What should I do if my baby has accidentally taken an overdose of vitamin D?

Recently, an accident occurred at a friend's home: A 3-year-old child, taking advantage of the adults' inattention, swallowed an entire box of vitamin D capsules. The mischievous child only swallowed

Recently, an accident occurred at a friend’s home:

A 3-year-old child, taking advantage of the adults’ inattention, swallowed an entire box of vitamin D capsules. The mischievous child only swallowed the liquid inside and spat the capsule shells on the floor.

When it was discovered, the elderly at home panicked and tried to induce vomiting by sticking fingers down the throat, but after a long struggle, nothing much came up; the family rushed to the hospital in a hurry, hoping the doctor would perform gastric lavage on the child.

However, the doctor said that vitamin D is a liquid and may have already entered the child’s intestines and been absorbed, and since the medication is not a deadly poison, gastric lavage is generally not recommended. Instead, blood tests and hospital observation are suggested.

The mother was a bit hesitant after hearing this and quickly asked me what to do. She was eager to know whether vitamin D poisoning could be life-threatening and how to treat it.

Upon receiving the mother’s message, I first inquired about the child’s current condition. The mother said that the child was crying and making a fuss due to the scare and the折腾 when they first arrived at the hospital, but now they have calmed down and are watching cartoons in her arms, seemingly not in any other discomfort.

I breathed a sigh of relief and comforted the mother that the child’s condition was stable, and there was no need to rush for blood tests or hospitalization. Instead, we should first calculate the dose of vitamin D the child had ingested before making a decision.

Hearing this, the mother also became a bit calmer and recalled that the box of vitamin D had been opened recently, and after subtracting the few pills that had been taken before, the child might have ingested about 20-25 capsules at once. So we calculated based on 25 capsules, and the total amount the child ingested was approximately 400IU (IU, International Units) x 25, that is: