poison symbolIt’s one of those parenting nightmares – you find your baby sitting on the floor with an open bottle of medicine. My story went something like that, but instead of medicine, my 1 year old got her hands on a bottle of cleaning solution for our CD’s. It has no child proof cap and she found it while rummaging through the stereo cabinet. Small children are curious little explorers and it’s amazing what they can get themselves into when you turn your back for a moment.

So there she was, sitting on the floor happily holding the open bottle. I didn’t see her drink any of it, but there wasn’t much liquid left in the bottle. I just didn’t know what to do, so I called the Poison Center.

The people at the Poison Center asked me some questions about the situation, and luckily the cleaning solution was alcohol and the quantity (if she had any at all) was small enough that it didn’t pose a serious threat. They told me what to watch out for, just in case she had a bad reaction and were calm, comforting and helpful. *whew* Everything turned out OK.

Needless to say, a child safety latch was installed on the stereo cabinet – pronto! It’s hard to make your home 100% safe, but if you have small children or animals around your home, do your best to prevent poising.