Preventing Your Children from Being Poisoned

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 300 children each day are treated in an emergency room and 2 die as a result of poisoning. We all think of poisoning coming from the chemicals that we use to clean our homes but that is not all that can poison children. Curious children can get their hands on medications that are easily accessible and then experiment with eating or drinking what they find.

The CDC has four main recommendations to prevent poisoning:

Keep medications and cleaning supplies in their original packaging and locked away where children cannot see them or access them.
Put the nationwide poison control center phone number 1-800-222-1222, on or near every telephone in your home and program it into your cell phone.
When giving children medications, be sure to carefully read the labels and only give the amount prescribed.
Dispose of any medications and cleaning supplies you do not need or that have expired dates. The CDC recommends that medicine be disposed by mixing it with coffee grounds or cat litter and making sure this mixture is thrown away.

Be especially careful not to refer to medications as candy. Because pills come in different attractive colors, curious children are more susceptible to wanting to play with them and even eat them.

As parents, we must be diligent to protect our children. Do all you can to safeguard items that are potentially hazardous to them and be prepared in the event poisoning does occur.

To learn more, either visit CDC Poisoning or CDC Prevent Tips.

The Harmful Effects of Plastic on Our Children’s Health

More and more studies are showing the dangers that the use of plastic is having on our health. As parents, our concern is the effects on our children. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report and policy statement in August, 2018 detailing the hazards to our children’s health posed by chemicals in plastic and making recommendations to assist persons in the health field and parents as to how to reduce exposure to these dangerous chemicals. It found that “food insecurity remains a substantial child health concern”.

According to the report, increasing amounts of diseases and disabilities are being linked to harmful chemicals in plastic. For example, the chemical bisphenol A or BPA has been frequently used since the 1960s in manufacturing plastic but research has shown the negative health effects it has. “BPA has recently been banned from infant bottles and plastic beverage containers are increasingly designated as BPA free. However, BPA and related compounds are still used in polymeric resin coatings to prevent metal corrosion in food and beverage containers.” Be aware that, even though BPA may not be used in the plastic of a specific item, there are closely related chemical alternatives now being used that show similar negative health effects.

The report lists many other chemicals and additives in food that pose harm to children. Please read it for a good understanding of how these chemicals are shown to negatively affect our bodies.

The Academy’s policy statement is very helpful as well as it contains many practical recommendations such as:

• Avoid microwaving food or beverages (including infant formula and pumped human milk) in plastic;

• Avoid placing plastics in the dishwasher;

• Use alternatives to plastic, such as glass or stainless steel, when possible; and

• Look at the recycling code on the bottom of products to find the plastic type, and avoid plastics with recycling codes 3 (phthalates), 6 (styrene), and 7 (bisphenols) unless plastics are labeled as “biobased” or “greenware,” indicating that they are made from corn and do not contain bisphenols.

One other practical recommendation is drinking tap water rather than bottled water. As for us parents, isn’t that so much easier, as you simply have to fill a glass or bottle from the tap?

Unfortunately, it is predicted that the use of plastics will quadruple by 2050. That’s a sad testimony for us!

To read the full report and policy statement, please visit: