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.
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After nearly 2 weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit, a newborn baby was discharged to home with a prescription for liquid phenobarbital (20 mg per 5 mL) twice a day to prevent seizures. Before leaving the hospital, the baby’s doctor reviewed the prescription with the parents. He made sure the parents knew the baby’s dose (6.5 mg) and how much of the liquid medicine to give the baby for each dose (1.6 mL).
Do you use an inhaler? If so, always replace its cap after use. The importance of replacing caps on inhalers was recently illustrated when a woman accidentally inhaled a small earring while using her asthma medicine. She got her uncapped inhaler from her purse. As she inhaled the medicine, she felt a painful scratch in her throat and started coughing blood. She was taken to the emergency department, where the earring was removed from her lung. If the inhaler's cap had been in place, the loose earring in her purse would not have gotten into the inhaler.
Are you taking charge of your medicines? If not, you can be putting your health at risk. Proper administration of medicine is a three tier effort that includes your doctor, your pharmacist, and you. Knowing about the medicine you take today can save you a lot of grief tomorrow.
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