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Swimming Season Ends but Home Drowning Danger Continues

Posted under: Child Health, Home Safety — tslaughter @ 8:48 am

This week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an interesting warning to consumers concerning childhood drownings. The Commission noted that while the danger of outdoor drownings in swimming pools has wound down with the coming of fall, the danger of young children drowning in bathtubs, bathinettes and even buckets continue throughout the year.

The Commission published statistics from 2003-2005 that show that an average of 90 children under 5 years old drown in homes each year. The deaths occur in bathtubs (62%), baby seats or bathinettes (15%), buckets and pails (11%), landscaping or yard products (6%) and other products (4%).

The Commission suggests the following safety tips:
Never leave young children alone, even for a moment near any water.
Keep young child within arm’s reach in bathtub. If you must leave, take child with you.
Don’t leave a baby or toddler in bathtub under care of another young child.
Never leave a bucket containing even a small amount of liquid unattended. Toddlers fall headfirst into buckets and drown.

This is sound advice If you are caring for young children, it is always a good idea to take a few moments to review the potential dangers in your premises, and remind yourself of these very common sense tips. Be safe out there.

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Ten Ways to Prevent Child Poisonings

Posted under: Child Health, Home Safety — tslaughter @ 8:56 am

One of the most terrifying human experiences imaginable is for a young parent or grandparent to discover their unconscious or violently ill child next to an open container of household chemicals or a bottle of pills. Over 90% of all childhood poisonings occur in the home. Over two million calls to our nation’s poison control centers are made each year. On average, approximately 80,000 children are treated in emergency rooms for unintentional poisonings annually. In recent years, approximately 30 children per year die of poisoning. This is down from 216 that died in 1972, when child-proof containers were introduced.

The <a href="http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09159.html">U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission</a> recently released a list of 10 recommendations to prevent childhood poisonings. These are great recommendations and are worth re-publishing here:

1. Keep medicines and household chemicals in oringinal, child-resistant containers.
2. Store potentially hazardous substances up and out of the reach of children.
3. Keep National Poison Control Center Telephone No. handy, 800.222.1222.
4. When using hazardous products, never let young children out of sight, even if you must take them along to answer phone or doorbell.
5. Keep items closed and in original containers.
6. Leave original lables on all products, and read before using.
7. Always leave the light on when giving or taking medicines to assure the correct dosage is given.
8. Avoid taking medicine in front of children. Never call medicine "candy." Call it medicine.
9. Clean out medicine cabinets periodically to remove unneeded and outdated medicines.
10. Do not put decorative lamps and candles that contain lamp oil where children can reach them. Lamp oil can be very toxic if ingested by young children.

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Hearing Loss on the Rise in U.S. Children

Posted under: Child Health — tslaughter @ 4:44 pm

Everyone knows that blasting car stereos and cranked up MP3 players may have long term effects on hearing. A recent report of the Children’s Hearing Institute adds empirical evidence to the mix and reveals that an alarming increase in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is occuring among the American youth.

Noise-induced hearing loss is caused when the hair cells of the inner ear are damaged. These hair cells are the sensory cells that convert sound into electrical signals transmitted to the brain. Once damaged, the hair cells do not grow back, causing permanent hearing loss.

The recent report estimates that one child in eight has a NIHL. This is approximately five million children that have incurred a preventable disability that will affect them throughout life.

The Children’s Hearing Institute has launched a “Turn it to the Left” campaign, to prompt everyone to turn the volume down. This means Ipods, cell phones, car stereos, and electric musical instruments. It also means reducing exposure to high noise environments that children encounter everyday, such as cafeterias, freeways, loud movies and city street noise. Time should be carved out for “quiet activities” such as reading, puzzles and art. How about a visit to the library? Ssshhh!

Jane Akre of Injuryboard.com has published several common sense ideas of how parents can help reduce the noise exposure to their children. As she says, we should all “protect young ears.”

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Blog

October 9, 2009

Swimming Season Ends but Home Drowning Danger Continues

April 27, 2009

Ten Ways to Prevent Child Poisonings

December 12, 2008

Hearing Loss on the Rise in U.S. Children