“I don’t have any prescriptions in my home. I don’t need locking medicine storage.” Just because you haven’t been written a prescription for a drug recently, doesn’t mean there isn’t poisonous pills in your home.
Does your home have any of the following risks or hazards?
Vitamins
Many parents feel that a daily multivitamin is the key to keeping their child healthy and happy. When a cold strikes, extra vitamin C and zinc lozenges are brought out to chase it away. In winter months, extra vitamin D helps to shore up the immune system when sun exposure is limited.
While preventing nutrient deficiencies is a great way to keep your kids from getting sick and encourage healthy growth, having vitamins available in the home poses a real risk to small children.
Vitamin toxicity is one of the leading causes of child poisonings reported to the Poison Control Center each year. Vitamins are often left on countertops, in medicine cabinets, or in the refrigerator where curious kids can easily get to them. Securing vitamins with a locking storage option can mean the difference between a day at the park and a day in the emergency room.
Herbal Supplements
Vitamins are not the only seemingly harmless supplements that can cause injury to a child. Herbal and all-natural supplements can also do some serious damage, especially if your child takes too many at one time.
Natural supplements intended to help an adult relax, unwind, and sleep better such as kava, St. John’s Wort, or melatonin, can easily send your child to the ER with a damaged liver, seizures, or even lead to death.
Just because a supplement is “all-natural,” or herbal, doesn’t mean it is safe for your child. Lock them up to help protect your little ones.
Pet Prescriptions or Supplements
When was the last time Fido went to the vet? Did he get prescribed pain pills to help him recover from being neutered? Is there a prescription antibiotic from the time he got tangled up with the neighbor cat? Maybe your favorite furry friend needs to take supplements to keep his joints healthy and a spring in his step.
Animal drugs and supplements are just as potent, and as dangerous, as those given to humans. Your toddler doesn’t know the difference between a pill prescribed for Fluffy, or one for you. To your curious little one, a bottle full of pills looks like great fun, and she can’t wait to put those pills in her mouth to investigate them further.
OTC Medications
Pain relievers, fever reducers, antihistamines, cough and cold remedies, antacids, and eye drops are all available without a prescription at your local market. That doesn’t mean they are without side effects if your child gets a hold of them.
According to the World Health Organization, over the counter medications are some of the most common sources of child poisonings, along with prescription medications.
Your child’s small organs are still developing, and an accidental overdose of an over-the-counter drug can lead to permanent injury of his liver, kidneys, or other internal organs. The impact of your child having an unintentional poisoning injury can last the rest of their lives.
Visiting Grandparents
Grandparents often bring more than just love, hugs, and a tendency to spoil your home when they come to visit. Their purses, pockets, and bags can contain potent prescription pills.
As many as 100,000 children are treated in emergency rooms each year after ingesting medications belonging to their grandparents. The heart medication or pain pills that grandma had in her purse can be so potent that a single pill could kill a small child. It just takes a moment of distraction for your little one to get into grandma’s purse or grandpa’s pockets.
Insist that grandparents use locking pill bottles for any medications that they need to carry with them, or ask them to secure their pills in with the rest of your family’s locked medications while they visit.
If there is a pill in your home, there is a chance that your child can get to it. Young children are extremely curious, and they investigate the world around them by putting things into their mouths. Don’t rely on a childproof cap to keep your toddler out of vitamins, supplements, pet pills, or grandma’s purse. A secure method for locking up pills is the only way to help keep your young children truly safe.
