Mom warns of dangers associated with baby oil

Baby oil: It’s a classic nursery staple, likely sitting on the changing table or in the medicine cabinet at many parents’ homes.

Heck, even if you don’t have kids, baby oil can be used for other things. For example, we can tell you from personal experience that it’s a pretty effective makeup remover.

But wait until you read the horrifying words used by one woman, describing what happened to her child in an incident involving baby oil.

The mother this case, from Spokane, Washington wants you to know this: Baby oil is not a product you want to leave laying around, especially if you have young children. In fact, her Facebook post about the matter has gone viral in the past month or so.

"Poison Control told us they would call the hospital to let them know what was coming and that we needed to take him now. … (Later), they did X-rays on his little lungs and (said) it’s the equivalent to you or I drinking gasoline."

JennaJoy Ingraham and her family experienced a pretty scary situation when her toddler son landed in the hospital. Here, we’ll let her tell you in her own words:

“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. Casey [Ingraham’s husband] caught him quickly and took it away. Gray made funny ‘yucky’ faces because of how it tasted and we thought that was the worst that happened,” Ingraham posted on her Facebook page.

“A couple minutes later, he started acting lethargic -- falling asleep sitting up and not answering anyone. (He was) 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.”

That would have been alarming for any parent to see. From there, Ingraham said, the nurse directed her to call Poison Control, which the couple did.

“(The Poison Control representative) asked some questions about (the boy’s) behavior, 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,” Ingraham said. “They mentioned most parents don’t realize how dangerous baby oil can be if inhaled."

"Poison Control told us they would call the hospital to let them know what was coming and that we needed to take him now. … (Later), they did X-rays on his little lungs and (said) it’s the equivalent to you or I drinking gasoline.”

Ingraham continues the post by sharing her disbelief, saying she had no idea how dangerous baby oil could be. She acknowledged her mistake, but wanted to share her lesson with other parents.

“Of course we should not have had it on the counter, where he could crawl up and grab it,” Ingraham writes. “(That was) 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.”

She linked to this site provided by Poison Control.

Luckily, the situation had a happy ending for Ingraham’s son. The couple closely monitored the boy after he was released from the hospital and he’s doing well.

“ … I also really feel the need to spread the word of how dangerous that little bottle all new mommies get at their baby shower or have next to the bath or changing table actually can be,” Ingraham said as she wrapped up her post.

At last check, Ingraham’s Facebook post had gotten more than 133,000 shares. She’s spoken with People magazine about her scare, as well.

“I was horrifically scared. I was confused,” she recalled to People. “ … I didn’t realize [baby oil] was such poison. We put it on our kids. It’s specifically made for children.”

If you’re ever worried about something that your child consumed, or might have consumed, don’t hesitate to call Poison Control at 800-222-1222. The hotline is available 24 hours a day.