Toddlers and Tums What are the risks?

Janet - posted on 11/11/2011

my son was around a year and a half old and got into my bottle of Tums, I knew there had been about 8-10 left in the bottle and it was empty when I found him.

I called Canada Poison Control right away, and the lady on the phone told me that it wouldn't harm him. And I asked "What if he ate a whole bottle?" And she
said "Even then its still not harmful."

Hope that answers your question. :)

Michelle - posted on 11/10/2011

Melissa: You didn't say that you had rung poison control in your original post. That's why everyone was telling you to. It seemed as if you were asking us for advice and what the side effects were but as most people said, we aren't professionals, that's why the advice was to ring someone.



A good thing to do when you do post on here is to put as much information in your original post otherwise you will get responses telling you to do what you may have already done.

Kelina - posted on 11/14/2011

because one bad experience is all it takes for a person to think twice about doing it again. Maybe it's simply the way we are reading it but some of the posts do seem a little berating. Granted she didn't post that she had already called poison control but we also don't know what they told her. soemtimes, say when you're already feeling like the worst parent in the world because your baby got into something that could have been dangerous, feeling like people are judging you is the only thing it takes to scare you off.

Jane - posted on 11/09/2011

Instead of posting on the Internet you need to call Poison Control - they will have the definitive answer. National US hotline is 1-800-222-1222.

[deleted account]

Anyone that thinks any comment on this post was in any way an attack.... hasn't been around here very long. lol

If the op had mentioned she had called poison control.... that advice would not have been given. It wasn't given as an ATTACK, but as a concern for the well being of a child. How is that not being supportive?

Sharlene - posted on 11/16/2011

I messaged you way before,Just wondering how's your toddler now??? LOL

Melissa - posted on 11/16/2011

THANK YOU Kelina!!!! Amen sista someone on here gets what I am saying!!!! AHHHHH

Bonnie - posted on 11/14/2011

Melissa, honestly, just because you had one experience on here that didn't quite go the way you thought it would, why would you tell yourself that you are never going to post on here again? I see so many moms do that because of one experience and I just can't understand why.

[deleted account]

I agree w/ Jane. You specifically asked ...What are the risks, side effects if any?

Which is something that Poison Control would have/should have told you.... You asked COM members for MEDICAL advice.... Not parental support... which a lot of us members have a LOT to share.

Jane - posted on 11/13/2011

But if you had already spoken to Poison Control, why did you need to ask us if Tums would hurt your child? They are the experts. You don't need a second opinion.

Why didn't you ask if anything similar had happened to us and our kids? Or say that you wanted support? Or ask how we keep our children out of pill bottles?

Perhaps you misunderstand how sites like CoM work. We share experiences and information gained from our own lives with our children. Other than a very few of us who are medical professionals, most of us do not have any professional experience in medicine. We cannot answer a question like the one you asked. We might be able to answer the question you wanted to ask, but since we didn't know what it was we couldn't.

Melissa - posted on 11/13/2011

I think it was about the delevery of some of the messages! In a panic and at 3am sometimes things get left out! I should've mentuioned that i called poison controll but in a panic i didn't my bad however the delivery is all wrong by some of you. Again if I had not thought to call pc and was a mom suffering from depression or ppd then some of these posts could be rather detremential! I do agree with Cara though! I will NEVER use the internet or a mom group for support again! it's kind of a shame!!! Anywho on to the next ordeal!

Bonnie - posted on 11/12/2011

How are we suppose to know if something was done if it wasn't mentioned originally ugh. Everything can't always be considered an attack.

Liz - posted on 11/11/2011

I don't think anyone was being a piranha mom, Cara. Important information was kinda missing from the post.

Mom - posted on 11/11/2011

Melissa, anytime you are worried about something a child got in to, call your local poison control center immediately.

Cara - posted on 11/11/2011

I don't think I would ever post anything here asking for support with all you piranha moms waiting around to attack someone. every mom needs support, not these attacks and criticisms

Kelina - posted on 11/11/2011

baahahaha the things kids get into when we think they're out of reach. My nephew ate a pack of my sisters birth control once lol he was fine. Kids are funny.

Rachael - posted on 11/11/2011

My daughter Kayla once found a roll of Rolaids out of my purse and when I found her she had eaten all of them!! I called TELECARE (hospital) and they said it wouldn't hurt her and it didn't. (This was in the middle of the night when we were all asleep except her I guess!!) Hope this helps :-)

Tina - posted on 11/11/2011

yeah I've seen alot of questions asking for medical advice when your first instinct should be to go to a doctor. So many people turn to the internet first, no not the best thing to do. Though people probably could have been a little nicer about how they commented. Some people aren't good in a crisis, they panic and sometimes don't make the best decisions. You can tell them to seek medical advice straight away without being critical.

Jodi - posted on 11/10/2011

Melissa, if you had given the information that you had called Poisons Info, no-one would have mentioned it. Given that we see all types here, their advice was actually spot on. Believe it or not, there are mothers out there who wouldn't. The things we've seen on this site!!!

My daughter got into some Quickeze once (same stuff as Tums) and ate nearly an entire pack, and she had no side effects that I saw. They'd have to eat an awful lot of them to be sick. If you knew how many were in the pack, you could probably have a good guess at how many he had, and by the sounds of it, it wasn't that many.

Jane - posted on 11/10/2011

You didn't ask for support. You asked for medical advice. You neglected to tell us that you had already called Poison Control. Don't blame us if you didn't communicate well what you wanted. We can only respond to what you have written.

That said, no one should make fun of you for posting.

There IS such a thing as too much calcium carbonate. It isn't common and I think you have to take a lot of it over time. Drugs,com says to seek emergency medical attention or call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222. It goes on to list overdose symptoms as including nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, constipation, confusion, delirium, stupor, and coma.

Kate CP - posted on 11/10/2011

It's basically baking soda. Might give him gas but that's about it.

Sherri - posted on 11/10/2011

Honestly if he only ate a few tums will not hurt the avg. child. My son was on them medically at a young age and all it really will do is give him some extra calcium. I wouldn't worry.

Melissa - posted on 11/10/2011

Just so EVERYONE knows...I'm not an idiot, I called poison control before i came here!!!! I was under the impression this would be more of a support system for moms that have adventerous kids but apparently not Thank you all for your wonderful advise but again I'm not a MORON! and will probably never post again...geez good thing i wasn't suffering from post partum!!!!

Liz - posted on 11/10/2011

My tip would be either to tape a label with the number of the Poison Control hotline on your phone (if a landline) or add it to contacts in your cell phone. If your child swallows something that might be harmful, never waste time, but call them straight away. They are courteous and helpful people. Much better to call them and be told that a situation doesn't require any medical intervention than not to call and find out, too late, that it did.

Bonnie - posted on 11/10/2011

Us moms might know a lot, but we don't know everything. Take the life of your son into a professionals hand...call poison control or go see a doctor.

Sharlene - posted on 11/09/2011

I think Im speaking for everyone here are you SERIOUS

Tinker1987 - posted on 11/09/2011

jeez,my mama bear instinct would be to call Poison control Or a health Link,or possibly take him in to the ER.

Ez - posted on 11/09/2011

We are not doctors and can not give medical advice. Call the Poison hotline.