Amanda Wilde (Host): Welcome to Long Live Childhood, a pediatric health and wellness podcast presented by Rady Children's Health. I'm Amanda Wilde, your host. And Amy Frias is here as well. Amy is a Community Health Educator at Rady Children's Health in Orange County. And we're talking about toxins. Amy will help us uncover poisoning risks in plain sight. Amy, thank you for being here.

Amy Frias, BS: Oh, thank you again so much for having me, Amanda. Yes, poisons. Now, I think one thing I've loved to share with parents, poisonings don't always come with skull and crossbones, which is something that you could see so blatantly as poisonous. And a lot of the time, it comes from everyday products that we use. So, it's really important for parents to be aware of some of the things within their home that they have a good amount of that are very hazardous to kids.

One of the big ones that has been talked about in the media is button batteries. Now the thing about button batteries is they're so small, and they're in things like your remote for your TV. They're in your key fobs. They're in a lot of products that you have just laying throughout your home. They're in children's toys. And these are round flat batteries. And we have kids that are ingesting them, And the amount of damage that they do to their esophagus, and we've had kids actually die from button batteries.

So, that is something that parents need to be aware of, but they actually have in their home that is very toxic to kids and they probably didn't even know they had it. And it's important that you just have to check their toys if they make noise, see how easy it is to remove that back cover, to access that button battery. And if it is easy to do, it's most likely a recalled toy. They're really trying to do a lot of looking at how accessible these batteries are because of how dangerous they are.

Magnets are another one. There's toys that are magnetic that kids are ingesting that are actually very poisonous and toxic to them and can be very dangerous. Because with the magnets, they can actually snap together on one of your internal organs and cause severe damage. Magnets and batteries are really big things to get out of reach of kids completely.

Medications, we have medications in our home. Some people lock up their medications, some people don't. The bottom line with the young kids is if it's colorful. And it's pretty and it looks good. They're probably going to eat it. It's just one of those things. They don't know the difference between candy and medicine. If you are ever curious, go onto the poison control website and type in candy or medicine, and there is a game that you can play that shows you two different things. One's candies, one medicine, and it's easy in the beginning, choosing what is what. But as you go on, it's almost impossible. And that if an adult can't figure it out, a child is not going to figure it out. So, keeping those things away. And also, making sure guests, when they come over, they're not leaving their purse on the floor with their medication in it or something like that. So, keep those things out of reach of kids.

Laundry and cleaning products like Tide Pods, all of those things can be extremely dangerous to kids, and why do kids eat Tide Pods? Your guess is as good as mine, but it is colorful—they don't know. And the bottom line is their taste buds aren't fully developed until they're a little bit older, so they don't even taste it. If you think of those cleaning products we store typically under our sink, some of those like Pine-Sol look identical to apple juice. So, you have to really kind of try and keep those products up high and out of reach. Because when kids ingest them, that is a poison and it's very scary.

Real quick on the medication. Vitamins can even be really dangerous to kids, like sleep aids or iron or any of those types of vitamins. Those would be dangerous to kids. CBD oil, all of those types of things, they're for adults, they're not for kids. And if kids ingest those things because of the fact that they have a much smaller body, and I always say to my NICU parents, the real estate is very tiny. So, it doesn't take long for things to affect their body in a not so good way when they ingest it. So, it's just kind of looking at some of those kind of crazy things that can be poisonous. Makeup, some makeup can be toxic if kids ingest it.

It's interesting when I talk to parents of very young children and I say, you know, people talk a lot about baby-proofing homes and making homes safer for kids. I said, I really think it's important that they do it before the child gets mobile, because the bottom line is kids don't announce when they can do new things. They don't say, "Hey, mom, by the way, I can reach that cabinet that has the medication in it so you might want to move it up." They don't tell us that, they just get into it.

So, it's like if you start to like literally crawl on your ground and look at eye level what you're seeing around your house, plants, people Drop stuff all the time, choking hazards and poisoning and all of those things, you just want to keep them out of reach for kids, definitely.

Host: So, these are all everyday products and things like makeup, you might be surprised to learn they can be dangerous if ingested.

Amy Frias, BS: Oh, yeah. Like nail polish remover, perfumes, mouthwash, they all have like an alcohol base in them. Essential oils, when it says natural, it doesn't mean it's safe. And a few drops of essential oils can be toxic to little kids. So, parents, why we miss these risks sometimes is because familiarity to lower ground. You're more familiar to store your cleaning products under your sink, because that's the cabinet it's always been in. So, that's why we miss these risks. We underestimate the speed and curiosity of kids.

Like I said, they don't say, "Hey, don't leave me on this changing pad on the couch. And walk away, because I can roll over." They don't tell us. So, it's not until they roll over that you're like, "Crap, they can roll over." They don't announce these new skills that they've achieved. And that's the scariest, but the most amazing part of having kids. We always rely too much of saying something's out of reach. Again, I don't know if they break out some super stretch arm, but things that you don't think they can reach, they can reach. If it's within their eyesight, they will find a way to get it. So, it's just important to just be very aware of your environment and what items you have that are accessible to those kids if they saw it, and they definitely would get to it.

Host: So while you have to obviously think ahead of time and take into consideration your own environment, are there three or five important prevention steps all families can take right now to reduce risk of poisoning at a home?

Amy Frias, BS: Definitely. Locks on cabinets, moving those products that are not good for kids up high and out of reach. Having the poison control phone number on your refrigerator so that you call that number if your child ever ingests something that you believe is poisonous. Just so you know, the little skull and cross bone little packets that come in your shoe, they're not poisonous, but don't let your kids eat them. They're not good for them. They'll definitely cause some GI problems. So, I've had to call poison control a couple of times in my parenting.

It's not something to be thinking that you're doing something wrong and I'm not ever going to shame parents. Because guess what? It's happened to me. I've called poison control. But do have that on speed dial if you need to, because kids learn by putting things in their mouth. They do. It's just a normal thing. That's why choking is a big issue. That's why poisoning is a big issue. They explore with their mouth and their hands and all of that stuff. Just supervision is another way that you could kind of keep your kids safe. It is just, you kind of have to be able to know what they're going to do before they do it, which is really the superpower that I think parents have. So, here's the hoping.

Host: Yeah, you have to keep building on that.

Amy Frias, BS: Oh, you do.

Host: Yeah. If a parent suspects their child has been exposed to something toxic, I mean, when is the difference between when they should call poison control, as you mentioned, or seek immediate emergency care?

Amy Frias, BS: If they ingest something like a button battery or something like that, I would definitely go to the ER, without a doubt. But if they ingest nail polish remover or something else that's in the house that you believe is poisonous, that's when you would. Call poison control.

the nice thing about poison control is if you call them and it is something that's super dangerous, they'll call the emergency room ahead to let them know what's going on. So, that's pretty cool that they can do that so that the kid can be protected.

Host: Amy, this has been a very valuable education on poisoning risks that are hiding in plain sight in most homes. Thank you for this crucial information and everything you do to help keep kids happy, healthy, and thriving.

Amy Frias, BS: Yep. My job is to keep kids out of the hospital, so there we go.

Host: Amy Frias is community health educator at Rady Children's Health in Orange County. For more information and safety guides, visit choc.org/guide/safety. Thank you for tuning into Long Live Childhood, a pediatric health and wellness podcast, brought to you by Rady Children's Health. For more insightful conversations about kids health and well-being, be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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