The Karvol incident

Today while I was giving my eldest Calpol cos she has a fever, youngest tries out a Karvol capsule.  As I am giving daughter a hug and settling her back in bed I hear gagging/coughing from the other room. I run in and find Edward coughing and drooling and holding a slightly dented Karvol capsule in his hand.  I rush him to the sink to get him to spit and throw the capsule in the bin. I brush his teeth so he'll spit some more and then give him a drink then I read the empty packet (which I know only had one in there) and it says if swallowed seek medical attention immediately.  I call NHS Direct who respond very quickly and despite the fact that the lines are busy they call back within 5 minutes. So that's not great.  And the symptoms I have to look for are not good either, but I feel relaxed as much as you can in such a circumstance, because he doesn't have any symptoms once I have made him spit out  but then they say he has to be observed for 4 to 6 hours and then if nothing has occurred I can breathe again and not have to rush him to A&E. The nurse on the phone gave me a sensible lecture on keeping medicines safely which is fair enough.  But he is so different to his sister. She would have had no interest in looking into a cupboard or climbing up to try something like that. I'm not sure that unless its locked I can keep him out of everything.  She said that her sister had a merry dance (exact quote) with her daughter who was in and out of A&E including when she drank bleach as a small child - eeek   Loo Cleaner too??! Oh my word.  Some children require a whole lot more PPE than others.  So I have to blog that post parenting course the progress made depends on having a well stimulated child who does not have to compete for attention.  I'm not sure that there is a course that actually faces the reality that you don't just deal with one child at a time.