The day I was almost killed by baby formula!
I was nine or ten years old and my youngest sister was two years younger so I don’t know how, or why, we had baby’s milk formula in the house. It was probably given to mum by a friend who had no more use for it. As far as I remember it was given free, by the government, to new mothers. They also supplied expectant mothers with a delicious orange juice. It was all part of the ‘Welfare Food’ scheme that was introduced in 1940 in order to improve the health of babies during the war years. Mum also had the orange juice given to her and we kids loved it.
Mum was out shopping and we youngest three were home alone. Myself, my young sister Gill and Tina, who was two years older than me. Tina had decided to see what goodies she could find in the food cupboards and came across a tin of baby formula. We all adored eating it by the spoonful when mum wasn’t looking. Tina tucked into a heaped spoonful. “We want some too. Let us have some!” Gill and I said indignantly. But, as Tina was the eldest, she made the rules up.
“You can only have some if you let me feed it to you. You can’t feed yourself”
“Oh let us have some” Gill and I said in unison.
“No! I must feed it to you”
“Oh all right” I said, resigned to the fact that it was the only way I was going to get some of that delicious powder.
“Open your mouth and put your head back then” Tina bossed.
I did as she told me.
“Further back” Tina said, in a school ma’am sort of way.
I tipped my head back as far as I could and opened my mouth wide………….
Thwuppppp! Tina dropped a spoonful of this fine powder straight down my throat! It immediately set in a large ball that blocked my airway. I couldn’t breath. I REALLY couldn’t breath.
Tina, seeing me making fish-out-of-water faces, and realising that I wouldn’t last much longer if something wasn’t done immediately, promptly ran out of the house!! “I’ll go and find mum” she said, as she disappeared, leaving me gasping – No, not gasping. I couldn’t even do that! I was just opening and closing my mouth in silent terror. She had no idea where mum was, and would have needed to catch a bus to the nearest shopping centre to find her!
Thank goodness my little sister was there to save me. I have no idea where she got the idea to do what she did, but she definitely saved my life that day!
She grabbed a wet dishcloth and stuffed it down my throat as far as she could, then pulled it out again. I choked a bit but she had cleared the dollop of goo that had been blocking my throat. Thanks to Gill, who was only seven or eight at the time, I lived to tell the tale. Quick thinking on her part!
I have no idea when Tina decided to come back home with her tail between her legs, but I’d say the SHE was very lucky that Gill had saved the day too!
Any of you have a close call while home alone? I bet most of you have.
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Jenn Thorson
| 7 December 2009 at 20:37
Wow! That was indeed lucky– hurray for Gill! Glad we still have you around. (PS- the young Babs there with the bow is hysterical.)
Jenn Thorson´s last blog ..Shopping Tips for People Who Hate to Shop
Comedy Plus
| 7 December 2009 at 22:30
I’m glad your smart sister saved you. Just saying. That was scary as heck. I’ve not come that close to dying yet. I don’t want to go like that either.
Have a terrific day Babs. Big hug.
Black Cat
| 7 December 2009 at 23:50
Oh.My.Dog. Thank goodness for your little sister. Do you still speak to the baby formula shovelling one?!?
Black Cat´s last blog ..A Visitor
meleah rebeccah
| 8 December 2009 at 6:09
Holy. Crap!!! You’re soo LUCKY to have such a SMART little sister! Good lord!
meleah rebeccah´s last blog ..Wherein My Parents Are Grounded
Daisy
| 8 December 2009 at 12:15
Love the illustration!
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Junk Drawer Kathy
| 8 December 2009 at 12:37
What an incredible story! Scary! Despite all that, I love the little characature. Blech!
Hitesh
| 8 December 2009 at 13:02
nice story…..good think Gill had the presence of mind to do wat she did…….\,,,/
well once….when i was 5-6 i left my baby cousin sister…..who was about 2 at that time inside closet….when mom and aunt came back….they looked for her…but couldn’t find her….woke me…and asked me….then i told…she they found her…sleeping in the closed…..
that was scary…..got a lot of beating for the incident…
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beetle
| 8 December 2009 at 15:41
Jenn: I was very fortunate! Glad you like the doodle
Sandee: It was very scary at the time, and I wouldn’t like to go like that either!
Black Cat: Ha haaaa! I don’t think we fell out over it, but I doubt she fed me with ANYTHING ever again!
Meleah: I was very lucky, I wonder if she remembers it?
Daisy: Thank you Daisy
Kathy: You woke that story up in me with your post ‘Careful Where You Stick That’ I wonder what other little gems are waiting to be remembered
Hitesh: You left your baby cousin inside a closet? Ha ha! Well, at only five or six you couldn’t be blamed really
Jude
| 8 December 2009 at 21:02
Can’t say I ever had an experience like that, but once my older sister was suppose to be catching me as I jumped off the porch she happened to bend down and I hit the ground and it knocked my breath out and I passed out, scared my Mom to death almost, does that count?
Jude´s last blog ..I am So Behind Where Technology Is Concerned
LadyBanana
| 8 December 2009 at 22:27
I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that has happened to me..
Lucky your sister acted quickly there.. But baby milk powder, yuck, it even smells awful I wouldn’t want to taste it! lol
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beetle
| 9 December 2009 at 1:38
Jude: Yes, that counts. You see, it’s the older sister again. They can’t be trusted
LadyBanana: I am talking about baby milk powder of the 50’s. Everything tasted much nicer then, and the smell was divine! Mind you, it could have been to do with the fact that we didn’t have too many luxuries back then, so everything tasted lovely to us.
granny grimble
| 9 December 2009 at 12:20
Oooh! didn’t the simple things taste glorious. My weakness when I was growing up was thick sweet condensed milk. There was always a tin with it’s ragged lid sticking up in the larder. A quick dip with the teaspoon when Mum wasn’t looking was all that was needed for a little bit of instant heaven. I couldn’t bear to eat it now!
