A mum has described how her baby accidentally swallowing a minuscule amount of a popular cough and cold ointment was \u201clike being in a horror movie\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eleven-month-old Poppy developed a violent reaction which left her rocking her head, rolling her eyes and becoming as \u201cstiff as a plank\u201d after licking a smidgeon of Vicks VapoRub.<\/p>\n
Baby Poppy with dad David Lloyd<\/p>\n
Carly Lloyd was told by paramedics that her daughter could have died after grabbing the open pot, which had slipped out of her handbag.<\/p>\n
Packaging on the mentholated ointment clearly states that the product should be kept out of the reach of children and should not be used on children under the age of two but Carly was unaware of the warnings, and wanted to share her experience to make more people aware.<\/p>\n
Mother-of-four Carly, 38, said she had no idea the medication was so toxic, and although she had used it on herself and her family for years, she has vowed to never have it in the house again.<\/p>\n
The harrowing ordeal unfurled as she was changing Poppy\u2019s nappy at their home in Sidcup on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In a split second, Carly saw what had happened and wiped it out of Poppy\u2019s mouth and hands, but within 15 minutes, she started to vomit.<\/p>\n
As a precaution, Carly called 111 but was told as it was just \u201ca fingernail\u201d amount and, at the time, she was not showing any other symptoms, she should be fine.<\/p>\n
Two hours later, her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n
Carly said: \u201cShe was nodding violently and crying in pain. Her head then swung from side to side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked as though it was gradually attacking her brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
As husband David tried to cradle her in his arms, she started to go stiff and \u201czone out\u201d.<\/p>\n
The terrified couple then dialled 999 and an ambulance rapid response team arrived within minutes.<\/p>\n
The Lloyd family – mum Carly with baby Poppy and (from left) Daisy, 10, Harry,13 , dad David and Ellie,14<\/p>\n
After being stabilised within an hour, Poppy was taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington for observation.<\/p>\n
Carly now wants to alert parents about the ointment, which can be bought over the counter and has been widely used for ailments for more than a century.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI just want to make people aware of how dangerous this stuff is. I have been using it for years. My mum used it on me when I was young.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely there should be a red sticker on the lid to alert parents? And why does it not have a child safety lock, like Calpol?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is said it is suitable for children over the age of two, but what if they rub it on their chest and put it into their mouths?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing was crazy and very scary. It was like being in a horror movie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ambulance woman said she could have died if she had taken more. And I gave her a bottle of milk, which lined her stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the manufacturers, American-based Procter and Gamble, said: \u201dWe were really sorry to hear about this unfortunate accident and acknowledge the distress it must have caused the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety and well-being of those who use our products is our utmost priority.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like to provide reassurance that our products are safe when used as intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur packaging clearly states that this product should be kept out of the reach of children, should not be used on children under the age of two and provides helpful guidance on what to do if the product is accidentally ingested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vicks VapoRub is a mentholated ointment which is used to relieve a wide range of ailments, including sore throats, coughs, nasal catarrh, muscle aches and pains.<\/p>\n
It contains camphor, a toxic compound that can prove fatal for infants and children if swallowed, even in small doses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mum has described how her baby accidentally swallowing a minuscule amount of a popular cough and cold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[41573,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-86616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-bexley-and-bromley","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114476384531754017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}