Do your small children know the difference between medication and candy? That may sound like an absurd question as to an adult medication and candy is easily discerned. However, emergency rooms around the country are seeing more children coming in after accidentally ingesting medication. The Journal of Pediatrics report the most common drugs accidentally ingested by children are anxiety meds, heart medications, sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, and benzodiazepines.
Why are so many children ingesting these harmful medications? Children simply have a hard time distinguishing between a pill and candy. The American Academy of Pediatrics held a presentation at a national conference which revealed that children and teachers mixed up candy and medications often. It is very important that medications are kept away from children who may not recognize what they are.
You may think it will never happen to you. I know I did. I was very careful about keeping medications up and away from my children. I was successful through three children at never having a medication incident. Then one day my fourth child at the age of 2 walked up to me and showed me a pill she took out of her mouth. The taste was offensive to her tongue and she handed it to me. Turns out she found it on the floor. Apparently, a few pills fell out of a bottle and went unnoticed. Thankfully, the medication was not harmful and she did not ingest a full pill. I became more vigilant at keeping medications out of reach. Then not long after that incident my teenager left allergy medicine out on the kitchen counter within reach of my little one. What if my little one had seen it and consumed it? She was the type of child to put anything in her mouth. Even though I was vigilant, I had not educated everyone in my home about the dangers of medication.
If you have little ones then you need to educate everyone in your home about the dangers of medications. My husband would leave his allergy meds on the mantel clearly out of reach of my child yet the pills fell to the ground and my child put one in her mouth. Just because a medication is out of reach does not mean it is safely put away. Keep medications stored securely and in one place. If you dispose of medications do not just throw them in the trash where they can be easily reached. Be vigilant when securing your medications.