Vanilla Extract – I often heard that a person could get drunk by drinking vanilla extract. I’ve wondered if that’s true.  The answer seems to be “yes”. For children, that’s a real danger. Vanilla extract contains ethanol, the same type of alcohol found in beer, wine, and hard liquor (and other types of flavoring extract, perfume, cologne, aftershave, and mouthwash, too). The amount of extract called for in recipes would not be dangerous. But a child who swallowed the contents of a bottle might be at risk of alcohol poisoning. Keep flavoring extracts out of reach, along with other alcohol-containing liquids.

But, there are more dangers lurking.  Nutmeg tastes great in cookies and eggnog, but too much can cause hallucinations. Children who get into the container, and people who deliberately swallow a lot of nutmeg trying to get high, can become miserably sick. Nausea, vomiting, agitation, prolonged drowsiness, and coma are all possible. Keep the nutmeg, and its relative, mace, out of the reach of children.

Lead Poisoning Information from the Center for Disease Control – An all encompassing website on lead poisoning in children.  Covers all topics from prevention to advocacy to making your sure your home is safe.

Home and Recreational Safety Information from the Center for Disease Control – Information and Fact Sheets on a variety of dangers in the home including falls, playground safety, poisoning, etc.

National Program for Playground Safety – Playground safety information for all age groups and playground locations including early childhood, home playset safety, and school safety.

Injury Free Coalition for Kids – An information hub on a variety of injury prevention topics

1.  Your own medicine cabinet.

2.  Prescription and administration errors by health care providers.

You can do something about #1.  A recent article in the New York Times reports on the high incidence of accidental poisoning among children from prescription and over-the-counter drugs.  The article cites staggering results from a study from of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found more than twice as many incidents of accidental poisoning from drugs than from household consumer products.  Most of those injuries were to toddlers, the most vulnerable of our children.

#2 is much more troubling.  We take our children to doctors to be cured and healed — not to be poisoned.  The Joint Commission on on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations issued a Sentinel Event Alert last year about the high risk to children from medication errors.  The Alert lists a number of reasons that such errors are especially troublesome in children:

1.  Many drugs are formulated for adults.

2.  Many healthcare settings do not have reference materials or safeguards designed specifically for children.

3.  Children have developmental differences in metabolization and excretion of drugs.

4.  Proper dosing for children can require additional calculation and fractional dosing with decimal points.

5.  Children might not be able to communicate adverse effects.

It’s up to your doctor or other health care provider to get this right, but here are some things you can do to make sure:   

Pay close attention to what drugs your child gets from the doctor, nurse, hospital and pharmacy. 

Ask lots of questions and be sure you understand the answers.  If you do not understand, do not be afraid:  ASK AGAIN.

Be sure you understand what effects the medication should and should not have on your child.

Watch your child carefully for any unexpected side effects.