My Toddler Fell Holding a Sippy Cup and Injured his Mouth #toddlers #pediatricER

Wednesday wasn’t a very good day for us. It was one day my husband went to work early for a big meeting out of the office. I was going to have to take my oldest to school – I usually just take my middle child to school (and the youngest comes with us). At 7:15 am, I heard screaming (I think I was in my bedroom). My toddler. Skylar had fallen, while holding his long sippy cup of Pediasure. He had been sick and not eaten much the past couple days, so I was trying to get some nutrition in him. His lip was all bloody (oh, there was a lot of blood!). I realized that he would need to go to the Emergency Room.

Quickly, I got my older son and daughter clothes to get dressed and fed them – I put Skylar into his feeding booster seat and cleaned him up and gave him motrin. It was kind of a blur and I was operating on autopilot. We got out of the house in record time. I dropped my older kid off at his school (they won’t let you walk them inside) and then I quickly drove to my daughter’s school and had to park and run her up (unfortunately, no one was answering the phone). She starts school at 9, thank god that they offer an earlier drop off. My sister-in-law (who is luckily a doctor) had called ahead to the pediatric emergency room at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital (at LIJ), which I drove up to at 8:45 AM. (Read more after the jump).

Luckily the pediatric ER wasn’t crazy busy and we were in a room fairly quickly. Skylar had calmed down a little. I put him on the bed in the room and lifted up the sides. He did try to dive off one time and I caught him by his pants leg (it could have ended in even more disaster!).

My father came to be with us (my mother was in Florida and my inlaws were upstate). The doctor came in to assess and besides a large chunk hanging out of his lip, it also looked like Skylar lost a tooth, and his two front teeth were a little askew. I didn’t see a tooth on the floor, but there was a protrusion in his gum (which turned out to be that lost tooth). I’m not going to post any pictures of what his mouth really looked like.

A dentist from the Pediatric Dental came to see us and she took us to the dental section. Skylar (who was not in good state and crying most of the day) was strapped into the chair (they have wraps to help calm and subdue the kids) and they sewed up his lip and examined him. And yes, there was screaming and I was a mess. But I had to buck up and not show how freaked out I was. They numbed his mouth, but elected not to do anything; hopefully the tooth that went up in his mouth will come out on its own). Most likely that tooth will be dead and there’s also a possibility that his two front teeth may die too.

We were released around 1pm and I picked up my older kids so I wouldn’t have to go out again (and Skylar could sleep). Problem is, he was so hungry that he was shaking. He couldn’t really open his mouth or use a straw, so I took a 1 tsp medicine syringe and shot Pediasure in his mouth. That helped and I finally got him to sleep.

He looked worse the next day because his lip really swelled up. I had to keep feeding him Pediasure, water, and oatmeal through the syringe (it takes a long time with 1 teaspoon increments!). On Friday, I picked up two teaspoon syringes from the lovely techs at the College Point Target Location, stocked up on a case of Pediasure, loads of pouches of baby food…etc.. Skylar still really isn’t eating, but he’s hydrated and not starving. It’s been tough, because he’s been coughing from all the drooling and up at 3 am every night. We’ll need to monitor him with a local pediatric dentist and have an appointment scheduled this Wednesday for local one.

But I definitely learned some things with this recent trip to the ER.

Tips:

• If you drive up to the Emergency Room at LIJ/Cohen’s (or probably most ER’s) they will park your car for you and it’s free.
• Because of our last experience in the Emergency room (in early September),  I knew to only go to a pediatric ER (there are two that are around a 20-25 minute drive away). In the case of a worse emergency, call for an ambulance and insist that they take you to a pediatric ER (if it’s in a 60 mile radius, I believe they have to respect your wishes).
• Also, in an ambulance, there is a seat with a 5 point harness. Ask for it.
• Once you’re in a room to be treated; ask the staff if you need diapers, food, etc.. they found us Cheerios the last time we were there.
• Childlife is amazing — they will come and distract your child with an iPad if they are upset during an exam or procedure.

Where we went:

Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York
269-01 76th Avenue
New Hyde Park, New York 11040

The other pediatric ER we went to in September was at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola.