'Toddlers get into anything': Doctor sounds alarm after Tylenol overdose

(File photo)

A Quebec pediatrician is urging parents to keep medication under lock and key after treating a toddler for a Tylenol overdose.

The child's mother found him with the bottle of Tylenol she carried in her purse. It's not clear how many pills the boy took, but his doctors say it may have been two dozen.

“The dose that he took was toxic to his system,” said pediatrician Bruce D’Souza. “We were very worried about him.”

An overdose can cause liver damage or failure.

Fortunately, the boy was treated quickly and effectively.

“Luckily with Tylenol, there is an antidote available and we have a very standardized provincial protocol to apply when patients come to the ER and we started that as soon as we got his levels and that antidote is given over 24 hours and luckily by the next day he was back to being a very mischievous little toddler in his hospital room,” said D’Souza.

The boy’s mother posted about the overdose on Facebook as a warning to others.

D’Souza says he has seen three cases of accidental Tylenol overdoses in toddlers over the past two weeks and wants to raise awareness about the problem.

“I think the take-home measures for parents is to keep any and all medications under lock and key when you have a young child in the home. “Encourage any caregiver, whether they’re family members or babysitting, such as grandparents, most of them do take medication for other health conditions, to keep those pills away and to really consider that toddlers get into anything.”