10 Tips for Keeping Medicine Out of Children’s Hands
While medicines are meant to help one feel better, as well as treating a medical condition, they can be harmful when they aren’t used as prescribed or when they fall into the wrong hands, especially where children are concerned. As revealed by data and discussions over at frontlineer.com, the number of children ending up in emergency rooms all over the world due to the fact that they got into medicines has been steadily rising. This instances can be quite traumatic both for the child and for the parent or guardian and as such are ones we world want to avoid at any costs. Children, especially when they are at the age where they start moving by themselves can be quite curious and end up putting anything they find in their mouths, including medicines. It is therefore important to practice safe medication storage, and this article will look to highlight some tips that should help in keeping medicines from the hands of children.
One of the first and most important tip is ensuring that you put the medicine out of the reach and sight of children. Make sure that the place you are putting your medicine is one where children will not only not be able to reach, but will also not be able to see the medicine. This applies to not only medicine, but vitamins as well as other supplements you may be taking. Given the natural curiosity in kids, it is important medicine is not within sight.
It is also important that you do some research on the common places where children get into medicine and ensure that you don’t keep medicine there. A spot-check on articles on the internet reveal that purses as well as nightstands are the most common places where children get into medicines. As such it is important you avoid putting any medicines there. If you have to put medicines in your purse, ensure they are closed and are placed in high locations out of children’s reach.
The first tip discussed above talks about keeping all medicine out of the reach and sight of children; the next tip involves ensuring this philosophy includes even those products that one may not consider as medicines, even though they are, and are also just as harmful to children. This, as discussed over at frontlineer.com, include eye drops, diaper rash remedies, among others. These also need to be stored safely.
Another tip to mention here is ensuring that you close all the medicine caps tightly every time after use. Pills should also be returned to their boxes after use as well. It is also recommended that you use child-resistant caps for your medicine for added security. However, even with this done, ensure the medicine is still put out of the reach and sight of children as discussed above.
It is also recommended that you keep an eye out for medicine belonging to guests and visitors to your house. Ensure that any visitors or guests in your house adhere to your safe medication storage protocols, including having their purses, bags and any other places they may have put any medicine put out of sight and reach of children.
While it is crucial to keep medicine out of sight and reach for children in your own house, it is equally as important to ensure that you do the same to medicine in the places where your children visit like the homes of friends and family. As is advised on frontlineer.com, it is important to work with the owners of these places to ensure medicines are indeed kept out of reach and sight of children there, just as they are in your own house.
Some people may feel the need to have their medicine close to them due to dosage, for example if you have to take them within small durations. This may be tempting but it is advised against as it opens up a route for children to get into the medicine. Even if you need to take the medicine soon after, still keep them away from reach and sight from children. Set reminders on your phone if you fear you may forget and mess up your dosage.
Another tip to help keep medicine out of reach of children is ensuring that, if age appropriate, you talk to them about and teach them medicine safety. Explain to them what medicine is and why it should only be handled by adults and the effects of them get into it.
From discussions on frontlineer.com, most people make the mistake of telling children that medicine is candy as a trick to get them to take the medicine. This should be avoided at all costs as it serves only to make the kids want to look for the medicines and get into them. This is a very important tip.
It is also important to pick one spot in your house, that is of course high enough to be out of reach to children and out of sight as well. Avoid keeping medicine all over the house as this might lead to some of them being misplaced, being forgotten about and eventually children getting into them. Ensure that you have one designated area where you keep medicine in your house.
The above tips should come handy when looking to keep medicine out of children’s hands, with more on this and other topics to be found on frontlineer.com.
