallowing money.

[sunlver]

Yesterday my youngest(4 yrs old)swallowed a dime .. I was freaking out, I don't know why. I have 2 older kids, a boy who is 14 and another daughter 9. They have never swallowed anything.

I was on the computer, my little one said "mommy I swallowed a coin"...and I said "What coin", so she showed me where there was some change sitting on the end table(thanks to her father). I said "which one?"...well there was a quarter, and a nickel there. She told me it was the one smaller then the nickel. We figured out it was the dime. She wasn't in any pain, it wasnt stuck anywhere. BUT.. I was beside myself and started in my panic mode..I told my son to go get his father, who was outside and I started putting her shoes on. I "thought" we were suppose to take her to the hospital, I just didnt know.
My husband comes inside, and said he "thinks" she will be ok. I told him to call "Somebody"..first we call the hospital, they tell us, cant give out medical advice over the phone ..Then he called her Ped...you leave a message and they call right back(with in 3 minutes we got a return call). Dr said dimes are ok, not normally the cause of choking..by this point we knew the dime went down as she wasn't crying and nothing hurt her. She had a big glass a water and 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies and she was AOK..BUT..she kept wimpering.."mommy I dont want to go to the hospital".

Of course for my own sanity, I went in her room 3 times last night to make sure she was breathing...

She is my 3rd child, you would think I would be use to things like this

Any of your kids ever swallow coins???

 

[j&t'sdad]

If I was to poop out all the coins I swalled when I was a kid, I could retire early.

No worries.

 

[tedhowe]

Reminds be of an old joke:

As a new parent, when you first child swallows a coin, you head to the emergency room, have x-rays and get medical advice.

When your second child swallows a coin, you are vigilant in trying to make sure they pass the coin in their BMs.

When your third child swallow's a coin, you just deduct it from their allowance.



Not to make light of the situation, but I think you can relax. About the only danger in swallowing US coins (especially a dime) is at the time they are ingesting it (i.e. they might choke on the coin). If it's already gone down, there's nothing else to really worry about.

"This too shall pass"

 

[binny]

DD swallowed a quarter once. She was able to drink water so I thought she was ok. Pretty soon she started complaining that it hurt so to the ER we went. They did the Xray and sure enough it was stuck but at an angle so that was why the water went down. They were preppring her for a scope when she grabbed my hand and screamed "Mommy it HURTS BAD" she turned bright red and the Doctor was about to intervene when she jumped up and said " Ok all better!"

They did another Xray and sure enough it had passed on its own.

She is my second child the first had swallowed coins and done everything else so I normally wouldnt have worried about it but when the pain started I knew it was time to take her in.


They say that people with happy marriages live longer. I have never seen stats about people with kids! I swear they scare an hour of your life on a regular basis! LOL

 

[Minnie_me]

I saw the funniest bit on America's Funniest Home Videos about this!

They didn't want to go through the child's poo looking for the coin, so they used a metal detector each day to determine where the coin was.

At first, it was in her belly, then they had to turn her around and "scan" her bum. Then there was no metal detected at all. HILARIOUS!

 

[chattyann]

My son was in 1st grade and found a quarter on the playground. He didn't want anyone to take it, so he sticks it in his mouth. He ends up tripping and swallowing it. They call me and I hear him screaming in the background "I want my Mommy." I go get him and he is breathing ok but he says he can feel it, just joking DH tells him he can eat a stick of butter and make it go down. He didn't want to go to hospital because he was scared so he is begging us to let him eat the butter. I get him to the hospital and they x-ray him and it is lodged in his throat sideways, thank goodness! They tell him they will have to knock him out and use the scope to get the quarter. As they are wheeling him in the OR he tells the doctor that he wants the quarter back. Needless to say the quarter is now in his baby book along with the scope pictures showing the quarter lodged in his throat. This was all the night before my 3 yr old had his tonsils out. I spent half the night in the ER and then had to go to a different hospital the next morning for my other DS. That was a crazy couple of days.

 

[Amlee]

I swallowed an emerald ring when I was about 4. I was laying in the floor holding the ring up looking at it. It slipped out of my fingers and right down my throat. My mother who had told me not 5 seconds before to put it down, that I was going to swallow it, had got up and gone to the kitchen. She heard me choaking and came running. She jerked me up and started beating me on the back. She then grab me by the ankle and started shaking me upside down. The ring went down and I stopped choaking.

We went to the ER and they x-rayed me. Sure enough there the ring was. Sitting just above my stomach. They said we would have to come in every morning for an x-ray to make sure it was gone. After several days they told us if it hadn't moved by the next morning they would go in and remove it. So the next morning, we went in for an x-ray and poof it was gone.

