Every year, about 50,000 U.S. children visit the emergency room because they swallowed something potentially dangerous. The good news is that most of those children go home without having suffered any serious harm. The scary news is that about 9,000 children need to be hospitalized, and some die from poisoning.
Today, opioids are the most common substance contributing to fatal poisonings among children age 5 and under. The proportion of opioid-related poisonings are on the rise, contributing to 52.2% of deaths in 2018 compared to 24.1% of poisoning-related deaths in 2005, a new study shows.
Children are curious—and they love putting things in their mouths. Exploring what objects feel and taste like is part of how they learn about the world around them. There are some steps that caregivers can take whether at home or visiting others to help prevent a tragedy.
