Accidental poisoning in the first three years of life

The incidence of accidental poisoning was examined prospectively in a birth cohort of 1124 children. Nineteen percent of children had at least one incident of poisoning or suspected poisoning by the age of three years. No medical treatment was sought for 33.5% of poisoning incidents and of those poisonings for which treatment was sought, only two cases required management beyond observation, induced vomiting or gastric lavage. The most frequent sources of poisoning were medicines, household cleansers and petrochemicals. Poisoning occurred more frequently in children of young mothers; children who entered single parent families at birth; children whose mothers reported a large number of problems with the child; children from homes reporting a large number of life events and stresses; children from homes where parental separation had occurred; children from families who made multiple changes of residence and in children whose mothers had been prescribed tranquillisers and/or antidepressant medication. Logistic regression analysis showed that the strongest predictors of poisoning were the mother's reports of problems with her child and the mother's use of tranquillisers and/or antidepressant medication.