If you’ve got little ones in your home, you know to keep household poisons, like cleaning products, batteries, and laundry pods, away from them. But there are other potentially dangerous products that might not be so obvious. In an important warning, Consumer Reports says you should also keep beauty care items, like perfumes and hair and nail care products, away from curious little hands.
They may not seem dangerous, but fragrances, moisturizers, deodorants, and other beauty products have been shown to send one child under 5 to the ER every 2 hours, according to a study conducted over a 15-year period, with nail polish remover the biggest cause of ER visits.
Most of these injuries were due to kids swallowing personal care products, which led to poisoning. The second most common scenario was these products coming in contact with kids’ skin or eyes, leading to a chemical burn.
So how do you keep kids away from these products? For starters, personal care products should be stored securely out of reach and out of sight.
Keep products in their original container, so if your kid does get into something, you’ll know the exact ingredients to tell the poison control center or your pediatrician.
And know where to call if your child does get injured. All poison control centers can be reached by calling the same telephone number.
Consumer Reports also says that if your child has collapsed or is unconscious after ingesting a possible poison, call 911 immediately.
