“Mommy, where’d the money go?”
“What money, sweetie?”
“The money.”
“Hold on. There was a penny there on the table, wasn’t there.”
“Where did it go?”
“Wait…where did it go Thalia?”
“I eat it.”
“You what? You ate the penny? Are you just saying that?”
“I put it on my tongue. I eat it. I swallow it.”
“And you swallowed it? You swallowed that penny? Why?”
“Whyyyyyy?”
“Yes, why?”
“I would like some dinner mommy.”
“You ate the penny because you’re hungry?”
“I would like a sandwich mommy. And milk in a cup.”
“Don’t eat money any more Thalia. You could choke. You could get sick. Do you understand?”
“Okay mommy.”
“Or at least eat dimes. They’re smaller.”
—-
Update 10/3: The incident has passed. So to speak.
62 shards of brilliance… read them below or add one
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I’ve heard that since pennies are no longer made of copper, but zinc, they can be really hazardous if swallowed. The zinc degrades in your stomach and develops jagged edges. I think it would be worth a call to your pediatrician. The other coins aren’t as dangerous.Here’s some info from Mayo Clinic’s website: “Pennies minted after 1982 are made almost entirely of zinc. When these coins are exposed to stomach acid, they begin corroding almost immediately. A Duke University study showed the combined mixture of zinc and stomach acid creates a solution as corrosive as car battery acid. Lodged pennies can cause severe ulceration of the stomach.If your child swallows a penny, wait 1 or 2 days to see if it passes through his or her system. If the coin doesn’t appear in your child’s stools or if your child has stomach pain or vomits, take him or her to the emergency room.”
According to the anonymous post above, it looks like you have a fun two days of poo archeology ahead of you.Happy digging!
Thank you anon. I’m not freaked out at all. Stool watch 2007 replaces Clooney watch 2007 starting now.
Eli did this when she was two. She was sooooooo amazed when the penny came out in her poo that she wanted to immediately swallow another one to repeat the experiment. My little scientist…make sure you repeat the trial ‘n’ times for statistical significance!
Aw, Mom101 you stole my comment! I was going to say the exact same thing.
As for anonymous, there’s always one, isn’t there? I’m sure she’ll be fine. Kids eat coins all the time.
I’d be willing to come over there and take over Clooney Watch 2007, if you like.
maybe you’ll get interest on it???
Oh dear. Good luck on the poo watch.Your headline was great.
I read your post and laughed. Tacy asked why I was laughing, so I told her that your daughter ate a penny. And she asked, “Why?”I told her, “That’s what Liz wants to know too.”(I really hope it doesn’t wreak any havoc inside or on its way out. Eeeesh.)
Sorry, I am laughing too…only because < HREF="http://brittanyeo.blogspot.com/2007/09/orifice-space.html" REL="nofollow">I feel your pain.<>Don’t let the first comment freak you out. My daughter’s penny came out a mere 12 hours later.
Hey, you think she could swallow a dime and poop out 10 pennies? Because that would be AWESOME.
Feed that child! LOLKids swallow coins all the time. Unless she emptied a piggy bank, I wouldn’t worry. If it ends up earning interest let me know- I’ll start putting quarters into my kid’s food ASAP. *chuckles*
Oh, lordy. I love the coyness of toddlers. “Where did the money go?” Come on mommy, ask me where the money went so that I can TELL YOU I SWALLOWED IT MOUAHAHAHAHHAAAA!Feed her some prunes, it’ll speed right through.
Oh, fun, in that not-so-fun kind of way.Reason #45 why I’m glad Cordy isn’t a kid who puts things in her mouth. But Mira is, so I’m sure I’ll be in the same situation someday.Hope it passes without any problems.
Next she’ll start stuffing things up her nose or into her ears. My kids were both keen on peas in nasal passages and peanuts in the ear canals.Our pediatrician keeps the evidence of his extractions taped to their charts. It’s pretty funny when the pea that was removed from your son’s nose is compared to the pea that the very old pediatrician removed from your husband’s nose some 27 years earlier. (Yes, my kids go the same doctor my husband once went to). So if it makes you feel better, kids have been eating strange things and shoving weird items up their noses for ages. Or maybe is a weird gene that my husband passed along. Who knows?
*snort* Pennies: Part of a balanced diet.
Excellent mommy advice on the dimes! And, hey — she probably needed some minerals in her diet, right? (Sorry!)
Zinc is supposed to be good for immunity too, I think.I hope it passes without any problems and increases her cold resistance.
OMG. The post was funny, but the comments just keep getting better.
Hey, I think anything smaller than a quarter is less of a choking hazard. Now anonymous has got me all freaked out too. My goat (Holden) has eaten pennies in the past. That’s right, I said PENNIES plural.Happy diaper diving.
The way the dollar is holding up on the market, she did a good thing by eating it.
oh for the love of pete, sounds like it is time for some prune brownies.
We thought Lovebug swallowed a guitar pic once. To keep Papa from taking it away from him he put it in his mouth. I even had him in a head lock trying to get it out only to find nothing in his mouth. I checked his poop for almost a week … finally found the guitar pic in our bedroom – lol.
