Hello, Poison Control

I had a pretty good streak going. I managed to make it through 821 days without a single call to Poison control. 2 years and 3 months of parenting without a kid-related call to 911. Day 822 broke my streak – and it was completely my fault.

RJ was fussing up a storm and just crying. We tried feeding him, rocking him, bouncing him, putting him down, pick him up…just about everything. We decided that the poor little guy had some nasty gas bubbles and we needed to help him out. So – I broke out the infant Mylicon. Without even thinking, I filled up the dropper and gave RJ the medicine. As soon as he has swallowed the dose, something didn’t feel right to me. Half thinking that the stuff was past its expiration, I started reading the bottle. To my horror, I realized that I had given him a double dose.

I controlled my panic in front of Rich, but took RJ upstairs and after about a minute decided to follow the advice on the bottle and call Poison Control for advice as to how to deal with this accidental overdose. Doing my best to control my tears, I dialed 911. I told the operator that I needed Poison control and she calmly offered to connect me right away. I’m glad she was calm – I was not.

Within 3 minutes, the whole ordeal was over and the nice gentleman at Poison Control assured me that Mylicon is not a toxic substance and a double dose would not harm RJ in any way. I went downstairs, tail between my legs, to tell Rich that I had called. His response? “I knew you were going to call.” At least our first call to Poison Control (and I’m sure not our last) was a minor one!