Your child is playing with her friends. They pretend to be magicians concocting magic potions. One of them will transform them into dinosaurs. They are proud to have found this blue potion in the kitchen cabinet for their play. Fortunately, you caught them in time; just before one of the children starts drinking some the famous potion of… fondue fuel.

Real Life Situation

Why are children so often victims of poisoning?

For a young child, an edible and poisonous substance can easily be mistaken. If the substance or its container looks like a familiar drink or food, she will be tempted to ingest it without hesitation. Therefore, the glass cleaner can be mistaken for a blue drink, the yellow dishwashing liquid for a cough syrup, the laxative squares for yummy chocolate squares! Also, some adults buy their domestic cleaning products in large quantities and therefore, store them in food or drink containers which makes it even trickier for a child to acknowledge if a substance can be harmful to her.

To explore their environment, young children may spontaneously put anything into their months and since many toxic substances taste good (for instance, antifreeze tastes sweet), this makes it difficult for a child to understand how dangerous her behavior is. A child may also find it difficult to understand how certain substances can become poisonous if ingested in large quantities. From a child’s perspective, if cough syrup helps you get better and if vitamins help you grow, ingesting more would normally help you heal and grow faster. For a young child, the reasons that motivate a parent to limit her ingestion of these vitamins “that taste so good” are the same as those that motivates him not to eat a 3 rd chocolate cookie. When the parent is absent, a child may therefore be tempted to swallow a large quantity of vitamins just to feel better or to grow faster, or simply because she feels like it.

Dos and Don’ts are not enough to protect your child against the risk of toxic exposure. Even if a parent forbids a child to ingest more vitamins, she can easily break this rule if the only risk she perceives is the risk of being reprimanded. It is therefore no surprise to see children climb everywhere to find substances that are forbidden to them and kept out of their reach. According to the Canadian Association of Poison Control Centers, each year, an estimated 200,000 poisonings are reported to Canadian poison control centers (Smartrisk, March 23, 2004). Unfortunately, each year, an estimated 18,000 poisonings of children under 5 years old are reported in Quebec. Therefore, protecting children from the risk of toxic exposure is an very crucial role for parents.

Tips for Parents

How can you prevent child poisoning?

• Tell your child about the dangers relating to the ingestion of dangerous substances
  It is important to explain to your child that certain products or medicines may be harmful to her. Do not hesitate to tell her the facts or a story about this matter.
  


• Lock up or store in a high place all your dangerous substances and medicine
  Do not overestimate your child’s capacity to respect your safety rules. Store toxic products in a cabinet out of your children’s reach and sight. Do not forget that your handbag may contain medicines as well.
  


• Label all your toxic substances
  Make sure all the toxic products around the house are clearly labelled. Teach your child to recognize the danger symbols on your dangerous household products such as the skull-and-crossbones or the flammable danger symbols. You can also add a logo or a small sticker to help your child recognize more easily the substances he must not eat or swallow.
  


• Do not let your child help herself
  It is important to teach your child that all medicine including vitamins must be given to him by a parent or a trusting adult and that she must not help herself.
  


• Do not hesitate to contact your local poison control center if you think your child may have ingested a dangerous substance
  If your child has ingested a dangerous substance, immediately contact your local poison center and have the name of the substance or medicine with you. It is recommended to always keep a bottle of Ipeca syrup at home. This product is sold in pharmacies and can be useful in case of poisoning.
  

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