Did you know that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children under age 5 or over? These types of injuries are mostly preventable if you follow some safety tips around your children. Learn about the most common childhood injuries and safety tips in this article. Log on to www.doralhw.org for a consultation.

 

Common childhood injuries

Your child may get any of the following common injuries in childcare or at home:

  1. Skin: abrasions, cuts, scalds, and burns.
  2. Bones and joints: It can happen when fingers get inside doors or drawers; or when they hit something hard, which causes fractures, or dislocation of elbows, or shoulders.
  3. Impact bruises from knocks, head injuries from falls, eye injuries.
  4. Foreign objects: Swallowed objects, choking, accidental poisoning, objects lodged in the ears and nose.
  5. Drowning: Children under 5 years are most at risk of drowning because they don’t develop motor skills and are not able to judge hazards. Swimming pools, baths, rivers, creeks, and streams are the most common locations where toddlers drown to death.
  6. Falling: This is common for children of all ages. The seriousness of an injury is based on the height that a child falls from, the surface it falls on, and what the child hits when they fall. A standing and toddler baby can get frequent minor falls, however, you should minimize the risk of fall injuries, by ensuring a safe environment.
  7. Microwave hazards: Microwaves can cause uneven heating within fluids and temperature rises quickly after food is removed from the microwave. This can make it easy to misjudge the temperature of food and drink.

Safety Tips

Different safety tips are helpful to prevent different childhood injuries:

  1. Burn safety tips:
  • Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Make sure you change their batteries regularly and ensure they function properly. You should replace them every 10 years.
  • Make sure to install a fixed guard at least 70 cm high around all heaters, open fires, radiators, and potbelly stoves.
  • Teach your child to “stop, drop, and roll” technique if their clothes catch fire.
  • Keep all matches, cigarette lighters, and flammable liquids away from children.
  • Keep hot devices, like irons, straighteners, steamers, and curling irons out of reach on high shelves immediately after use.
  • Prepare a fire escape plan with family members and practice it to ensure you can all escape safely out of the house.
  • Keep a fire blanket or a dry powder extinguisher in the kitchen and ensure you know how to use them. Make sure the place to keep fire blankets is at least 1 meter away from the stove and fire extinguisher near the kitchen entrance.
  • Install a safety switch at home to prevent electrocution and use power boards which are safer than double adapters.
  1. Water safety tips:
  • Teach your child basic water safety guidelines before enrolling them in any water swimming lessons at an early age.
  • Never leave your child alone in the bath or swimming pool, drowning can occur in a matter of seconds. Supervise your child all the time and make sure you or any adult is near them all the time when they’re in or around the water.
  • Remove water from the bath and buckets or wading pools immediately after use and keep the area closed off all the time when not in use.
  • If you take your child to the beach, teach your child to swim between the flags.
  • Pools and spas should have a barrier around them to allow kids to hold them when they struggle to swim. They should remove any objects that can be used to climb the barrier, or the gate should be closed at all times when not in use.
  • In case of emergency, as a parent or caregiver, learn a first aid course, to learn how to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to an infant or child in case of an emergency.
  1. Home safety tips:
  • Never leave the stove unattended while cooking. Make sure you place any pot handles on the cooktop, away from the front of the stove.
  • Keep all electrical outlets covered.
  • Use wall straps or furniture anchors to secure any tall or unsteady furniture to the wall. Make sure furniture is away from windows and install window locks to prevent windows from opening wide enough for a child to fit through. Install window guards to ensure children don’t fall from them.
  • Keep an eye on button-sized batteries or other small things that can be swallowed. This can cause choking.
  • Adjust the changing table ends and sides to at least 10 cm (about 3.94 in) above to prevent your baby from falling. Keep one hand on your baby all the time and make sure everything is ready before you put your baby on the changing table.
  • Don’t leave your baby on the changing table alone. Consider changing the clothes or diapers of your baby on a large towel on the floor or double bed.
  • Always use a full-body safety harness in prams, strollers, highchairs, and shopping trolleys.
  • Make sure your child walks (not runs) when it carries sharp objects, hot liquids, etc.
  • Put non-skid rubber mats in the bath and shower.
  1. Poison prevention tips:
  • Make sure all medications are stored out of reach or out of sight from children in safe child-proof bottles.
  • Store all chemicals, medicines, and cleaning products away after use.
  • Only remove the medicine packaging if you are about to use it and don’t leave it on tables or other places where a child could reach it.
  • Don’t transfer medicines and chemicals to other containers, always make sure they stay in the original container.
  • Don’t take medicine in front of kids, they can try to imitate adults. Make sure there is no distraction when administering medicines and double-check your surroundings before administering them.
  • Be aware of the incidence of childhood poisoning especially when usually household routines are interrupted, such as moving house, being on holiday, or having visitors.
  • Remove or prevent the access of children to poisonous plants in the garden or around the house. Some plants can be poisonous if eaten.
  • Teach your children to never touch or pick up insects or things they find in the garden such as bees, wasps, chemicals, or spiders.
  • Keep the number for poison control on the speed dial in case of emergency.
  1. Vehicle safety tips:
  • Make sure your children sit on the proper car seat or booster seat. Children under 1 should always face towards the rear of the car.
  • Tug on all seatbelts to ensure they fit securely including seat belts or tethers that secure car seats or booster seats.
  • Children should sit in the back of the car until they’re at least 12 years old.
  1. Sports safety tips:
  • Ensure children always wear well-fitting helmets while riding bicycles, skateboards, or while rollerblading.
  • You should educate yourself about the signs and symptoms of concussions.
  • Check the fitting of all your children’s sports equipment, from helmets to shoulder pads. Properly fitting equipment can play an essential role in preventing or lowering the injury’s severity.

 

Childhood injuries are very common, however, with certain precautions, you can avoid these injuries or lower the risk of injuries. Use the above-mentioned safety prevention tips for childhood safety to keep your child safe and healthy.

 

Need help in guiding your child regarding safety measures, consult our doctors in Brooklyn clinic to get the best guidance!!! Call us to book your appointment!!!!!

Doral Health and Wellness has several urgent care clinics around New York that can cater to your family’s medical needs. We also have the best medical providers, physicians and staff that are highly trained in their respective specialties. To know more about the locations of our urgent care clinics, you can visit us at Doral Health and Wellness. If you are looking for urgent care near you, you can visit Doral Health and Wellness Urgent Care. We provide urgent care for common illnesses and injuries. Additionally, we also provide comprehensive care for any related injuries and health problems. We also offer other services, such as vaccinations, immunizations, and blood testing. For more info, visit us or call 1-347-384-5690.