Me (in store on cell phone): Umm, hey Matt, you think Keeley could swallow one of those big long twisty ties without making some sort of complaint about it?
Matt: Uh, no, why?
Me: Well I got some of these measuring cups from the store, figured I’d let her chew on them, and I knew they were bound together with something, all the sudden she dropped them and looked startled, but I swept her mouth out immediately and didn’t find anything.
Matt: Well, it probably just flew off and you couldn’t find it.
Later, at home…
Me: Are you sure she couldn’t swallow it, like 100%?
Matt: I’m positive, you’re worrying for nothing.
Me: Sigh, okay.
Bad mommy!–I still don’t think she could have possibly even gotten it into her mouth without complaint, let alone swallowed it, I mean she gags if she puts her fingers in too far, and the thing was twisted all around the cups, if she got it off, it was by force, not slowly untwisting and lengthening it all out or rolling it up into a ball to swallow, she was too interested in gnawing on the cups. And there’s the fact that she would have had to drop the cups, figure out HOW to get it into her mouth, and then swallow, and I looked directly from the cups falling to her mouth, swept her mouth, checked her hands and swept her mouth again, and nothing. Still doesn’t make it any better. Note to self: If you’re going to give the baby something to chew on, make sure the extra bits are removed before you do so.. sigh. But we SHOULD have fun stacking them up today!
You’re not a bad mommy. Just not a perfect mommy. None of us are. Remember, I’m the one whose baby did a backflip of the changing table, and if that didn’t kill her, the humongous pile of walmart bags she landed on did cushion her fall but also covered her face. Talk about feeling like a bad mom!! She wasn’t able to roll or scooch (is that how you spell that? It looks funny), but dug her toes in and pumped her legs.
Anyway, she probably did not swallow it. And if she did, she can’t choke on it now, so that issue is over. If she suddenly seems to be having strange tummy issues, and you really aren’t convinced she didn’t swallow it, then talk to your doctor, because if she did swallow it – and hasn’t pooped it out within a couple of days – it could cause damage to her insides.
But chances are, she didn’t.
Mark said there was a kid a couple of years back (I think he was about 3) who had swalled a whole GI Joe. That would be tricky.
I doubt she swallowed that twisty tie – but if she did – as long as it went down okay, it will come out. The doctor told me that once – the “going in” tube is a lot smaller than the “coming out” tube!!!