Every year thousands of South African children swallow dangerous things at home.
These include medicines and tablets, sedatives, household products, garden and garage preparations.
Hundreds of children are admitted to hospitals for treatment after swallowing poisonous substances. Some die as a result. Others are left with permanent damage.
How to avoid disaster
Storage of medicine
The golden rule: Lock up all medicines and potentially dangerous household products.
Even a high shelf is not safe. Don't forget that children are curious and persistent. And they can climb.
Children can't be poisoned by something they can't get their hands on. Specially designed childproof boxes or cupboard catches are obtainable.
Where possible you should have two such childproof cupboards in the home - one for medicine and one for other dangerous substances.
Don't carry medicines in your handbag if you have young children.
Always replace the cap after giving your child a tablet or having taken one yourself. Put the container away immediately.
Storing medicines and tablets in bedside tables can be perilous.
Never store potentially harmful products in soft drink bottles, containers or cups used for food or drink.
Children get confused and might drink the contents by mistake. Keep medicines separate from other products.
Never store cleaning agents with food - keep them in a locked cupboard.
How to prevent poisoning in the home
Know your child
The young child explores with his mouth and is unable to distinguish between odours. He will swallow even bad-tasting substances. Children under four years are the ones most exposed to danger.
Be alert
You must know which products in your home are poisonous or dangerous.
Attractively packaged products that look harmless and are used in and around the home, can be dangerous when swallowed by a child.
Often such products are not labelled as poisonous and contain only the word "caution" as warning. Small children cannot read warnings.
Be especially careful
When there is stress in the home, normal routine is disrupted, when visiting other homes like those of the grandparents.
The trouble spots
Kitchen
The cupboard under the sink with its polishes, bleaching powder, detergents, ammonia, washing powder, insecticides and cleaning agents for drainpipes, ovens and windows.
Bathroom cupboard
Medicines and tablets, practically all prescribed medicines and almost all other non-prescribed medicines that can be bought "over the counter" like aspirin, Panado, tonics, iron tablets and home perm kits.
Toilet
Disinfectants, deodorant blocks and toilet cleaners.
Bedroom
Perfumes, nail polish, and nail polish remover, moth balls and insect repellents in strips, sticks, aerosol cans and fluids. All batteries.
Be especially careful with button-sized batteries used in calculators and digital watches.
Garage and garden shed
Petrol, paraffin, brake fluid, battery acid, anti-rust paint, paint thinners, swimming-pool chemicals, weed killers, insecticides, pesticides, rodenticides and fertilisers.
A small child may also accidentally spray products from aerosol cans into his eyes.
Store poisons away safely, preferably in a locked cupboard.
Poison out of doors
Some plants, berries and mushrooms are poisonous.
Children should be taught never to eat anything from the garden before asking an adult.
Preventive hints
Administering medicines
Check you have the correct bottle before giving medicine to children. Don't give medicines in the dark. Using the wrong bottle could have tragic results.
Read the label
Measure the dose carefully with a medicine spoon and give only the quantity prescribed for a child.
Never talk your child into taking tablets by telling him that they are "sweets" or "lollies". This makes them dangerously attractive at other times.
Tell your child the tablet she is taking is to make her better. Don't allow a child to take her own medicine.
Teach older children to read and follow directions and warnings on the label.
Explain that more than the prescribed dose will make them ill.
Avoid taking medicines or tablets in a child's presence.
Children love imitating adults, especially their parents. Always to put containers away after use. Don't be lazy!
How to prevent poisoning
Dispose of unused medicines in this way:
Never throw bottles of medicine in the rubbish bin.
Dispose of unwanted, left-over medicines and pills by returning them to your local pharmacist.
If this is not possible, flush them down the toilet or wash them down the drain.
Wash out the empty bottle before putting it in the rubbish bin.
Never allow children to play with medicine containers, empty or full.
Teach your children not to eat or drink from bottles or cans left lying about.
Lock poisons away
Contact your nearest Poisons Information Centre (their numbers are in your local phone book) immediately if you suspect that your child has swallowed some medicine or a poison.
Treat all cases of poisoning as urgent.
If you take the child to a doctor or hospital, also take along the following: the container, label, prescription, remaining tablets, the substance swallowed, vomited matter or whatever might help the doctor to identify and estimate the amount of poison taken. - CAFSA