Prevent Accidental Medication Overdoses in Kids — Keep Your Medicines up and Away
As a parent or caregiver, you may wish you could be everywhere at once — but we all know that’s impossible. When kids get into something they’re not supposed to, like medicines, vitamins, or supplements, there’s a good chance you’ll be in another room or distracted and unable to stop them. That’s why it’s so important to keep medicines out of the sight and reach of young children — and to put medicines away right after you use them, every time.
Protect your child. Here’s how:
✔Put medicines and vitamins up and away – out of reach and out of sight
Children are curious and put all sorts of things in their mouths. Even if you turn your back for less than a minute, they can quickly get into things that could hurt them.
Pick a storage place in your home that your child cannot reach or see. Different families will have different places. Walk around your house and decide on the safest place to keep your medicines and vitamins.
✔Put medicines and vitamins away every time
This includes medicines and vitamins you use every day. Never leave them out on a kitchen counter or at a sick child’s bedside, even if you have to give the medicine again in a few hours.
✔Hear the click to make sure the safety cap is locked
Always relock the cap on a medicine bottle. If the bottle has a locking cap that turns, twist it until you hear the click. Remember, even though many medicines have safety caps, children may be able to open them. Every medicine and vitamin must be stored up and away and out of children’s reach and sight.
✔Teach your children about medicine safety
Teach your children what medicine is and why you must be the one to give it to them. Never tell children medicine is candy to get them to take it, even if your child doesn’t like to take his or her medicine.
✔Tell your guests about medicine safety
Ask houseguests and visitors to keep purses, bags, or coats that have medicine in them up and away and out of sight when they are in your home.
✔Be prepared in case of an emergency
Call your poison control center at 800.222.1222 right away if you think your child might have gotten into a medicine or vitamin.
Program the Poison Control number into your home and cell phones so you will have it when you need it.
For more ways to learn how to keep medicines somewhere safe visit: UpAndAway.org.
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The Poison Prevention Act was passed in 1970 to help reduce the number of accidental childhood poisonings. The Act required manufacturers of medicines and household products to develop a package that would make it more difficult for a child, age 5 and younger, to open. Since then, many over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medicines are sold with a child-resistant cap. However, these caps do not fully prevent a child from opening the medicine – they are NOT childproof. Tragic cases of young children dying or becoming seriously ill after taking medicine from vials or bottles they were able to open occurs even with the use of child-resistant caps. Some examples of recent stories found in the media are listed below.
