A mum has issued a warning to other parents, after her toddler drank a common baby product, and ended up in emergency.

JennaJoy Ingraham said her family learned a ‘scary’ lesson, and wants others to know what they didn’t – that something most parents have in their house could be so dangerous.

“Our 18 month old-Graysen, grabbed a bottle of baby oil off the counter and drank a little bit around 10 yesterday morning while we were getting ready for church,” JennaJoy explained in a viral Facebook post.

She said her husband Casey got to their son quickly, and took the bottle of baby oil away.

“Gray made funny “yucky” faces because of how it tasted and we thought that was the worst that happened.

“A couple minutes later, he started acting lethargic. Falling asleep sitting up and not answering anyone. Basically awake but non responsive with the slowest blinks I’ve ever seen.

“When we picked him up, it was just dead weight and he kept trying to fall asleep in our arms.”

“We called the on call nurse only because of how he was acting. Had he not acted any differently, we wouldn’t have thought anything of him drinking a little baby oil.”

The nurse told JennaJoy to call the poison line, and that’s when the mum started to panic.

“Poison Control asked some questions about his behaviour along with his coughing and told us to take him to the ER now in case he aspirated any of it and it got in his lungs. They mentioned most parents don’t realise how dangerous baby oil can be if inhaled.”

The worried parents were told to head to the hospital immediately, with the emergency department being notified that they were on their way.

“Cue my intense panic,” JennaJoy said. ‘

Her husband took Graysen to the hospital while she stayed with their other son. They were told he would have to stay for a few hours to see if any symptoms would start.

“They did X-rays on his little lungs and told Case it’s the equivalent to you or I drinking gasoline.
What?! How did I not know that?! How has no one I have told so far known anything about how dangerous baby oil can be?!

“Of course we should not have had it on the counter where he could crawl up and grab it. Absolutely my careless mistake. And a big one.”

“After researching, I have learned it is a hydrocarbon and falls in the same categories as lighter fluid and motor oil.

Coughing, choking, and fever are common signs of hydrocarbon aspiration. Lung irritation and pneumonia, even death, can result. Symptoms can happen quickly – within a couple of hours or even sooner. If there are no symptoms in 24 hours, the child should remain fine.
-Poison Control

After four hours the toddler was discharged from hospital, with the parents told to watch his breathing closely. Thankfully Graysen didn’t show any symptoms of hydrocarbon aspiration.

But they said the incident should serve as a warning to other parents.

“We are just shocked this isn’t something many parents know about and feel like more people should know about how dangerous an old nursery staple could be.

“I also really feel the need to spread the word of how dangerous that little bottle all new mums get at their baby shower or have next to the bath or changing table actually can be.”

JennaJoy initally shared her post several years ago, but it’s still shared often, to ensure new parents are getting the message about just how dangerous baby oil can be.

Did you know baby oil could be so dangerous?