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Poisoning in cChildren can be very difficult to detect, since most poisons when ingested can cause drowsiness and unconsciousness. Therefore, asking your child what they drank would only prove fruitless.
Some of the signs to look for when poisonous chemicals are ingested are:
dizziness
strange behavior
double or no vision
rashes
burns
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea
rapid heart rate
low blood pressure
smell of chemicals in their mouth
First, call 911 and a Poison Control Center immediately. Do not wait and try to make your own assumptions. If not sure, call anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.
Next check their airway, breathing and circulation. Are they breathing, and if so, are they breathing rapidly? Is their skin color pale? If they spilled poisonous chemcials on their clothes, immediately remove all the clothes and wash the skin thoroughly, making sure before you do, there are no chemical burns. Soap can burn the skin even worse.
NEVER try and treat the ingested chemcial yourself. You could do more harm than good. Do not give them any medicines to bring up the chemical. To do so can cause burns in their mouth and throat.
If the poisoning happens at someone else's house, make sure someone didn't use a chemical bottle and replace the contents, making the label read the wrong ingredients. This can be very fatal if your child becomes sick and the hospital needs to treat him or her.
The best decision of all is to make sure you remove all hazardous chemicals and poisons from under your kitchen sink and place them in a cabinet high above where a child can possibly reach. Leaving cleaning solutions in buckets on the floor and diaper pails with deodorizing solutions can be deadly if your small child falls in to the bucket. If you have a laundry room with a door, close it and lock it by placing a lock above the door also.
Remember, you can never be too safe when it comes to children.
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