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Tina
| 9 December 2009 at 13:51
I do remember it well Babs, what you must remember is the guilt and fear must have made me run for mum, dear old mum who managed to make better anything we did wrong!
I have truly made up for it since though; remember the ‘glass sweet’ we had been given whilst mum had popped out by the sitter whom we were a little afraid of?(Auntie Minnie) I stopped you eating yours because mine had cut my mouth. Well we thought it was a glass sweet as we had never, ever seen Glassier mints in our life before.
Anyway I do love you lots Tina xxxxx
Gill
| 9 December 2009 at 14:57
Well! Whilst I am getting all the well deserved glory here, yes it’s youngest sister Gill! Babs you forgot to mention that I too had that powder shovelled down my throat immediately after you and was choking along with you, although you were worse than I! You were refusing the dishcloth idea, until I tried it on myself first and it helped me, then you couldn’t get enough of it! Ha! ha! ha! It was a manky, minging dirty dishcloth full of germs I would think. Perhaps that’s why you and I got Tonsillitis so often! Tina? Well she was a bossy thing at times and could be quite hard in those young days,(I never forgave her when she blitzed the bedroom and gave my teddy to the dustman whilst I was out because he was worn. Oh Tina how could you?) but today, she is THE softest of sisters!She wouldn’t dare to boss any of her old crony sisters now, especially Babs!!!!
Maureen
| 9 December 2009 at 15:02
Hah! Oh Babs not only is the story wonderful, but your sister’s responses are too!
Maureen´s last blog ..Obviously I Don’t Share Well
Gill
| 9 December 2009 at 15:09
We thought Auntie Minnie was ‘Mother Big Tooth’ from the loft hatch and trying to kill us with glass sweets!!!!! Oh don’t get us on that story either!!!! Wahahahaha!
beetle
| 9 December 2009 at 15:32
Granny Grimble: Ahh yes, condensed milk. I could still eat it. You can get it in a tube now. A quick squirt transports you to heaven
Tina: Ha Haaa! I wondered if you would see this post. I had forgotten that you were a bossy boots when we were little. Who would think it now? Oh I had forgotten the glass sweets too
Gill: I was too busy trying to breath to know that you were choking too Ha ha! All I remember was the dishcloth – my saviour!!! What DO you mean – Especially Babs
Maureen: We are all a bit nutty. It’s bedlam when we’re all together
Gill: Oh Gill, that could be another blog post!!
meleah rebeccah
| 9 December 2009 at 22:04
I bet she remembers that day too! Who could forget it!
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Tarheel Rambler
| 11 December 2009 at 0:04
Yikes!! That really was a close call. And I’m betting none of you had even heard of the Heimlich Maneuver yet.
I can’t think of any close calls while alone, but I’ve had a few at different jobs over the years involving power tools. One such instance was when I was using a chain saw to cut firewood many years ago.
I had on a shirt that I failed to tuck in while I was working. I got the saw too close to myself and the tail of the shirt got caught in the area where the rope starter was. In the blink of an eye, my shirt was stripped off of my body and the business end of the saw was pulled into my leg. Luckily, the shirt wrapping up in the saw killed the motor and it stopped before hitting my leg.
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beetle
| 11 December 2009 at 16:08
Meleah: Yea, we all do
Tarheel Rambler: Oh my word!! That must have been really scary. Sometimes we come a bit too close for comfort!
Ruth
| 13 December 2009 at 11:53
Hahahaha, oh Babs, you slay me. I loved the name Gill as soon as I read it, I’m so glad she was the heroine.
But then when I read Tina’s and Gill’s comments I laughed even harder and see that humour is a family trait. What a time you three and your mum must have had. Well this is one of ‘em. More please.
So I was relieved to hear that Tina also saved you once. And then I was in near hysterics reading Gill’s account of the dish rag likely being dirty and germy (like mine are, no doubt) and how she tried it on herself first. HA!
My first question though when I read of the method that saved you was, did the glob go DOWN or come OUT with the dishrag?
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JD at I Do Things
| 13 December 2009 at 21:04
Oh, my gosh, that’s scary! If that had happened to my brother, I probably would’ve been the one to run out of the house.
I had a near-choking incident as a child, but luckily our babysitter was there. I remember her holding me upside-down. It worked! But it was pretty scary.
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beetle
| 14 December 2009 at 0:03
Ruth: Oh I laughed at your comment! Yes we are a zany bunch in our family – all seven siblings, and then there’s Mo! Can you imagine what it’s like when we are all together? I can’t remember whether the glob went down or out. I was too traumatized
JD: Choking is not a bit funny really is it? I’m so glad you were saved, though you didn’t do it for me did you?
CottageGirl
| 14 December 2009 at 2:49
Ha!! Funny story, Babs, but scary at the same time!
The only story I can think of from childhood is when my little sis, 13 years younger than me, would choke at dinner … Actually she did this pretty regularly. As soon as my sister started choking, the three of us other siblings would run to the basement or the bathroom or our bedrooms so … so we wouldn’t have to watch her choke to death, I guess?!
We still laugh about those times to this day!
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Jay
| 15 December 2009 at 0:53
Good grief! You could have died!! Amazing what kids get up to, isn’t it? And actually, amazing that most survive.
Thank heavens you did!