March 15th, 2021 / 0 Comments

National Poison Prevention Safety week is March 21-27, 2021. We want to use this moment to tell you about medication poisonings in kids, poison control centers and poison help resources available to you.
Medications are the leading cause of child poisoning today. Each year, half a million parents call poison control because their child got into a medication they shouldn’t have or took more of their medication than prescribed. And those are the kids we know about! More children get brought to the Emergency Department for medication poisonings then for car crashes.
Medicine can be prescribed by a doctor or purchased over the counter (OTC). Examples can include adult medicines, vitamins and supplements, children’s cough and cold medicines, children’s gummy vitamins, eye drops and diaper rash products. Don’t be fooled into thinking over the counter medicines are safer than prescriptions. Both can cause serious harm to kids. Most poisonings in kids come from medicines you can buy without a prescription, like pain medications and anti-allergy medications.
Toddlers! They are curious and on the move! And because they are so little, only one or two pills can cause serious harm.
So, what can you do as a parent to keep your child safe from an accidental medication poisoning? Follow these tips!
If you are worried that your child has gotten into a medication they shouldn’t have or received
too much of their medication, don’t panic! Your first step is to call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Save this phone number in your phone and post it in your home. Poison Control can tell you if you need to go to the hospital or if you can stay safely at home. Poison Control will want to know what your child took and how much, so have pill bottles ready if you have them. They also have a convenient website as well as an app webPOISONCONTROL® available for iOS and Android.
Do you need help with safe medication disposal? Check out the American Association for Poison Control Centers guide for instructions.
For more information on safe medication storage, check out the Safe Kids Worldwide Keeping Kids Safe Around Medicine Report.
For even more information on poison prevention and medication safety, check out Dr. Bear Bites on Instagram with Jennifer Q. Tran, director of the Children’s National Safety Center.
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