JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – You use your mouthwash, put it back on your bathroom sink and then forget about, right? But Consumer Reports is warning parents and caregivers about household dangers in plain sight.
The number of young children getting into things around the house that can be harmful is staggering. Recent data show that out of two million calls to poison control centers, nearly half concerned kids age 6 and under.
Alcohol-based products
These are dangers in your house you might not even think about. Exposure to cosmetics and personal-care products were the most common reasons for reports to poison control centers for children under 6.
Many of them, like mouthwash, hand sanitizers, perfumes and colognes contain ethanol, which is the same type of alcohol you find in alcoholic beverages. Even vanilla extract you have in your kitchen is alcohol-based.
Just a small amount can cause a young child of, say, 25 pounds or less to become extremely intoxicated. Consumer Reports warns alcohol can cause vomiting, drowsiness, confusion, and in severe cases, respiratory arrest and death.
Batteries
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit group, more than 2,800 kids per year in the U.S. are treated in ERs after swallowing nickel-sized batteries.
Consumer Reports suggests that toys and other household electronics have battery compartments secured with a screwdriver or other method. Button-cell batteries are small flat batteries that look like coins. They can become a choking hazard, and asphyxiation may occur.
Cleaning products
Also dangerous: cleaning products. Consumer Reports says products like bleach, drain declogger and glass sprays, on the whole accounted for 11 percent of poison control center calls for kids under the age of 6 in 2015.
When it comes to these items, you can do more than just store them out of the reach of children. Keep cleaners and other products in the containers in which they were bought because they usually have child-resistant closures.
Laundry detergent pods
As for those colorful laundry detergent pods, you've heard the warning before, but children may try to eat them because they look like candy.
While calls to poison centers about these pods declined from 12,594 in exposures in 2015 to 11,528 exposures in 2016, Consumer Reports recommends not even having them in the house if you have young kids.
E-Cigarettes
Another potential household danger for your children involves electronic cigarettes -- with one of the biggest threats lying inside the containers of liquid nicotine used to refill them.
Parents may accidentally leave used containers around -- that still contain residual nicotine fluid -- and if it's flavored, it could be really appealing to kids.
Consumer Reports warns the number of young children being exposed to liquid nicotine is rising. Back In January 2012 there were 14 children under the age of 6 that had been exposed, but in April 2015, that number jumped to 223.
If you use E-Cigarettes experts say you shouldn't refill them in front of your children and you need to make sure you dispose of empty nicotine containers in a secure place where kids can't get them.
Get help
Remember, even if you put potentially dangerous products in a higher place, a curious child may use a chair to reach them.
Consumer Reports says if you know or suspect that a child or an adult has consumed a possible poison, call 911 immediately if he or she has collapsed, is unconscious, cannot be woken up, or is bleeding.
If you are unsure what your child has gotten into, but suspect your child has ingested some kind of toxic product, call the National Poison Help Hotline at 800-222-1222 (available 24 hours a day). You can also get help online. Consumer Reports adds, don't attempt to induce vomiting or to neutralize a poison using vinegar or another substance unless a poison control staff member instructs you to do so.