Help Your Kids Stay Safe This Summer — Keep All Medicines Up and Away
Published June 21, 2023 (revised June 24, 2024)
Kids can get sick if they swallow medicines, vitamins, or other supplements they’re not supposed to – including those that come in gummy form. Help your kids stay healthy this summer by keeping your medicines in a safe place — whether you’re at home or on the go.
Consider these tips to store medicines safely:
With hectic summer schedules, it’s easy to forget about everyday tasks. Don’t forget to put medicines, vitamins, and other supplements away right after you give or take them, every time.
Keep medicines in a place kids can’t see or reach — like in a high cabinet or on a high closet shelf.
Planning a family vacation? Be sure to pack your medicines in child-resistant containers. If you’re staying in a hotel, you can put medicines in the hotel room safe or on a high shelf in the closet.
Be sure to keep your vitamins and other supplements —including those in gummy form —up and away and out of sight and reach too!
If you think your child may have swallowed a medicine, vitamin, or other supplement, get help right away — even if you’re not sure. Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 or go to PoisonHelp.org.
There are some medicines used to treat breathing problems that come as powder-filled capsules. The powder inside is meant to be inhaled into the lungs using a special device. The powder is ineffective if the capsule is swallowed intact.
A diabetic woman who couldn't see well accidentally put drops for her blood sugar monitoring device in her eyes. The bottle looked just like the eye drops she used for glaucoma. Both bottles had yellow caps and black lettering on the label. Another woman grabbed what she thought was a bottle of natural tears and put a few drops into each eye.
Do Not Store Different Medicines in the Same Bottle
A woman packing for vacation put a one-week supply of her various medicines in an empty prescription bottle. When she returned home, she then stored the last few doses of her father's medicine in the empty prescription bottle so she could take his current bottle to the pharmacy for a refill.
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