Toddler 'lucky to be alive' after eating from parents' heroin baggies

A toddler is lucky to be alive after he ingested drugs left behind in his parents' bag of heroin, police have said.

Pennsylvania couple Nora Boyle and Greg Searl were both charged with endangering the welfare of a child after turning themselves into police.

According to police, 35-year-old Boyle was watching her son when she passed out.

While the 16-month-old boy's mother was passed out, police say he chewed on the empty baggies that still contained drug residue.

Searl came home and rushed his unconscious baby to hospital where he was revived.

According to police, the father admitted to using five bags of fentanyl the night before.

"Both parents are opioid addicts. Both parents are heroin addicts. The father admits to shooting up five bags of fentanyl the night before," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Tuesday.

"The father notices that the baby had chewed on some baggies — plastic bags — of the type used to package heroin and/or fentanyl.

Nora Boyle, 35, and Greg Searl, 42, have been charged in the heroin overdose of their 16-month-old son. Photo / Upper Darby Police

"That child was lucky enough to get to the hospital, being taken by the drug addict father and mother, to where the doctor shot him up with Narcan."

Experts say heroin or fentanyl can be dangerous and even fatal to an adult, but it's more deadly for small children, even in trace amounts.

"The major reason that kids die is that it suppresses their breathing. It is respiratory depression and if left unchecked, they won't last long," Dr Mike Cirigliano told FOX 29.

The child remains in a critical condition.