Back when I was pregnant with Liam, I had horrible heartburn and stomach issues. Oh, the joys of pregnancy! For that reason, I kept Tums by my bed and took some before going to sleep each night. One afternoon, I walked into our bedroom to find my son, Josiah, sitting beside the bed with something all over his mouth. He had eaten 3 of my Tums and I almost had a heart attack. Immediately, I dialed poison control because I was worried that this might make him sick since he was only two years old at the time. Luckily, Tums was not toxic to his system, but this was a wake-up call for me. I knew kids got into everything and thought I had baby-proofed our house, but did not take medicines into account.
Did you know that
500,000 children each year get into medicines or get the wrong medicine dosage? For this reason, there are several things we do to prevent accidental poisoning and we recommend you do so, too!
1. Keep all medicines stored up high, out of reach from children. This includes ALL medicines, such as eye drops, vitamins, Tums, etc. You should keep every type of medicine out of reach because they could get into that, too. In 80% of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, it is due to children getting into an adult's medicine, so be safe.
2. Keep a kids lock on cabinets that store toxic cleaning materials. Bleach, ammonia or any other potentially hazardous items can easily be locked away so children do not get into them.
We actually keep all medicines sorted in a container and stored in our highest kitchen cabinet now. This way Mama and Papa can reach them when needed, but the kids cannot reach them without our help! Even the gummy vitamins are stored there because we want to be as safe as possible! Here is an infograph with some great information about medication safety:
Safe Kids Worldwide also helps families with poison prevention tips, including the first one I mentioned above. Another one of their suggestions is to
learn about your own medications. It's important to know what is in the medicines you keep in your home. This is especially helpful when children are sick because you do not want to take (or give them) two medicines with the same ingredient. This can cause an overdose, which is something you never want to experience. They also recommend
keeping the poison control number handy because you never know when you might need it. The number is:
1-800-222-1222.
National Poison Prevention Week was March 17-23 and exists to teach everyone the importance of proper medicine storage, dosage and disposal. You can find all kinds of great tips on the
Safe Kids Worldwide website, including keeping medicine away from children and even being away of your own other medicines visitors bring into your home. Below is a great video about medicine storage, dosing and keeping your kiddos safe!
What do you do in your home to help prevent medicine poisoning? Do you keep medicines out of reach of children? We would love to hear your own tips!
I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Safe Kids Worldwide and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
5 comments:
Wow, I can only imagine how scared you were!
I try to make sure that all the medicines i have are in the upstairs cabinet - on the top shelf... I know my lil guy can climb, but... I keep telling him that cabinet is off limits. at least when we move, ill be moving into a house with a master bathroom - which the kids will not be allowed in !
This is a much needed post, thanks for sharing the info! Too many kids get hurt each year. We had a scare with Tums too a while back. Glad your little guy was okay!
We keep our medicine high so my boys can't reach it. My step brother got into my step moms purse when we were younger and took a bunch of aspirin. lucky he was ok and nothing really happened.
Also, you should make sure your baby sitter has child-proofed her home as well, if they stay there. We left my youngest two with a sitter one night so we could have a night to ourselves. The youngest woke up early and drank part of a bottle of Dawn. Dr. told us to give him plenty of liquids, water and milk, so it could get through his system. It had already caused a chemical burn in his mouth and throat, and stomach, and caused a horrible diaper rash in the days that followed. Keep your cleaners AND medicines locked up!
Wow that must have been a scary experience! There's a lot to keep guarded and watch for when it comes to children: medicine, cleaning products, sharp tools and small items that can be choking hazardous, etc. These items should be stowed away in an inaccessible place so that only an adult can reach or take them out. Maybe there should be a chart made that lists where each item is and how to procure it for any adult or baby-sitter that comes over. I would also suggest adding any known allergies that the child has onto that list as well. It's better to be prepared and knowing than not.
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