Poisoning

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Read more on Poison / Pesticides - General Information Pamphlet (English) | General Information Pamphlet (Afrikaans)

Every year thousands of 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 make sure that you replace the cap after having given 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.

Deep 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.
Is unable to distinguish between odours.
Will swallow even bad tasting substances.
Children under four years of age 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. Remember, small children cannot read warnings.

Be especially careful

When there is stress in the home.
When normal routine is disrupted.
When visiting other homes, e.g. those of 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 that can be bought "over the counter", e.g. 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, week killers, insecticides, pesticides, rodenticides and fertilizers.

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 plant, berries and mushrooms are poisonous. Children should be taught never to eat anything from the garden before asking an adult.

Preventive Hints

Administering medicines

First make sure 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.

"Deadly sweets"! Your medicine can be poison to a child!

Tell your child the tablet he or she is taking is to make him or her better.

Don’t allow a child to take his 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.

Remember 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.
Make your home a safe home.
Protect your children by making your home poison-proof.
Lock poisons away.

IMPORTANT

Contact your nearest Poisons Information Centre immediately if you suspect that your child has accidentally 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.

For emergency Contact Numbers - see our Crisis Page