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A Victoria Mum shares terrifying experience after her three year old daughter accidentally swallowed a coin.

Allie Norman originally shared her warning in a parenting group on Facebook when she ended up in hospital with her little girl after she swallowed a 10 cent coin.

coin mf

A concerned nurse on call put her straight through to an ambulance who arrived in minutes and then proceeded to call the Mica paramedic team (intensive care unit) to meet them en route to the hospital because her little girl was choking and vomiting.

As you can see on the xray below the coin was stuck in little Matilda’s esophagus.

xtay

Alison explained to Mouths of Mums that being a typical 3 year old little girl, Tilly,  kept nagging for money because she was wanting to pay the carpet cleaner after mummy told her she could pay him when he was finished the job.

Alison shared that she gave Matilda 10 cents to play with, “I have never had a problem with her putting small things in her mouth so I thought why not?!”

“She started to gag and choke when I turned for a split second to look at the carpet being cleaned. It was then I asked if she had swallowed the coin and she choked out a yes. I started to pat her on the back.”

Little Tilly Began to Struggle

Alison said she planned to drive her to the hospital but after a drink of water she started to salivate and try to vomit but all that came up was bile and spit so she decided it was best to contact the nurse on call service who after grabbing her details put her straight through to the ambulance. The paramedics arrived within minutes.

Alison added, “She seemed settled so we were off to Wimmera Base hospital for an xray just to be sure. All of a sudden she started to vomit again and have trouble breathing. It was at this point I started to panic inside as I heard the paramedics call the Mica paramedic to meet us on the way.”

Even once they arrived at the hospital an Xray couldn’t be performed on Tilly laying down but rather she had to remain sitting.

coin

Xray revealed terrifying truth

“We were all in shock when we saw the xray appear on screen. I’m so grateful that a surgeon was there ready to perform the extraction then and there as we were looking at the possibility of an airlift to RCH in Melbourne.”

Little Tilly is now recovering well and Alison said you wouldn’t even know she’d been through such a traumatic experience except that she’s excited to show everyone her “lucky coin” and xray.

tilly

Alison’s message to other parents

“I just want other parents to know that it can happen to anyone, at any time. Please don’t hesitate to call 000 as I was…the paramedics are there to help. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

We are so glad little Tilly is OK.

Reading some of the comments from other parents about similar experiences is terrifying!

Mums share their stories

One mum shared, “When my daughter was 11 months old, her father finally agreed to let me have a sleep-in……. this is the morning she swallowed an open safety pin. It lodged in her throat in a very similar position to that coin. She was attempting to vomit it up and as it was scratching her oesophagus, she was vomiting blood. She had it surgically removed and I’ve never slept in again…. this was nearly 14 years ago.”

Another shared, “My son swallowed the front door key…. he put it between his lips and coughed and it some how went down… he was screaming laying on the floor with his knees up to his chest. Its terrifying to witness cause u dont actually know what’s going on. So glad your baby girl is ok. My son also had surgery to have it removed.”

key

Another said “My son swallowed a screw out of his bed at around 3.”

screw

And another, “My son has swallowed a monopoly piece.. no guessing which one. After 2 days luckily it left the building naturally..and now back where it belongs.”

monopoly

Share your comments below

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  • Thankfully none of my kids swallowed things like this. My yungest did get a pompom stuck up her nose though.

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  • In literally the blink of an eye your kids can go from being fine to fighting for their lives.

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  • It’s so hard to be vigilant enough around kids.

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  • Poor little thing, hope they are ok and recovering quickly.

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  • So scary.. but it can happen so easily. Glad she’s ok now !

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  • That would have been terrifying for you. So glad your little girl is okay now.

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  • What a frightening experience. We do know that little ones love to put things in their mouth, so I guess we just need to remain vigilant and have the conversations with them about why they shouldn’t put things in their mouth. Glad she’s okay and appreciate how scary this will have been for all concerned.

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  • Thank goodness she is ok now.

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  • poor little mite must have been terrified,glad she is ok now

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  • Wow I didn’t even realise swallowing a coin could be such a big deal!

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  • How scary. None of my kids swallowed anything that I know of but one of mine daughters did get a clear bit of sticky tape and put it up her nose. Boy was it hard to see because it was clear. I held her down and my hubby got the tweezers to pull it out. Thankfully we eventually got it out and no trip to the hospital or Dr’s was needed.

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  • One of my kids tried to swallow a Ping Pong ball, where he got it from I have no idea because we didn’t own any so maybe he got it from kids he played with.
    We were driving at the time & I noticed him fidgeting & coughing in the back seat so I asked my partner to pull over so I could check on him. When I opened his mouth I could see the white ball stuck in his throat but I couldn’t get it out, his father then had a go & was able to remove it using the Heimlich maneuver. I urge every parent to learn that & CPR for children as you may never know when you have a need for it. My other child tried to swallow a part from a microscope kit, the clear plastic that sits on top of a specimen lol. They are sent to test us I am sure & they keep us parents busy.
    Kids are very resourceful & part of how they explore our world is by putting things in their mouths, ear & nose simply because they can so as parents we have to stay watchful of what they are up to.


    • OMG how terrifying for you! Im so glad they are ok, but it must have been an awful experience

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  • So pleased those things never happened to me with my children, but they were always admonished that only food was to be put in their mouths. I often worry when I see littles given their mums purse to play with to keep them quiet, or a game toy that has batteries in it, or the car keys. It can easily happen that they get something to swallow out of all these things.

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  • Oh gosh! How scary for these families.

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  • This is really terrible! How terrifying.

    Reply

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