It happens. You wake up late prepare a bottle, and give it to your baby, You are still half-asleep and you feel like something is wrong. Grabbing the bottle you give it a sniff and realize that your baby has been drinking spoiled milk. Panic sets it. What to do?
Relax. Everything is going to be okay. In this article we are going to discuss what you can do if your baby drinks spoiled milk so that you don’t have to worried. We’ve got you covered!
What happens if you drink spoiled milk?
When you drink spoiled milk there is actually nothing to worry about. The taste that you are experiencing is horrible, yes, and certainly doesn’t taste like something that you would want in your mouth. The thing is, that taste is composed of lactic acid, which is what milk is converted into when bacteria begins multiplying and eating the sugars inside of it. Then, like magic, your moo-juice is lactic acid.
Yuck! My child drank acid?!
Your baby drank spoiled milk, yes, but this thought should help to settle your mind a little. Rather than thinking ‘my baby drank spoiled milk. What to do? What to do?!’, try taking a mental step back for a second and considering this. Do you eat cheese or yoghurt? ‘Spoiled’ milk is an ingredient. It’s the first stage of that cheese or yoghurt. Some people even use it in baking. Your child will NOT get sick from the spoiled milk itself but the bacteria in the milk might give him or her a little indigestion if a lot of spoiled milk was consumed.
…but my baby is throwing up!
What happens if you drink spoiled milk (aside from the chance of bacteria-inspired indigestion) is not what is making your baby sick. Relax. The best thing that you can do is to rinse out your child’s mouth. If your baby calms down fairly soon after this then you have nailed the problem. So, what was it? Well, what happens when you drink bad milk for the most part is you get a really, really yucky taste in your mouth. This can trigger a gag reflex and THAT is likely what is making your little one feel sick.
How do I know it is not food poisoning?
Well, food poisoning has some very serious symptoms that are easy to identify. If you see any of these symptoms then you will want to get your child some medical attention immediately. In a case of food poisoning you should see examples of the following:
- High fever – A temperature measuring 101.5 or above is serious and may be a sign of food borne illness.
- Diarrhea – Never a good sign, diarrhea can dehydrate your child quickly and is a definite sign that something is amiss.
- Signs of shock – Spaced-out, responding sluggishly. This one you have to be careful with. Babies get bored and your baby might not be responding to you because the cat is doing something hilarious while you panic. If you are worried and seeing other symptoms as well, by all means, get help. Just be careful. Shock is much easier to determine in adults.
- Long periods of vomiting – If vomiting is still occurring after you have rinsed out your baby’s mouth then there may have been enough bacteria to make your child ill or it could have been something else that they ingested. .
- Bloody stools – This one is never good (Just be sure you haven’t just given the child red gelatin or other red-dyed foods. I think that one gets every parent at some point!).
- Dry tongue/heavy dehydration – Dehydration is vicious and needs to be dealt with immediately. Pedialyte and other liquids available are designed to rehydrate a child quickly and may be used to quickly hydrate on the way to some medical assistance.
” Your child didn’t eat poison, only ingredients to food.”
Prevention is always better than looking for a cure
Don’t leave those bottles or other kid’s drinks out for more than 2 hours. Refrigerate immediately after use. Milk is generally going to be okay if refrigerated and the use-by date is followed, thanks to the miracle of pasteurization. That said, warm milk (or just about any warm liquid, actually) is just the kind of playground that bacteria likes to frequent, so take advantage of that refrigerator immediately after your child feeds. Getting into this habit will save you a lot of panic and headaches and it will keep your little one smiling.
How long after drinking spoiled milk will I or my child get sick?
If you are reading this article and in a panic but nothing has happened yet, relax. What happens when you drink spoiled milk is pretty much that you get a bad taste in your mouth and possibly an upset stomach. This should manifest fairly quickly, likely within 10 or 15 minutes. After that, just watch the child if you are worried, after making sure that you have rinsed out their mouth. 99% of the time everything is going to be just fine.
In conclusion
While it is terrifying to experience and it makes you feel awful (oh god, I fed my child SPOILED milk), accidents can happen to the best of us. Have you ever sniffed at some milk and when no one was looking, turned up the jug and swallowed a mouthful of sour, rancid tasting milk? Chances are that you have. So don’t beat yourself up. While you can generally tell by the smell and if you are in a hurry, it is easy to overlook the date, the ‘sniff-it’ method is not 100% effective. Rather than focusing on beating yourself up, focus on educating yourself as to why the milk is NOT going to damage your child. Hop onto Google once you have got things sorted and look up the cheese or yoghurt making process. Relax. Your child didn’t eat poison, only ingredients to food that you eat every day. Happy parenting, folks!
