Alcohol: A Dangerous Poison for Children
The Bottom Line
Alcohol can be a dangerous poison for children. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system and causes low blood sugar. Children who drink alcohol can have seizures and coma; they could even die. This is true of beverage alcohol (such as beer, wine, and liquor) and alcohol found in mouthwash and other personal care or household products.
How do children get into alcohol?
It is common for a child to have access to alcohol (ethanol). Some types of unintentional exposure are easy to imagine (such as alcoholic drinks left out after an adult party, bottles with loosened caps stored within a child’s reach, and alcohol transferred to another container). There have even been cases in which alcohol was accidentally used to dilute baby formula.
In addition to alcoholic beverages, mouthwash and hand sanitizer have become common sources of alcohol poisoning in young children. Some sources of unintentional alcohol exposure are less obvious, including alcohol consumption by a lactating parent who then feeds their infant, and alcohol in some household products such as bathroom or all-purpose cleaners.
Intentional exposure of young children to alcohol can be the result of cultural practices that include using alcohol as a traditional medication as well as the application of alcohol to a child’s gums in an attempt to ease teething pain. Some adults think that it is amusing to share their alcoholic beverages with young children in order to watch them stagger about. Unfortunately, there are many reported cases of adults and older children giving alcohol to younger children with malicious intent.
What happens when a child consumes alcohol?
Most childhood exposures to alcohol involve only a lick or a sip. However, despite the initially unpleasant taste of alcohol, some children will consume more. The symptoms of alcohol ingestion in a child resemble those experienced by an alcohol-intoxicated adult: impaired balance, slurred speech, gastrointestinal upset, reduced respiration, and central nervous system depression ranging from drowsiness to coma; deaths have occurred after children’s unintentional consumption of alcohol.
Other symptoms can be less obvious, such as increased fussiness and altered sleep and feeding habits. Due to a child’s undeveloped communication skills, some of the symptoms of alcohol poisoning can be harder to detect in a child compared to an adult. Of special concern in children is the risk of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), which can be dangerous as well as difficult to detect.
Are children more sensitive to alcohol than adults?
The medical literature includes some data that suggest that children are more sensitive to alcohol, as well as data suggesting that they are about as sensitive as an adult. What these reports agree on is that children are smaller than adults, and, therefore, it takes a much smaller amount of alcohol to reach the same blood alcohol concentration in a child.
If a child swallows alcohol, remove the container and use the webPOISONCONTROL online tool for guidance or call Poison Control right away at 1-800-222-1222.
Rose Ann Gould Soloway, RN, BSN, MSEd, DABAT emerita
Clinical Toxicologist
Revised William G. Troutman, PharmD
Professor of Pharmacy Emeritus
Poisoned?
Call 1-800-222-1222 or
Prevention Tips
- Lock up your alcoholic beverages.
- Empty out beer cans, wine glasses, and drinks glasses before children can get to them.
- Read the contents labels on products to see if they contain alcohol.
- Store your hand sanitizer, mouthwash, and other alcohol-containing products out of sight and reach.
This Really Happened
A 2-year-old boy found a bottle of vodka on a coffee table, removed the screw cap, and drank about 2 ounces. His father found him unconscious and called 911. When the paramedics arrived, the boy was in a coma. The boy was taken to the emergency room, where his blood alcohol concentration was very high, 248 mg/dL (the legal limit for driving in most states is 80 mg/dL). The hospital was not equipped to care for critically ill children, so the boy was taken by helicopter to a hospital with a pediatric intensive care unit.
The boy could not breathe on his own, so a breathing tube was inserted, and he was put on a ventilator. He was given IV fluids, and his blood glucose concentration was checked every hour. The boy remained in a coma for several hours. By the next morning, his blood alcohol concentration had dropped to 16 mg/dL. He woke up and could breathe on his own. He made a full recovery and was discharged from the hospital the next day.
For More Information
Klein-Schwartz W. Mouthwash: swish and spit. Poison.org Accessed May 22, 2025.
Soloway RAG. Hand sanitizer: what’s the real story? Poison.org. Accessed May 22, 2025.
References
Edmunds SM, Ajizian SJ, Liguori A. Acute obtundation in a 9-month-old patient: ethanol ingestion. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2014;30(10):739-741.
Engel JS, Spiller HA. Acute ethanol poisoning in a 4-year-old as a result of ethanol-based hand-sanitizer ingestion. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2010;26(7):508-509.
Gaw CE, Lim CG, Korenoski AS, Osterhoudt KC. Beverage ethanol exposures among infants reported to United States poison control centers. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2021;59(7):619-627.
Gaw CE, Osterhoudt KC. Ethanol intoxication of young children. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2019;35(10):722-730.
Kłys M, Woźniak K, Rojek S, Rzepecka-Woźniak E, Kowalski P. Ethanol-related death of a child: an unusual case report. Forensic Sci Int. 2008;179(1):e1-e4.
Miller M, Borys D, Morgan D. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers and unintended pediatric exposures: a retrospective review. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2009;48(4):429-431.
Rayar P, Ratnapalan S. Pediatric ingestions of house hold products containing ethanol: a review. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2013;52(3):203-209.
Santos C, Kieszak S, Wang A, Law R, Schier J, Wolkin A. Reported adverse health effects in children from ingestion of alcohol-based hand sanitizers - United States, 2011-2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017;66(8):223-226.
Wiener SW, Olmedo R, Howland M, Nelson L, Hoffman R. Ethanol elimination kinetics following massive ingestion in an ethanol naive child. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2013;32(7):775-777.
Poisoned?
Call 1-800-222-1222 or
Prevention Tips
- Lock up your alcoholic beverages.
- Empty out beer cans, wine glasses, and drinks glasses before children can get to them.
- Read the contents labels on products to see if they contain alcohol.
- Store your hand sanitizer, mouthwash, and other alcohol-containing products out of sight and reach.
This Really Happened
A 2-year-old boy found a bottle of vodka on a coffee table, removed the screw cap, and drank about 2 ounces. His father found him unconscious and called 911. When the paramedics arrived, the boy was in a coma. The boy was taken to the emergency room, where his blood alcohol concentration was very high, 248 mg/dL (the legal limit for driving in most states is 80 mg/dL). The hospital was not equipped to care for critically ill children, so the boy was taken by helicopter to a hospital with a pediatric intensive care unit.
The boy could not breathe on his own, so a breathing tube was inserted, and he was put on a ventilator. He was given IV fluids, and his blood glucose concentration was checked every hour. The boy remained in a coma for several hours. By the next morning, his blood alcohol concentration had dropped to 16 mg/dL. He woke up and could breathe on his own. He made a full recovery and was discharged from the hospital the next day.