Have Your Kids Ever Swallowed a Coin?

When I was little I was in my room alone cleaning and put a penny in my mouth. It went to the back of my throat and tried to cough it out but couldnt then proceeded to swallow. It was hard to get down. I don't even remember telling my Mom. Don't remember having any complications. It has to have past eventually. Now a quarter. wow a penny was hard enough to swallow.

When my oldest son was 5 years old, he swallowed a metal jack while he was playing Jacks. I FREAKED. I called the doctor and immediately they told me to check if he could eat and drink - which I made him do -- no problems. If it had lodged itself in his asophogus he would have thrown up anything he tried to take in. Then, she told me to watch for blood in his stool - which would mean it was lodged in an intestine and would have to be surgically removed. It would take 2 to 3 days if it was going to pass, so I had to start sifting through his poop to see if it passed. Thankfully there was never any blood and by the 3rd day I found the jack in the potty. Since a quarter has no sharp edges, you really don't have anything to worry about, however, I would check her poop every day to make sure she gets it out. If you don't see it after 3 or 4 days, I would for sure get her in to the doctor. Have fun poop sifting!! :-) I recommend a long wooden kabob stick!

how many days did it take for it to pass, my son ate a nickle almost 2weeks ago now. help lol

We have had that happen. We had x-rays taken to make sure the they told us to keep an eye on her poop to make sure is passes. It should pass in 24 hrs. If not check with a Doctor to make sure it didn't get stuck. good luck

Hi D.! My 4 year old did the same thing when we were on vacation in Chicago. He was supposed to be taking a nap and when we went to check on him he told us "I ate a money." Oh, these kids! We called the doctor to make sure there was no danger and they told us that, as long as he didn't choke on it, it would pass and he'd be fine. We got our money back about 3 days later. :P No problems. I'm sure that if your daughter did swallow a quarter she'll pass it.

My kids never have ate coins but the other day my 3 year old said he ate the "white gum" out of our drawer. Problem was we didn't have any "white gum" so we didn't know what he ate. He then said he was chocking so we took him to the ER. He was better by the time we got there and they did all the work up and came up with nothing. Not every case will be like ours, kids can eat medication, poisons, metal objects, etc that can harmful; but unless its one of those "they" usually say it will pass.
Metal objects can even pass; the only concern there is if they get stuck. My friends daughter ate a barrette and it got stuck for a while (she was vomiting bad) but then while she was at the ER it passed.

My cousin ate coins a few times when he was little and he always just passed them. They are round and easy to pass. If you child is in distress go to the ER but if not, call and leave a message at the pediatricians office.

I can only imagine what my kids have swallowed over the years when my back was turned. I wouldn't worry too much, but you might want to give your pediatrician a call to see if they want you to get her checked out.

Our son swallowed a coin when he was about 2 1/2 and wew weren't sure what type of coin it was. They did an x-ray right away. The doctor was concerned first of all that it could be blocking the intestinal track and if it was a penny the copper could be harmful. I highly recommend making an appointment with your pediatrician and getting their input as to what they recommend. Better to be safe than sorry.

My daughter recently swallowed a dime-or so she says. We called the doctor who told us to check her bm's for a week. If we didn't find it, then we needed to call them back. I never found it. We were sent in for xrays and they didn't find it either. Chances are it passed and I didn't see it, or she never swallowed it.

I would call your doctor-especially since it is a quarter and a little larger than the other coins.

I know you have your conclusion, but I wanted to share a funny story.

When my 20 year old daughter was three, she accidentally swallowed a penny. The doctor said it would pass through fine, but she was crying so I had her sleep with me. She would sleep for about 10 minutes, then start crying in her sleep and wake up crying, and kept doing this until I called the doctor again. He said it was stuck in her esophogus and the esophogus kept tightening around it trying to push it down and was causing her pain, so he had me give her some bread to eat to wash it on down, which worked.

The next morning, my then 4-year-old decided she needed to "accidentally" swallow a coin as well, as she wanted the extra attention her sister had been getting! Fortunately for her (or unfortunately - however she looked at it), it went on down and passed through with no problem.

Yes, my daughter swallowed a dime when she was about 1.5 years old. i took her to a doctor who wanted me to give her mineral oil to lubricate her intestines so she could pass it. she had very high fevers and the doctor recommended an ex-ray because there is a chance that the coin will block the intestines. personally a quarter is rather big and i would probably not take chances and would call your pediatrician to see what they have to say about it. good luck, it was a scary experience for me and she did pass the dime and strangely enough i still have the dime to remember (that was about 8 years ago)

My niece (about 3 or 4 at the time)swallowed a nickle and my sister checked her poop and sure enough it was in there! lol It took about 2-3 days.

Mommy of 2 girls!

She should have an x-ray done immediately to find out where the coin is in her digestive track. Her doctor will probably want to observe her for a few weeks to see if she'll pass it naturally or if she'll need it removed, but you need to take her in ASAP so that she can be monitored. This isn't something you want to just ignore, in case the coin is hung up and doing damage. Then, in the future, keep the coins away from the little one for a few years, so this can't happen again.

My son swallowed a penny when he was 3. He is now 9. We went to the doctor. The doctor tried to find it with a metal detector and could not find it. The next step was to send us in for xrays to see where it was. It took almost a week before it passed in his stool. We had to check everyday. The day before he passed it, he started to run a fever. If you really believe that she swallowed a coin a visit to the doctor is in order. Good luck and hope she is ok.

Good Morning,
Yes, my son was playing with some pennies that he found on the floor (my cats usually push them off my countertops). I was just sitting at my computer when my two year old son said "All gone" or something along that line. When I turned around, I asked him what he did and he said he swallowed it. I knew it must've been a penny because that's the only thing I usually set on the counters. But I wasn't sure. I immediately called the pediatrician and they told me to make sure he can swallow and that food can go down. They told me to give him small sips of water and then small bites of food to make sure it is not lodged. Which I did and he was fine. They had me go in and get an x-ray to see where it was (if my assumptions were correct). Sure enough, his x-ray showed a perfectly round white spot in his tummy. It was near the bottom of it. THe funny thing was that we were leaving on an airplane the next day. I didn't know if the penny would set off the metal detectors (you know how they make us all empty our pockets), so I had to ask for a note to prove his "stomach penny". It was funny with the thought of us going through a metal detector and it goes off with his tummy penny. It never went off, though, when he went through it. So, the doctor stated it would pass in about 4-7 days. It did pass, but he wasn't able to get another follow up x-ray until we returned, which was ten days later. ...When he got that follow up x-ray... It was STILL THERE! But it had moved to the top of the stomach. THey were contemplating surgery, but since it had moved, they knew it wasn't lodged. A couple days later, he got a third x-ray and lo and behold, it was GONE! So, it took him a while to finally pass it, but it all worked out okay! Your daughter will most likely be just fine!

Wow, I still have trouble even swallowing pills! I throw them back up and basically have to crush almost every pill or vitamin. I am glad your problem got resolved though, and I am sure she won't be trying to swallow coins again any time soon...

I used to babysit my 12 month old cousin. His nose started to become very runny all the time (we put it off as allergies) then he started having fevers all the time (diagnosed as colds from pediatrician) and he wouldn't eat, only wanted to drink, he would also cough. This persisted for 2 weeks with constant fever medication. Finally while he was at my house one day, his fever spiked so high that he went into a short seizure. I immediately called his Mom who rushed him to ER only to find out that there had been a penny lodged in his throat this whole time, tissue had even started to grow around it cuz it had been in there for a few weeks. It required surgical removal. Crazy story, thought I'd share it.