When my son was an infant and rolled over for the first time, like any new mom I took all of the appropriate steps: video taped his latest feat, took pictures and immediately sent them to his grandparents, and then began to panic. This little guy was going to be mobile and I needed to babyproof everything! With my new rolling (and, let’s be honest, barely mobile) baby in tow, I walked into the largest baby store I could find and headed straight to the babyproofing aisle. Before me stood a giant wall with every lock, latch, gate, protective cover, cushy foam liner, and things I didn’t know what they’d protect kids from, and I bought it all. All of it. When I installed something that resembled a padlock on the toilet that neither my husband or I could unlock , I knew I’d gone too far. So I eased up on babyproofing every square foot of the house and kept to the essentials (the toilet was not one of them), but keeping medicines up and away was on the top of my list. But now that my kids are a little older, I’ve realized that medicines in this house aren’t far enough out of reach and that needs to change today!
When I read on OTCsaftey.org that more than 60,000 young children end up in the emergency room every year because they got into medicines when their parents or caregivers weren’t looking, I acted like a lot of parents and thought “not in my house.” We were storing our over the counter medicines and vitamins in a kitchen cupboard up and away and out of sight for a young toddler. However, now that my kids are three and five and growing like weeds, our medicines that I thought were in a safe place really aren’t. Look what happened when I asked my five-year-old son if he knew where Mommy kept the medicine.
He quickly grabbed a step stool he uses to reach the sink when he brushes his teeth, pushed it up to the cupboard where we keep all the medicines, and could grab a few bottles from the bottom shelf. With a little boost onto the counter, he could reach everything. Everything I thought I’d securely put away, he could reach. So my initial thought of “not in my house” was not the case. Scary, right?
I’ve put all of our medicines and vitamins into a box that I can lock and I’ve moved it to a higher shelf that I need to get on my tip toes to reach. Now I know everything is out of reach of tiny hands. But what happens when my kids aren’t at my house? What happens when they are visiting my parents house?
Telling your parents what they need to do in their own home can be a little tricky, believe me I get it. I just convinced my dad that Netflix is a blessing from the TV Gods after months of touting the benefits of streaming. Ridiculous.
Grandparents haven’t had to babyproof years, but opening up the lines of communication with grandparents can save your children’s life. I shared some of the facts I learned on the Up and Away’s website like 38% of the time, the medicine that a child gets into belongs to a grandparent and 39% it’s a parent’s medicine. Children most commonly find these medicines on kitchen counters, nightstands and dressers, in purses and bags, or on the ground. Then I showed my mom the pictures of my son able to reach the medicine I thought was secure.
The pictures scared her as much as it scared me, and she’s assured me she’s going through her house to move all medicines before our visit this weekend. After all, she loves these two rug rats, and who could blame her?
So what can you do to protect your kids?
- Take inventory in your own home and before traveling to a grandparent’s house or they visit yours, be ready to have a conversation about safe storage
- Follow the safe medicine storage tips recommended by CDC’s PROTECT Initiative and its Up and Away and Out of Sight campaign
- Log onto Up & Away and Take The Pledge and share this information with your friends and caregivers.
So, friends, what are you going to do in your home to make sure you medicines are Up and Away?
Up and Away is an educational program to remind families of the importance of safe medicine storage. It is an initiative of the PROTECT Initiative, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Educational Foundation. I am being compensated for this blog post but my opinions are all my own.
SUCH an important reminder – thank you! (And you are so right about having the conversation with grandparents about babyproofing, difficult as it may be.) It’s a good reminder, too, to talk to house guests about where they leave any medicines or toiletries. Sharing now…
Everyday the twins are reaching something new. Nothing is safe anymore lol – especially now that they figured out how to move things to climb to their destination. Oye!
Great post. When my son was a toddler, I learned really fast just how resourceful those little guys can be when it comes to getting into things they shouldn’t.
You know, I Like to think that my boys know better, but you just never know. I keep most of my stuffup on top of the fridge.
You know, I Like to think that my boys know better, but you just never know. I keep most of my stuff up on top of the fridge.
The top of our fridge used to be the safe zone. Now with grandchildren we have a locked cabinet in our bedroom
These are great tips – and something I definitely need to talk to my kids about. Thanks for the reminder!
It’s so important to keep kids out of OTC or prescription medications! Most people’s houses could always be safer, and it’s usually the things we don’t think about that get us in trouble.
I learned the hard way that my meds were more accessible than I thought when my four year old ate a bottle of gummy vitamins. I’m lucky that’s all she got into! It’s such an important topic. Thanks for sharing this!
you can never be safe enough with toddlers and little kids. Such a scary age
This is very important for every parent to know! Kids are very good at getting into even seemingly secure places!
It is definitely important to get medicines out of children’s reach. I love the idea of putting them in a lock box.
That is scary that your son knew exactly where to go. I have the same kitchen by the way. Love it!
It is so important to keep dangerous things out of reach. It is smart you keep your medicines locked up.
