Child Development

Natural Babyproofing

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Most of them [poisonings] are preschoolers and occur before lunch and supper when children are hungry or thirsty. Most poisoning occur when products are being used, not while they are stored. Children do not have fully-developed taste buds like adults, so just because something doesn’t taste good, doesn’t keep children away. For child poison safety, if there is a toddler in the house, keep in mind that they have the ability to climb. kids-safety-club.com

Author: Carolyn Beale
The relatively serene days of your contented baby in the swing or playpen seem to end far too quickly, now that your little one is becoming more mobile. It’s time to ensure you’re providing a safe environment for active playing, growing and earning.

You’ve put up a baby gate to prevent falls, carefully covered your electrical outlets, padded the sharp corners on your coffee table, and buckled your tiny passenger into an approved infant carrier. You try to keep your home as bacteria and germ-free as possible, disinfecting thoroughly and then locking up household cleaners away from inquisitive hands and mouths.

Yet there are still an estimated 2.1 million accidental child poisonings each year, with dishwashing liquid the leading cause. Sadly, the damage caused by these products is often gruesome: burned mouth, scarred esophagus, repeated operations to rebuild the throat, sometimes even death. And no matter how diligent you are about keeping your cleaning products out of harm’s way, you may still be slowly and unwittingly poisoning your child, day after day. How?

If you use products with harsh and harmful chemicals that contain known carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) the toxic residues left behind on your floors, furniture and in the air find their way into your child’s body through her skin, mouth, and nose. And even your personal care products (soap, shampoo, conditioner, styling aids, deodorants, etc.) can contain dangerous chemicals as well.

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. Essortment.com

Your little one is like a sponge: developing cells in a child’s body are more susceptible than in adults, especially in his central nervous system. Even small doses of neurotoxins that could be harmless to an adult can alter his nervous system development. And until your child turns 13, his growing body has virtually no ability to fight biological and neurological damage from toxic chemicals. As much as we tend to think of skin as a protective barrier, in fact it’s highly permeable, as evidenced by the successful use of skin patches to deliver prescription medication.

Poisoning in children 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.

Your baby or toddler is most often down at floor level, crawling and exploring, and frequently sticking her hands into her mouth. And in fact, only 10% of health problems from chemicals are a result of ingestion, 90% are caused by inhalation and absorption.

Are you confused? How can your brand name household cleaning products and personal care products contain harmful toxins if they’re sold at grocery stores nationwide? The truth is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does NOT regulate personal use products. The workplace and the outdoors are considered legal environments, while your home is not.

Did you know that indoor air quality is 3 to 70 times more polluted than the outdoor air in the worst polluted U.S. cities, according to an EPA study? And that women who work from the home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work outside the home, according to a 17-year EPA study?

Labeling laws simply don’t protect the consumer. The U.S. Federal Code of Regulations exempts manufacturers from full labeling of products if used for personal, family or ho

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