Zane's been teething pretty badly for the past few days, and we decided to give him Baby Orajel on Sunday afternoon. We've given it to him a few times previously, when his first two teeth cut through, and never had a problem. Scott and I were both sitting with Zane on the floor in his room when I rubbed a dosage on his upper gum. Seconds after I gave it to him, he made a face as if he were crying but no noise came out. I picked Zane up and he immediately went limp in my arms and his face turned blueish. He was not panicking or gasping for air - he was lifeless. This lasted for approximately 15 seconds, but felt like an eternity... Ultimately, Zane "came to" and began to cry hysterically. Thank g-d!!!!!!!!
We spent the evening at the hospital, where Zane underwent numerous tests, all of which came back normal. We also spoke with Zane's pediatrician, who stated that she advises against the use of this product because its purpose is to numb and if it gets into an infant's throat, it may stop them from breathing... It's surprising then that no such warning is on the bottle and that more people do not discuss the negative and possible deadly implications of the use of this product.
We spent the evening at the hospital, where Zane underwent numerous tests, all of which came back normal. We also spoke with Zane's pediatrician, who stated that she advises against the use of this product because its purpose is to numb and if it gets into an infant's throat, it may stop them from breathing... It's surprising then that no such warning is on the bottle and that more people do not discuss the negative and possible deadly implications of the use of this product.
Sounds like a pretty standard scare tactic one would use as a catalyst to do harm against a brand, as the recipient would then forward this off to others and people like me would start posting this in their blogs. After some more searching for "orajel dangers" and "orajel side effects," I came across only one other source to validate this email (that wasn't a review, forum post, or blog entry):
Since this link was dated back in January, 2006, I would think:
- if it was it was really true, more people would know about it by now
- if it was really false, more people would have heard about the rumor by now
- it's a cover up and government conspiracy and Orajel was created by aliens to rule the human race starting with our babies
This email had already made it into snopes.com, but the status is "undetermined" at the time I wrote this.
Never one to believe something too readily without something to back it up, this does make a bit of sense to me, and would not be something I'd be willing to risk or experiment with. Baby in the meantime is biting anything he can get his hands on to soothe his emerging incisors:
Defenseless purple kittens
Just this morning, he made a dive for my jugular before I was able to buckle him into his bouncer. If that does happen, look for a forwarded email in your inbox on how sucking on colored plastics turn babies into vampires.