If your child swallows the wrong thing
Today's topic is ingestion accidents in children. Ingestion... what? In other words: your child swallows something that was not meant to be swallowed. An exciting and highly complex topic. With lots of surprises.
This is because parents sometimes misjudge which things can be dangerous and which are not so dramatic if the child swallows them. One of my favourite examples: A small child can easily swallow a month's supply of the contraceptive pill without it becoming a medical emergency (but it still shouldn't, I hope that's clear). Grandma's beta-blocker tablets, on the other hand, can very quickly become a problem.
As you can see, there are many things that a child can swallow and we can't go into everything explicitly. That would go beyond the scope of this article. That's why we need to talk about two things in particular:
How can we prevent ingestion accidents?
What should we do if something does happen?
Point 1: All items that are not intended for children to swallow must be stored in the household in such a way that even a child with a thirst for knowledge simply cannot reach them. And the very first commandment: A dangerous poisonous liquid should NEVER be poured into banal drinking bottles (cola/fanta/sparkling water bottles). I once saw a child drink a sip of fig cleaner that had been decanted into a Fanta bottle. Believe me, this is a terrible thing because it leads to very bad burns in the oesophagus and stomach.
Point 2: If your child has swallowed something - a tablet, a foreign body or whatever - the most important thing is to try to get the original packet of what your child has eaten. And then, in most cases, you should contact a poison control centre. There is also a very nice app from the Federal Office for Risk Assessment where you can enter keywords and quickly get advice on whether you have an emergency or there is no danger to the child.
Info:
You can get the app by entering BfR poisoning emergencies in your app store search.
The number of the poison control centre is: 089 19240.
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