Statewide Iowa – An emergency medical physician is urging Iowa parents who have small kids living in their homes to avoid buying any sort of health-related gummies. Dr. Benjamin Orozco, who’s a medical toxicologist, says kids get curious and they love candy, and if gummies are in the house, there’s a chance your child could end up seriously ill — or worse — if they find the bottle.
Despite what the label says, he says the concentrations may be all over the map. If your child is discovered feeling woozy with the container nearby, you’d better make a fast call to the Iowa Poison Control Center.
Orozco says he’s not a fan of children being given melatonin for help with sleep as he says many supplements are “littered with problems.”
There are plenty of non-medical ways to help a kid with sleep, including enforcing a regular sleep schedule, banning screens before bedtime, having regular meal times and plenty of physical activity. Orozco says it’s risky to have this sort of supplement in the house with kids, and he recommends if adults need any of these products, get them in pill or tablet form so they don’t tempt a child.
If a child takes an adult dose of any medication, he says “any is too many,” but gobbling an entire bottle of gummies could land them in the ICU. It’s safer, Orozco says, to simply not allow them in the house.
(Image by Angelica Vaihel from Pixabay)
