Smart Prevention Starts at Home
Approximately 35,000 young children are brought to the emergency room each year because they got into medicines that were left within reach.
Families take medicines and vitamins to feel well or stay well. Any medicine or vitamin can be dangerous if taken in the wrong way or by the wrong person, even non-prescription medicine. All medicines, vitamins and supplements- especially those in gummy form- should always be kept up and away and out of your child’s reach and sight, even between doses.
Protect your child. Here’s how :
Put medicines, vitamins, and supplements up and away- out of reach and out of sight, even between doses.
- Pick a place your children cannot reach. Find a place in your home that is too high for children to reach or see.
- Never leave loose pills or liquid medicines out on a counter, table or child’s bedside. To young children, pills can look like candy and liquid medicines can look like sugary drinks, so it is very important to keep them out of children’s reach and sight.
- Keep medicines in their original, child-resistant containers and always relock the safety cap on a medicine bottle.
- Teach your children about medicine safety. It is important to teach your children what medicine is and why you or another caregiver must be the one to give it to them.
Tip :
Consider keeping all medicine in a medicine cabinet that is out of reach of children. Some medicine cabinets can lock, further helping prevent children from being at risk for being poisoned.
Be Prepared in case of emergency
Save the Poison Help number in your phone – (800) 222-1222
Contact Poison Help right away if you think your child might have gotten into a medicine, vitamin or supplement. Make sure that babysitters, older children, grandparents and frequent family visitors have this information too, in case there’s an emergency when they are in charge.
www.poisonhelp.org
