Safety Information to Protect Your Children

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with this information so that you may understand the risks and take the necessary steps to prevent injury. For quick reference, below is a list of the websites included within this safety information.

• TN Poison Center
• Healthy Children.org
• Center for Disease Control - Concussion
• Safe Kids.org 

Car Seat Recommendations

For proper child safety, use seat chart below.  Buckle Everyone. Children age 12 and under should always be in the back seat!

Chemical and Medication Safety

Children are always at risk for accidental ingestion and poisoning.  Parents and caregivers should take steps to prevent such accidents from occurring by making the home environment as safe as possible.

The contact information for Poison Control should be easily accessible: 1-800-222-1222

In additon:

• Chemical products should remain in their original containers, not stored in plastic cups or other routine food containers
• Keep medications, vitamins, supplements, chemicals and cleaning products out of reach of children, preferably in cabinets or closets that they are unable to open
• If you have medications or vitamins in the house, never leave loose pills lying on the table or counter top or in a place that your child can reach it
• Secure the child safety cap every time you use a medicine
• Be aware of any legal or illegal drugs that guests may bring into your home.  Ask guests to store their drugs where children cannot reach them.  Children can easily get into purses, pockets, pillboxes and backpacks

In addition to ingesting medications and chemicals, children are at risk for choking as well.  Check your floors regularly for small objects that can be choking hazards for small children.  Examples of choking hazards are button batteries, regular batteries, coins, tacks, marbles and small toy parts.

Helmet Safety

Children who use non-motorized vehicles (bicycles, tricycles, skateboards, in-line skates, scooters) are always at risk for traumatic brain injuries, particularly when they collide with motor vehicles.  Small children are at increased risk due to less developed motor skills, unreliable reaction to or recognition of hazards and are hard to see from a moving car.  Getting children to wear helmets can be difficult – they may forget to put them on or think that wearing helmets is inconvenient or simply “not cool.”  It is up to the parents and caregivers to enforce helmet safety.

To show how important helmet use is, in 2007, the New Mexico legislature passed a law requiring all minors under 18 years of age to wear a helmet when using non-motorized vehicles, including skateboards, bicycles, in-line skates or tricycles.  Under this law, police are allowed to stop minors without helmets and fit them with helmets. 

“The true penalty for not wearing a helmet is sustaining a traumatic brain injury, not receiving a traffic ticket.  We want the public to focus on the real purpose of the law.  Helmets protect children from injuries that may result in extensive rehabilitation, permanent disability, or even death, all for entirely preventable reasons.” -John McPhee, Childhood Injury Prevention Coordinator

For more information on children’s safety and steps you and your child can take to prevent injuries, please visit HealthyChildren.org (sponsored by the AAP).

Sports-Related Head Injuries

Each year, US emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries, including concussion, among minors from birth to 19 years of age.  This number last increased by almost 60% in the past decade.  The activities associated with the highest number of head injury-related ER visits include bicycling, football, basketball, soccer and playground activities.  Children and teens are more likely to sustain traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, than adults and take longer to recover than adults.  The symptoms may be mild but if not diagnosed and addressed, can lead to long-term consequences affecting the individual’s memory, behavior, learning and/or emotions. 

Two things that should alert you to the possibility of a concussion:

• A forceful bump, blow or jolt to the head that results in a rapid movement of the head
• Any change in your child’s behavior, thinking or physical functioning

If your child complains of headaches, blurred vision, confusion, concentration difficulty, he or she may be experiencing symptoms of a concussion.   Talk to your child’s physician right away if you think he or she may have a concussion.  Take your child to the ER if he or she is unresponsive, has severe headache or is having seizure-type activity.  Click here for more information on head injuries and concussions in athletes.

Infants’ Acetaminophen (Tylenol) Dosing

*Before using these dosing recommendations, please verify the concentration of your acetaminophen product.  Dosing for acetaminophen 160mg/5mL oral suspension.  The enclosed syringe is designed to provide 1.25mL (40mg) increments

Reminders for parents and caregivers:

• Keep medicines out of reach of children
• Never give adult medicines to children
• Use only the dosing device that comes with the product

Temple AR. Pediatric dosing of acetaminophen. Pediatr Pharmacol. (New York)1983;3(3-4):321-327. 

Gun Safety

Gun control, or the right to own guns, is a controversial topic.  The AAP’s official stance is that guns should never be in the home.  However, this is an individual decision and we want to take this opportunity to review gun safety for adults who choose to keep guns at home.  The latest statistics from the AAP show that a gun in the home is 43 times more likely to injure or kill someone known to the family than to harm someone in self-defense.  Moreover, the risk of suicide is 5 times higher if a gun is kept in the home.  Based on this data, it is clear that guns in the home can pose a serious risk to family members and we encourage parents to take a few steps to ensure their children’s safety.

• Talk to your children about the dangers of guns and explain to them that they are not toys or playthings.
• Always keep the gun unloaded and locked up
• Lock and store the bullets/ammunition in a separate place
• Make sure to hide the keys to the locks where the guns and bullets are stored
• Find out if there are guns in the homes where your children play and talk to the adults in those homes about taking similar safety measures

CPR Instructions

We encourage parents and caregivers of infants and young children to learn more about how to properly perform CPR.  This is valuable information to have if you are alone with a child who is not breathing. You should familiarize yourself with the steps listed below.

For more information, visit LearnCPR.org.

• Instructions for Infants (children less than 1 years old)
• Instructions for Children Ages 1 - 8