It’s Time For Safe Kids Worldwide Poison Prevention!

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Have you ever had an experience with medical poisoning in your family? I have and it’s a horrific and extremely scary experience. I’ve learned nothing in your home is full proof. If kids want to get into something, they are persistent and will do everything in their power to get to what they want. They don’t know that what they want will hurt or even potentially kill them.

My cousin was visiting for the Holidays and her youngest son (who was almost 3 at the time) kept trying to open the kitchen cabinets. I have the baby proof locks on the cabinets, but honestly I’ve had kids in the past get past those. We of course kept taking him out of the kitchen and telling him NO, but that didn’t stop him from trying. We finally got him playing with some of my nephews toys in the living room behind the couch. He seemed very enthralled with the toys so we figured it was OK to sit down, turn on the tv, and chat. Normally if he’s interested in a toy, he usually stays playing with it for some time.

After fifteen minutes of chatting we noticed it was too quiet. It’s sad to say, but quiet equals suspicious behavior with the kids in our family. I’m sure some of you moms know what I’m talking about. If they are quiet when they should be playing, they are usually up to no good.

Surely enough, we find the toys have been abandoned and he’s back in the kitchen only this time he has a bottle of dish washing liquid in his mouth! We ran to the emergency room where they pumped his stomach! Luckily he hadn’t drank much and he only had to stay over night in the hospital to be safe. He learned his lesson and so did we.

Now if I know a young child (that I don’t take care of often) is coming over, I always make sure any cleaning products are in high cabinets and all purses and medicines they can potentially get to are out of site! I’m extremely cautious now and I make sure to take extra precautions as I don’t even want to have a deadly accident happen in my home that could have easily been prevented. I even padlock the cabinets some times. They can’t pick a lock when they are two!

Check out this infographic and poison prevention tips.

Also to keep your children safe, here is a great video…

And some great tips from Safe Kids Worldwide. Share them with visitors and with those who care for your child outside of their home to ensure your child is safe both inside and outside of the home.

• Put medicines up and away and out of sight.
  Make sure that all medications, including vitamins and adult medicines, are stored out of reach and out of sight of children.  In 86% of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the child got into medicine belonging to an adult.
• Consider products you might not think about as medicines.
  Most parents know to store medicine up and away – or at least the products they consider to be medicine. But they don’t always think about products such as eye drops or vitamins, which may not seem like medicine but actually are. Look around your home to see what products are within the reach of children and may be harmful, then move them up and away.
• Be alert to visitors’ medicine.
  When you have visitors in your home, offer to put purses, bags and coats out of reach of children to protect their property from a curious child.  Well meaning visitors may not be thinking about the medicines that they have brought with them in their belongings. In 43% of emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, the child got into medicine belonging to a relative, such as an aunt, uncle or grandparent.
• Put medicines up and away after EVERY use:
  It may be tempting to keep medicine close at hand when you need to give another dose of medicine in just a few hours. Accidents can happen fast.  It only takes a few seconds for children to get into medicine that could make them very sick.  Put medicine up and away after every use. And if you need a reminder, set an alarm on your watch or cell phone, or write yourself a note.
• Read the label and know what’s in the medicine.
  Take the time to read the label and follow the directions on your child’s medicine.  Check the active ingredients listed on the label.  Don’t give your child more than one medicine with the same active ingredient.  Giving your child two or medicines that have the same active ingredient can put your child at risk for an overdose.
• Put the Poison Control number in your home and cell phone: 1-800-222-1222.
  

You can also put the number on your refrigerator or another place in your home where babysitters can see it.

I hope this story and these tips help you keep your family, kids, and kids friends safe in your home!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting behalf of Safe Kids Worldwide and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.