Winter holiday poison safety
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The bottom line
Keep a poisoning mishap from ruining your winter holiday festivities! Some winter holiday poisoning hazards include carbon monoxide, tiny magnet toys, some decorations and plants, food poisoning, alcohol, THC edibles, prescription medicines in the wrong hands, and button batteries found in toys, key fobs, singing cards, and other items.
Prevention Tips
Keep medicines locked, away from children, when you travel.
Provide a safe place for medicines when others visit you.
Keep batteries and magnets away from children.
If they aren't secured with a screw, tape up the battery compartments on remote control devices and other battery-powered tools and toys.
Give visitors a safe place to discard hearing aid and other small batteries.
Assign one adult to watch each child during family gatherings.
Put left-overs in the refrigerator within two hours.
Clean up drinks and cigarette butts right after a party; don't leave them for the kids to find the next morning.
This Really Happened
A toddler slipped away at a large holiday gathering and found his way to the aspirin bottle in his grandmother's purse. Since no one knew how many pills he took nor how many were in the bottle when he found it, he had to go to the emergency room for evaluation and treatment.
Don't let this happen to you. The tips above in "Prevention Tips" and the links to the left in "For More Information" will help you avoid this scenario and other poisonings during the holiday season.
Poisoned? Get expert help.
Don't guess what you should do. Get accurate answers online or by phone. Both ways are free and confidential.
OR
call 1-800-222-1222
The full story
People celebrate the winter holidays in many different ways: traveling to visit friends or family, hosting gatherings at home, decorating, cooking, and exchanging gifts. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Las Posadas, Winter Solstice, Soyal, or just enjoy some time at home with your loved ones, you can keep a poisoning mishap from ruining your festivities during the winter holiday season!
Even the most conscientious parents and safety-minded people experience unintentional poisoning emergencies. That's why you can use the webPOISONCONTROL® online tool to get help or call your poison center at 1-800-222-1222. Whether online or by phone, expert guidance is always free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
Winter holiday poison safety tips
The risk of poisonings increases when families travel and kids are in unfamiliar surroundings, especially when those surroundings haven’t been modified for child safety. Staying in a hotel or someone else’s home? Make sure there are carbon monoxide detectors, and make sure that any medications, items containing button batteries, alcohol, and cannabis (THC) edibles are not within reach of your little ones.
Doing a quick clean up after a party could prevent children from swallowing potential poisons like alcohol, cigarette butts, and cannabis edibles the next morning.
Some holiday decorations and plants can be poisonous. Good news, though – poinsettias aren’t considered a poisonous plant!
Button batteries, found in toys, remote controls, key fobs, singing cards, flameless candles, and many other items, are VERY dangerous if children swallow them! If a child swallows a button battery, head to an emergency room for an x-ray and the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at 800-498-8666 on the way.
Tiny magnets and water beads are also very dangerous if children swallow them. Keep these items out of sight and reach of babies, toddlers, and younger children.
There are more than 250 types of food poisoning, but there are also several ways to prevent it. Brush up on your food poisoning prevention knowledge here.
For More Info
General and winter-specific hazards
Plants and pets
Traveling with children and hosting guests
Decorating
Toys and gifts
Cooking and food safety
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