Families take medications and vitamins to feel well and to stay well. But did you know that more than 60,000 young children end up in emergency rooms every year because they get into medicines when their parent or caregiver isn’t looking?
Read Safety ArticleToday, parents can often visit and stay with their sick, hospitalized child whenever they want. Many parents take advantage of this and remain with their child as much as possible, getting more involved in their child’s care. For an ill child, this can be comforting and provide an important emotional benefit, which might lead to faster healing as well as long-term behavioral benefits.1 For the parents, this can lead to less stress, anxiety, and sadness. 1
Read Safety ArticleIf you have young children or grandchildren, you are probably used to being on the lookout for danger in your home and the child's play areas. But a doctor's office or clinic might be an unrecognized source of danger, as one mother learned.
Read Safety ArticleCaregivers of small children who are either hospitalized or visiting someone in the hospital should be aware of an unsuspecting source of choking. The small object is called a disinfection cap and is commonly used in the healthcare setting as a barrier on an intravenous port. The small cap has a foam sponge inside saturated with alcohol to help prevent infection. However, these brightly colored caps may be attractive to young children and could be a potential choking hazard.
Read Safety ArticleWho would ever make that mistake? Well, people do. A father told the babysitter to put his son's ear drops in his right ear before bed, and the careful babysitter did just that. She found ear drops labeled "put two drops in right ear" in the medicine cabinet, and instilled the ear drops into the child's right ear. But the family's dog also had a bottle of ear drops, which were the drops the babysitter used. The son's ear drops were in the refrigerator. Luckily, the child was not harmed by the dog's ear drops.
Read Safety ArticleFew caregivers are more devoted than parents when caring for a child. Yet, even the most cautious and educated parents will make mistakes when giving medicine to children or fail to protect children from accidental poisonings. Dangerous mistakes with medicines are three times more likely with children than adults, 1 and more than half of all accidental poisonings—mostly with medicines—occur in children less than 5 years old. 2 The list that follows, although not inclusive, covers ten important safety tips for parents.
Read Safety ArticleSome medical and dental procedures require people to remain still for a long time. This is almost impossible for young children. Medical procedures like certain X-rays, CT scans, or MRI tests can also be scary to children. To help, the doctor or dentist may prescribe a sedative for a child before the procedure.
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