|
Campsite
Safety for Baby
Baby proofing your wilderness campsite
©
Outdoor Adventure Canada - photos and article courtesy of
Samantha Rogers
 When
you have children, you always want them to be safe at home, so
you make sure you put poisons out of reach, you put gates on stairs,
and you put covers on electrical outlets. There is a lot to be
said about ensuring your home is baby proof, but making sure your
campsite is baby proof is also a very important task.
In August
of 2008 my husband Michael and I went on a trip to Algonquin Provincial
Park with friends of ours, Laurie and Bryan, their seven year
old son, Tobias, and our three children, Owen, Lily and Ethan,
ages six, five and one. We were staying on a gorgeous site at
Little Trout Lake — it was picture perfect.
We looked
around to find a safe place to put our youngest, Ethan, then put
his baby harness on him and tied him to a tree stump. He had about
eight feet of rope to allow him to explore. When my husband and
I were searching out a place to put him we made sure he could
not reach the fire pit, and that the heat from the fire pit would
not be too hot for him and we made sure there were not a lot of
little sticks and twigs he could choke on. He was perfectly safe
or so we thought. We did not consider one thing. It was hiding
under a bush where we didn't think Ethan could reach. We didn't
even think about it until it was too late, and although we had
commented on how pretty the little mushrooms were we didn't ever
imagine in our wildest dreams our son would pluck one and have
a taste.
 I
noticed first that Ethan had a fist full of mushroom and as I
was taking it from his hand and telling him "no," my
oldest, Owen, exclaimed quite loudly "Mom, he's eating
some!" We had told the older three children that the
mushrooms aren't for eating or touching because they could be
poisonous, but, we didn't think about the baby being able to bother
with them.
Once
realizing Ethan had swallowed a piece of mushroom I turned to
my friends and asked them "what do I do?" I had
no idea. Their faces went white and they told me to make him vomit.
I called to Michael and he came running. We couldn't get the baby
to bring anything up, we both tried. Then it occurred to Bryan
that perhaps Ethan had an empty stomach, as when it happened we
were preparing breakfast. Thankfully, Michael had thought to pack
a few tetra boxes of soymilk. They don't need to be refrigerated,
so they are great for an interior canoe trip. We quickly filled
the baby's bottle with milk and he drank it. Once he was finished
his bottle Michael took him and made him vomit. It was a nasty
business, but a necessary one. After he threw up Michael handed
the baby to me and searched the vomit. He found a piece of mushroom,
about the size of a dime, a small relief.
The waiting
began, and let me tell you, the next few hours were some of the
worst of my life. We were all constantly watching for any slight
change in Ethan. Is his temperature okay? How is his complexion?
Is his personality normal? Is his breathing okay? I was scared
out of my mind.
We discussed
a plan of action on how to get Ethan out of the park as quickly
as possible and signal for help should things have gone horribly
wrong. Actually what happened was Laurie asked if we should start
getting our gear packed up to get out in a hurry and Bryan flatly
said "Laurie, you're not coming." Michael and
Bryan decided if we needed to get Ethan medical attention they
would paddle him out and leave Laurie and I at the campsite with
the other three children, and Laurie and I were to make a fire
and try to signal for help, because the guys could get him out
a lot faster without us.
I was on the
verge of panic and told Michael I wanted to take the baby out
now. I was ready to pack up and go home, never to enter the wilderness
again.
A few hours
passed and I started to relax, then 12 hours, then 24 and Ethan
was still okay. He was acting 100% normal. At that point, we were
all fairly certain he was going to be fine.
While doing
research for this article I discovered that even if a person appears
to be okay the poisoning for some mushrooms can take several days
to take effect. I have also learned there are no antidotes for
mushroom poisoning. It is important to teach your children that
eating or even touching mushrooms in the wild, including mushrooms
found in your own backyard, is very dangerous. Consider all types
of wild mushrooms to be a serious hazard to you and your children,
and unless you are a mushroom expert (a mycologist), don't eat
ever pick them to eat them.
One thing
to remember about mushrooms is they can pop up at anytime so you
need to check your campsite at least once a day to make sure nothing
new has come up where your children will be playing.
He gave us
a terrible fright and taught us a lesson. We would never put one
of our precious children in harm's way on purpose. While sharing
this story may be embarrassing, if I can help keep another child
safe then that is more important. We have been camping since the
incident with the mushroom, but when I step onto a campsite or
I'm walking on a portage I look at the wildlife, flora and fauna,
with new eyes.
I
wrote this article to share my experience with you, but I am in
no way suggesting if your child were to ingest a wild mushroom
that you take the same approach as we did. I have learned since
then that waiting for symptoms to appear is not the best tactic.
Prevention is the best way to keep your child safe, and I hope
no one else is ever subjected to an occurrence like this.
Please take
a moment to read the following articles:
Kidie
Zone: Facts About Poisonous Mushrooms
Food
Safety Bulletin: Wild Mushrooms May Be Poisonous
Sick Kids: Helpful Hints to Prevent a Mushroom Poisoning
Sick
Kids: Warning Against Consuming Wild Mushrooms
Mushrooms
Canada: Wild Mushrooms and a list of Canada's Poison Control Centres
For more articles
please view the archives.
|
