Housing...Inside and Out

December 4, 1999
Poison Proof Your Home

Toddlers naturally put everything they can get their hands on into their mouth. The key to safety for toddlers is to childproof your home.

Make a systematic and careful trip through every room and ask your self if there is anything dangerous lying around that a toddler can pick up. If the answer is yes, remove it. A 15-month old toddler cannot distinguish between what is safe and what is not.

Many products in your house may be poisonous to your baby, including aspirin, mothballs, sleeping pills, bleaches, cosmetics, drain cleaners and lye. These safety rules should be followed:

  • Keep dangerous products out of your child's sight and reach. 
  • Take extra care during times of family stress when you may be preoccupied with other things and unintentionally pay less attention to safety matters.
  • Never call medicine "candy."
  • Buy medicine and household products in child-resistant packages.
  • Never leave alcoholic beverages within a child's reach.
  • Seek immediate help if your child swallows a substance that is not food.
  • Keep a one-once bottle of syrup of ipecac, which is used to induce vomiting, in your medicine cabinet.
  • If your child accidentally swallows a poisonous substance, call your doctor or a poison-control center to find out exactly what steps you should take.


Written by Dr. Francis Graham (Retired)

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