 

[KATHINOWA]

DS swallowed a nickel when he was 2. We had many x-rays to make sure it wasn't lodged in his throat or intenstines. Evidently it passed because it wasn't on the last xray. Scary times for parents but fun stories for baby books.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd7 swallowed a quarter when she was 5. It got stuck, she was screaming, so DH took her to the ER. Finally, they gave her some morphine for the pain in an IV, and tried to see if it would move (xrays showed it was stuck right outside her lungs). Nope - they had to put her out, get a pediatric ENT to put a scope in and remove it. Pretty scary!

 

[Disney Doll]

My late dog ted swallowed a parking token once (about the size of a quarter). I spent about $300 in x-rays for them to tell me it had passed out of his stomach and into his intestines and would therefore "pass" out the other end within the next couple of days.

It did. I had to "check" to make sure it came out (hand in a plastic bag to feel his business). I told my DH we should have saved that token and made it into a necklace...it cost as much as a piece of jewelry!

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

My oldest swallowed a penny this summer. We went to an urgent care center to get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't lodged somewhere. It was the cutest little x-ray I've ever seen.

I agree with the PP, this too shall pass.

 

[Piglets Mommy]

My DS, who was 4 at the time, swallowed a Penny when DD was a week old. I had put him to bed, and was Nursing DD when DS comes in the room and says "Mommy, I swallowed a Penny. He clearly wasn't choking, but I called the pediatrician just in case. They called back and suggested that I take him to the ER just in case, as there was a slight possibilitiy that it could poke a hole in his intestine or cause a blockage if it didn't pass completely. Of course this was DH's first day back to work, AND he had a class that night and wouldn't be home until 11 pm, and since I was still unable to drive (and didn't particularly want to take a newborn DD to the ER and expose her to who knows what) So after DH gets home at 11Pm he had to wake up DS and take him to the ER for an Xray. The X ray showed the penny, not blocking anything, but the told us to check his poop each time he went to make sure the pennt passed... Let me tell you that nursing a newborn while digging through poop in a toilet with a plastic spoon is no fun

 

[Iott Family]

My parents sent me a money tree for my 30th to bring me good luck/fortune in the coming year. A couple of days later DH was changing DS's diaper and he hollars for me to come quick. There was a penny lodged in the #2 in DS's diaper. So we called my parents and said thanks for sending us the money tree but it only produces riches by the penny. Needless to say until that diaper change we didnt even know DS had swallowed the penny......

Lord only knows what all children swallow that passes thru unnoticed!

 

[sunlver]

Thanks everybody for sharing your money swallowing stories with me

My 4 yr old is acting fine today and we still havent seen any signs of the mysterious coin she swallowed

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Actually, pennies made after 1982 contain zinc which can be dangerous. I have seen dogs who became quite ill after eating pennies.

 

[freckles and boo]

One of my nephews swallowed a coin a few years ago. I think he was seven or eight at the time. It was probably one of the luckiest things he ever did. My sister-in-law is a nurse and she was worried so they took him in for an x-ray. The x-ray revealed an enormous benign tumor in the back of his chest cavity behind his heart and lungs. It was snaking with tendrils all over the place. It is the kind of thing that would never have been found until it began pressing dangerously on his organs or spine. It was difficult to remove and they probably didn't get all of it, but now they know about it and can keep it in check. Things might have been different had he not swallowed that nickel!

 

[java]

The week we moved into this house my then 6 year old swallowed a quarter. He had a loose tooth and was using the quarter to wiggle it and then -pop down his throat. It was stuck in his throat- he could breathe- but I could see it! Emergency room- stressful surgery- no quarter- it had passed down by the time they got him into the OR
So once it passed the airway- they said no problem and just watch if they say their stomach hurts. And yep- check the poop. Delightful and one I am definately saving for the "OH YEAH Well I had to check your poop for a week- you bet you're going to....." but I'm saving it for something good.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

My oldest swallowed a penny this summer. We went to an urgent care center to get an x-ray to make sure it wasn't lodged somewhere. It was the cutest little x-ray I've ever seen.

I agree with the PP, this too shall pass.

We haone of those. My DS swollowed 2 pennies when he was 5, he said it felt like they were stuck so off to to ER we went. They had him eat some bread and drink a milk then took an X-ray. It was so funny, we could see all his little bones and these 2 pennies sitting in his stomach. When he saw the Xray he asked he tech which way they landed-heads or tails. We were all cracking up at that point because he was so serious, he really wanted to know. We never did see those pennies again. However, after hearing my DBIL and his wife laughing at us (poo searching) over the phone we mailed them 2 pennies.

 

[lovetoscrap]

As a young parent I went to Moms Club presentation given by a local ER Dr called "the $6000 Penny" ! He brought in all sorts of stories and xrays of kids that swallowed coins and the procedures etc. It was very interesting. And I kept all change picked up carefully after that!