Poison Control Hotline

If you have a two-year old, you may want to write down this number: 1-800-222-1222. It's the number to the Poison Control Hotline. We have two children and have used this number twice, most recently this morning.

Matthew is quite adventurous and will eat anything he thinks may be remotely tasty. Stickers, dog food and other paper products have become a staple of his diet. This morning while I was getting ready for church, Matthew found a roll of Rolaids. Chris walked in the room just in time to see Matthew popping one into his mouth. He had ingested about half the roll, which we guessed to be 5 to 6 Rolaids tablets.

So we called Poison Control. We were worried about the amount of aluminum or magnesium or whatever element is in Rolaids and the effect it would have on Matthew's little body. The Poison Control people told us not to worry, just have Matthew drink as much juice as we could get in him. That's exactly how they put it. They assured us that they would call back in an hour to check on him, and if his tummy started to hurt, we should take him to the hospital.

So now my task is to force Matthew to drink "as much juice as I can get into him." The problem is, I had just fed Matthew breakfast and he had a whole cup of milk. He wasn't too keen on drinking the juice, and for those of you who have had children, it is difficult to get a two year old to eat or drink anything he doesn't want to.

So I resorted to a variation on an age-old game often played in pubs, bars and colleges everywhere. I told Matthew that I'd read him nursery rhymes, but after every page, he had to drink the apple juice. Yes, I taught him a drinking game. But it worked. We made a game out of it and he finished almost two sippy cups full of juice.

The Poison Control people called back; Matthew is fine and hasn't asked for any more Rolaids.