My Son Has Swallowed Gum, What To Do?
Who has not ever heard or said: “my son has swallowed gum and I don’t know what to do” ? Well, it is almost impossible to stop a child from trying chewing gum at an early age; Whether it is because they have been given it among the treats of a birthday, when playing candy or trick on Halloween or because of the complacency of the grandparents, there will always be the possibility that they will reach their hands. While it is true, we cannot monitor every chew, so you should know what to do if your child swallows gum.
When we realize that the child already has the candy, there is no other choice but to teach him to handle it correctly. Make him understand that the objective of it is to enjoy its flavor and entertain ourselves in each chew until it is time to discard it.
We constantly hear many things about what could happen with that gum inside your little one’s body. For the most part, these conclusions are nothing more than family myths that have been passed down for generations, including the one that states that if gum is not discarded, it will stick to the stomach for seven years.
What do I do if my child has swallowed gum? The first thing is to remain calm and ignore the myths that revolve around it, in addition, handle the appropriate and necessary information to understand what really happens when you eat this candy and how you should act before it.
How long will it take for the gum to leave the body?
While it is true that chewing gums are composed of rubber (elastomers, plasticizers and resins), flavorings, oils and sweeteners, it is also true that they resist stomach acids and therefore cannot dissolve. But even so, the same organism is able to expel them without problem.
Chewing gum will follow the same process as any other food in the digestive tract and it will be almost impossible for it to stick inside the body. The candy will not remain in the child’s stomach forever, because, like the rest of the meals, it will end up turning into fecal matter.
My child has swallowed gum, is he at risk?
The risk becomes evident when the amount of gum exceeds 5 units, which could cause it to get stuck in the opening of the esophagus and cause asphyxia or even obstruction of the intestine, which is why it would be necessary to resort to surgical intervention.
If you notice that your child stops going to the bathroom as often as he did, it could be an intestinal blockage. You may also have yellowish or greenish vomit; The aforementioned will be clear symptoms that it is necessary to attend the emergency room as soon as possible and indicate that the child has swallowed the gum.
Health consequences of chewing gum
- Chewing gum causes the child to swallow air, which can cause severe pain and abdominal swelling due to constant saliva intake. Sending false signals to the stomach will activate the acids more, since it will believe that it must digest that food. This leads to gas and other gastrointestinal problems.
- On certain occasions they recommend chewing gum as a method of relaxing the temporomandibular joint, but doing it for a long time could cause the opposite result and even wear and tear.
- There are chewing gums on the market that, as they do not have natural sugars, are manufactured with chemical components such as sorbitol, a known laxative that could be toxic and cause severe stomach pain and diarrhea.
- On the other hand, those chewing gums that do contain high levels of sugars are just as harmful to health, in this case oral, since, as the sugar adheres to the teeth, it favors the appearance of cavities.
It is best to avoid chewing gum for children under the age of five, as they are not old enough to understand that it should not be ingested. Taking this forecast will avoid episodes of anguish due to: “my son has swallowed gum”, because, by habit, that is what the little one will do.
In the same way, we must advise the older ones to discard it when its artificial flavor disappears, since this candy has no nutritional value nor does it provide any benefit to the body. Far from helping, consuming chewing gum can become a habit that will only bring negative consequences to your health and the environment since chewing gums are not easily degraded.
