Fortunately many allergic reactions are mild. But, a mild reaction can become severe very quickly, so you need to know how to act.

Signs of a mild reaction:

• sneezing
• stuffy nose
• itching of the skin
• rash or hives

Signs of a severe reaction:

• shortness of breath
• tightness and swelling in the throat
• swelling of the tongue, mouth, nose
• nausea and vomiting
• blueness around the lips and mouth
• dizziness
• fainting

What to do:

1. Check for breathing
2. Seek immediate medical help
3. If the child has his or her own epinephrine pen, help them to administer it

In any emergency with children, take “five” seconds to take a breath, make sure the scene is safe and try to figure out what happened.

By determining what happened you can help the injured child. Ask yourself a few questions.

1. Did he choke? Is there small objects close by? Was he eating?

2. Is he in contact with fire, water, electricity?

3. Did he fall?

4. Is he moving?

5. Is he breathing?

6. Is there something he came in contact with that could have caused an allergic reaction?

7. Is he wearing medical jewelry that indicates that he has a medical condition.

8. Is he bleeding?

9. Does he have obvious injuries such as burns, bites, stings or a puncture wound?

10. Is he able to talk to you?

11. Is there other people involved?

The more information you can give the 911 dispatcher about the child and the emergency the better. This can only help the child to recover more quickly.

Seconds, that is.

Do not jump head first into an emergency. It serves no purpose and may be dangerous to run into a situation without full awareness of your surroundings. If an infant or child is injured always “take 5″ seconds to  stop, take a breath, look and access the scene.

Ask yourself a few questions.

1. What happened?
2. Is the scene safe to help?
3. How many people are involved?
4. What’s my priority?

Putting yourself in danger does not allow you to help someone else. For instance, if you cannot swim do not jump into the deep end of a pool to save a drowning child. It makes no sense to have two victims.

Stop injuries before they happen. Take simple actions in the home, the car, around water, childcare centers, playgrounds.

Home:

• Consider stationary walkers instead of ones that roll
• Do not leave very young children unattended near stairs
• Use hard-wear mounted safety gates at the top and bottom
• Secure furniture by bolting it to the wall
• Secure TV’s

Bathrooms:

• Place locks on toilet seats
• Keep medications in a childproof container out of reach of children
• Keep in a locked box when children are older
• Place all electrical appliances such as hairdryers, curling irons, or anything with an electrical cord out of the reach of children
• Place all cleaning supplies out of reach
• When running water for a bath, run the cold first. Test before your child gets in

Car safety:

• Make sure everyone in the car is wearing seat belts
• Infants and young children should be securely strapped in appropriate car seats for their age and weight
• Keep child locks on
• Discourage older children from playing with automatic windows and sticking their heads and arms out the windows
• Never leave a child alone in a car

Around water:

Young children can drown in 2 inches of water.

• Keep constant supervision around bathtubs, pools, spas, buckets of water, toilets and any place there is water
• Teach children how to swim
• Do not assume they’re safe if they can swim.
• Invest in proper flotation devices
• Apply and reapply sunscreen
• Have a fence at least 4 feet high with self-closing and self-latching gates that are out of reach of young children

Child care centers:

• Security covers are on every outlet
• Cabinets and drawers have safety latches
• Supplies and equipment, like paste, ink pens, scissors, are used with close supervision
• Equipment should be age appropriate

Playgrounds:

• Check for any dangerous material on the ground, such as broken glass, nails, sharp sticks or any other hazardous material
• Make sure there are no spaces where a child’s head, arms or legs can get trapped
• Check for any splintering, cracked or broken equipment
• Teach kids to play safe and act responsibly