TB I have done that. Just make sure the baby is in the sling on the LEFT side or you’re screwed. Unless you’re a leftie.
I did this when I was little too! 2 days later, I got to deposit the penny in my piggy bank. Just kidding – it got flushed. My mom didn’t feel like poo digging that day.
At least she has good taste. We all know how Nate’s cooking is…
What a coincidence, Bossy sh*ts her savings away.
Maybe she wants to be a piggy bank for Halloween. Couldn’t resist.
Dimes are not nearly as filling.
I swallowed a dime when I was 10!There is just no excuse for that.
It’s times like these you’re happy not to have started potty training, eh?Now that’s a story to put in her baby book…
Sad thing is, if she ate one, there have been others. Despite what Anon said, almost all kids have probably swallowed a few cents. As long as you don’t find a bagful like on Grey’s last week, I’m sure she’s fine. ps. when my brother was two he said he swallowed a toy giraffe. He eventually “found” it in the toy chest. After my mom has been checking his poop for a week.
Isn’t this the child that barely tries any new food???? And she eats a penny!?!? Poor George. Replaced by poop.
This is the same Thalia of NY Times fame? Just checking, because now I’m wondering about their other sources. I’ll bet half the Bush admin still swallows change on a regular basis, come to think of it.
My son swallowed a Lego man head his uncle let him play with w/o my knowledge. Imagine my suprise when I opened his diaper and saw a smiley piece of corn in the poo! After I dug it out and figured out what it was, I gave it back to my brother w/o telling him where it had been. BTW my brother is 31. Just so you don’t think I’m giving little children poo-y toys!
Ha! I love how specific Thalia is about her requests. “I would like some milk in a cup.” As opposed to you pouring it down her throat straight from the jug. You make me laugh. And I am pretty sure my three year old has swallowed dimes, pennies, AND nickles and he’s just fine. No worries there.
hi! delurking here in honor of delurking day, to say holy hell that first comment scares the crap out of me
LOL. When I was much older than Thalia, when I was grand old lady of 17 or so, I swalloed an air rifle pellet. That too did pass.But you know, the damn things are made of lead so it just wouldn’t flush away. Stayed put at the bottom of the pot for yonks and embarrassed the hell out of me.
My little darling swallowed 2 pennies one night. After a trip to the doctor the next morning, an x-ray to make sure the money was on the move, and several doses of a laxative to speed things along, the money passed. He actually wanted to dig around in the toilet to get them out…that would be a big negative there, son!
Well there was probably less lead in it than some toys…Seriously though, I have never had a child swallow a penny yet. But I’ve played the lodge an item up the nose and have to have it extracted game before.
When I was 16 yrs old, I used to babysit for the hottest male I’d ever laid eyes on and his entirely too plain wife. I loved him. I tolerated her. Their kid was awesome. Plus they paid well and had a well stocked fridge. I was their sole babysitter for a year, guaranteed two nights or more a week. Until their little brat swallowed a dime and I told them about it.The plain wife fired me on the spot, citing a lack of due diligence as the reason. (So I talked on the phone a bit…kid didn’t choke and wasn’t bleeding…couldn’t be that bad.)It was a sad day to say good bye to the hottie man. All because the mom had to wait and see if the kid crapped out a dime.I’m still bitter.Hope Thalia passes the money load quickly.
I LOVE IT! My son did this twice to us, the first time we couldn’t find it in the diaper and the second time we did-you would have thought we won lotto! The shiny penny now resides in his baby book.k
My oldest did something similar by proudly pointing to his stomach when I asked him where the penny went and he said, “In tummy”. And it was.
LOLglad the offending penny has passed. amy
Glad to see that it passed! I’m sorry to say that I found this post while Googling the phrase “swallow a penny” because my toddler may have done just that a half hour ago.
I’ll never understand what makes pennies so delicious. Kids never eat quarters. Have you ever heard of a kid eating a quarter? Or a nickel? No, it’s always pennies. Maybe I’ll have to give one a try.
I was absolutely laughing outloud at this post (particularly your comment–”eat dimes, they’re smaller”) until I read Anon’s comments. Way to put a damper on it!First time visiting. Thanks for the laugh!
My 12 year old son swallowed a loonie and it never came out that we know of. He is 19 now and never had problems. He had an xray and the doctor saw it had just left his stomach and he said wait and see and I guess we’re still waitin’!
I know this post is almost a year old……but my son just swallowed a penny the other day&googled the phrase’swallowed a penny’……I’m glad I found this blog:)Good stuff!
I would not say that kids don’t swallow quarters, my oldest child did once. It was the worst thing ever rushig him to er, and then about fainted when they did xrays. It looked as if he had swallowed my rings as well…….note to others if you are holding your child down for xrays move your hands lol. So after putting him “under” they got some nifty pictures of the loged coin and pulled it out. Only took 45 min for whole thing. Back to why i am here my youngest has now ingested a penny thank god it was smaller, but still has not passed it, can’t do poop watch cuz it is just poo colored water coming out. Joy he seems to be pluged up. NOW WHAT DO I DO???
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