My home is totally not safe and all three of my kids remind me of this on a daily basis. They are always into things they should not be which stinks!
Thank you for this post, it is extremely important especially since kids are so curious and pills can look like candy. I meed a stepping stool to get to all meds in our home myself and i have to stand on my tippy toes just to keep all 5 kids out of it.
My kids climbed up on everything so we always kept everything locked up tight.Thanks for the reminder to keep dangerous items out of sight.
This is very important. My house is very safe though when it comes to chemicals and stuff. I keep them locked up or upstairs in my room with a gate up that they cannot get over. I learned quick about putting things out of sight when I had my first son. He could do the unthinkable.
It’s really important to be vigilant about keeping kids out of things they shouldn’t be into. It’s amazing how good kids are at getting to places you’d never think they could.
We learned fast with our first that a toddler is very good at finding things they shouldn’t. It’s really important to make sure everything is out of sight and behind locked cabinets when you have little ones.
Thanks for sharing this. My son is into everything and we learned real quick to keep things locked up.
We are so good about this even though the little one is in First Grade now. Better safe than sorry, always!
This is a great reminder. I would like to think that my son would not be interested in pills, but you never know.
I feel like I find something new every day that could be dangerous. I might be overprotective, but I feel like the only way is to just keep an eye on them 24/7!
(But I agree with all your tips. I”m constantly on my husband’s case to keep his medications put away!)
I’m past that stage now, but I put a locking clip on the cupboard with medicines and vitamins in it when they were little. Better safe than sorry, right?
I love this reminder! We have our medicines up high, but the kids can get to it if they really wanted to. I might have to remedy that now!
Kids are natural climbers, I think. We finally ended up putting a lock cabinet high on the wall and kept it locked. I still remember my middle son climbing to the top pantry shelf to get a jar of jelly. Yikes! Good job baby-proofing ; the kids are just smarter:)
All of our stuff is up high even though my kids are older.
Thanks so much for the reminder! My kids are much older now so I don’t have to worry about them getting into the medicine cabinet but it’s a good reminder when other little people come to visit us.
My daughter is 9 now so the safety of my home as been….lets say more relaxed. But, now I am tending two newborns for a family member. I need to do some series reorganizing of some stuff!
This is such a good post – so often I hear about kids getting items they should not have gotten. There are so many items that need to be in a very safe place to prevent children of all ages from being able to get their hands on the items.
you provided so much information. some of those stats are staggering
all medication and cleaners are kept in locked cabinets in this house. they have been since our firstborn was an infant and will be for many more years. the risk isn’t worth it for us. and my husband is a safety freak LOL
My youngest is six and oldest is 13 … I do my best to make everything safe but sometimes, especially when they are at this age of 6 and up … you just have to ensure that you have taught them how to not be curious about bad things and what cabinets are totally off limits. So far so good, but I do worry as they get older being curious about the medicine cabinet. Thank goodness my middle son is no longer on his anti-pysch meds as that was a worry for me as the kids got older, where i would hide them/lock them up yet not forget about giving them to my son. But no more worry. Now it’s just household cleaners around that I try to ensure they are not touched. ever. so that the young one doesn’t think they are toys!
I get so nervous now that my son is two. I am scared of what he can get into that I don’t even know about!
My house probably isn’t REALLY safe, but safe enough for our family. My kids are really good about not getting into things.
My daughter is a huge climber. I definitely worry about them getting into our meds
I think I need to rethink where we have our medicine. I thought it was safe but maybe not safe enough
My kids are older but I still try to make it as safe as possible for them. Great tips
Such an important reminder. We’ve always been very cautious about where we place things in the home.
What an important program!
I need to put our meds up somewhere else, I think.
I’ve long since learned that if my children can reach it, they will. If I don’t think they can reach it, they will find a way to reach it. If I think it’s kid proof, it’s not. Still we give it our best try. I love the blog, great post.
This is a great article! Thank you so much for sharing. Hope others read it as well.
I get so nervous about the medicine cabinet. Thanks for sharing.
Great pledge! My stuff is up and out of the way but that doesn’t mean little hands can’t somehow get to it.It scares me.
Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more! I am always nervous about my kids going to stay anywhere due to potential oversights. It’s easy for people that don’t have kids around most of the time to forget how quickly they can get into things.
Great post. I say if there is a will there is a way. It’s nice to be prepared instead of finding out when it’s to late.
I don’t have children and I am not changing a thing in my pad, so I remind my friends and sisters to keep an eye on their little ones when visiting me! 😉
Great information and such an important reminder. I’m constantly moving things around in our house because I’m paranoid my babies will get into stuff.
So important to remember these simple things. My medicines are up high out of my boys reach.
I think we’re probably one of the lucky ones who has a little boy that doesn’t touch things he’s not supposed to. I’m still waiting for some disaster to happen but I’m hoping it never does. This is good information though because it’s definitely great to be aware all the time.
Such important information, we always keep things away form the kiddos and out of reach. Little ones can be curious though!
Great advice. I can really understand where you are coming from.