Medication Safety For Kids

Medication safety is a very important topic. Thanks to Safe Kids Worldwide for sponsoring this post.

My daughter loves to take medicine. She’s especially fond of the purple one, because purple is her favorite color, and likes the red one as well.  For her, getting a cough and cold is a treat because if she’s bad enough, I’ll give her some medicine to help with the congestion and cough. Even though I keep her medication on a high shelf where she can’t reach it, I’m always afraid that she’ll get to it somehow.  I’ve had medication scares with other members of my family (OK, so it was my dog and she ate an entire bottle of Rimadyl, INCLUDING the plastic bottle) and want to make sure I keep my daughter safe from the medications that are there to help her. I’ve recently learned that medication safety only starts with putting medications out of our kids reach. There are so many more things we need to do and be aware of.

Identifying Medications

In 2011, more than 67,000 kids were treated in emergency rooms for medicine poisoning. That’s one kid every eight minutes! As parents we try to do everything possible to keep medications out of reach from our little ones. We think because we put medications up high, out of their reach, we’re “safe.” What we fail to remember is that we keep a bottle of Tylenol in our purses or we leave our chewable vitamins on the bathroom counter so we don’t forget to take them in the morning.  Or what about those products we don’t consider medicine, such as hydrogen peroxide and sunscreen?

Put medicines up and away and out of sight.

Now that you’ve properly identified all the medications in your house, 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. Check those diaper bags! I had EXPIRED bottles of ibuprofen and acetominophen in a diaper bag that hasn’t been used for over a year but was hanging in my closet.

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. Relatives without kids don’t have medication safety on their minds so don’t feel bad about reminding them to put their medications away.

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.

Get rid of expired medications.

Reduce the risk even further by going through the medications you have and properly dispose of medications that are expired or no longer needed. The less you have in your home, the less risk for your children.

Put the Poison Control number in your home and cell phone: .

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

To learn more about how to keep your kids safe, watch the educational video from Safe Kids Worldwide:

With these simple tips you can reduce your child’s risk of a medication overdose. Even with the best intentions, it only takes a few seconds for a child to get into a medication.  As for me, I’m putting the number of the Poison Control Center in my phone right now and then going upstairs to clean out those medicine cabinets and put everything up, out of my daughter’s reach, considering what she can reach with her step stool. Her safety is the most important thing to me and I’m going to do all I can to protect her.

What are your medication safety 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.