Guard Against Poisons

Guard Against Poisons
Many home products can be poisonous. Here are a few:

• kitchen cleaners such as oven cleaner and dishwasher detergent
• general cleaners such as ammonia, furniture polish and bleach
• toilet bowl cleaner, drain cleaner and other bathroom products
• laundry products such as bleach, spot remover and fabric softener
• turpentine, kerosene, lighter fluid and charcoal lighter
• paint remover, paint thinner, paint and varnish
• products such as gasoline and antifreeze
• bath and beauty products such as makeup, nail polish remover and perfume
• bug spray, roach trays, rat poison and ant poison
• prescription and over the counter medicines such as aspirin, sleeping pills, laxatives and cough syrup
• vitamins, iron pills and other food supplements

If your child swallows any home product, get help right away. If your child is not breathing, phone 9-1-1. Otherwise, phone the Poison Control Center. The number is 1-800-222-1222.

Safety tips

Babies are curious by nature. At this age, they try to crawl everywhere. They may climb to get things they want. Protect your child against poisons.

Here are some safety tips:

• Watch your child at all times. Stay close and keep her out of danger.
• Lock poisons in cabinets.
• Store all home products out of reach.
• Make sure all medicines have safety caps. These make it harder for children to take them off. But don’t depend on safety caps alone. Given enough time, children can pry them loose.
• Don’t leave medicine on the kitchen table or the bathroom sink. Keep all medicines out of reach.
• Put away your purse and those of people who come to visit. Purses often contain medicines and other harmful products.
• Throw out old medicines. Check “Expiration Date” on the label. Flush old medicine down the toilet. Rinse out the container.
• Keep products in the containers they came in. Don’t pour gasoline into a soda pop bottle, for example. You don’t want a child to mistake one for the other.
• Store harmful products away from foods.
• Get rid of any harmful products you don’t need. It’s better to discard a half can of paint thinner than to risk an accident. Call the garbage pickup agency. They have a special place for disposing of these products.

This content has been provided freely by CMC. Click Healthy Start, Grow Smart—Your-Ten-Month-Old for your free download. Click GreatDad Free Ebook to download the entire Health Start, Grow Smart series.

Note: For info on sex after delivery, subscribe now to the GreatDad newsletter for new dads.

Previous / Next: Growing Up with Plants