A two-year-old Vietnamese boy has been hospitalized in a coma, accompanied by convulsions, after drinking 200 millimeters of alcohol by mistake in northern Lao Cai Province.

The Lao Cai Obstetrics and Children’s Hospital announced on Tuesday the case of S.S.B., a two-year-old Mong ethnic boy in Bac Ha District, who mistakenly drank a small bowl of alcohol at around 2:00 am on April 5.

As the boy woke up from a thirst during his sleep, he poured liquid from a container, which he thought was water but actually was alcohol left by some relatives on the night before, into a small bowl and drank about 200 milliliters of it.

The baby then went back to sleep, but his family could not wake him up on the morning of April 5.

As he convulsed with pain, the family took him to the Lao Cai Obstetrics and Children’s Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with alcohol poisoning and gave him electrolytes.

“This is the youngest case of alcohol poisoning in a child at our hospital,” said Dr. Vu Thi Hai Yen, head of the emergency resuscitation department of the hospital.

“After nearly three days of intense treatment, the baby regained consciousness and stable health.”

In Vietnam, many people think that it is fine to let children taste a little bit of alcohol, according to Dr. Yen.

In fact, the health of children is affected just by a small sip of alcohol.

“A sip of alcohol can make a child’s face turn red and feel dizzy,” Yen added. 

“The more alcohol, the more harm to the brain, eyes, liver, and kidneys.

“Alcohol also causes intellectual impairment, poor memory, loss of concentration, and affects children’s thinking and learning abilities.”

The doctor advises adults to take children suffering poisoning to the nearest medical facility as soon as possible and bring along the food or drink that the children consumed for testing.

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