A WARNING: AN EPIDEMIC OF BABY POWDER ASPIRATION

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) 1981-01, Vol.67 (1), p.A68-A68
• Main Authors: Mofenson, Howard C., Greensher, Joseph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.67.1.A68

Recently a pediatrician brought to the attention of the Nassau County Medical Center Poison Control Center his concern over baby powder aspiration. He had just encountered his second case in two months; one of these required hospitalization. Upon reviewing our Poison Control Center Logs we were astounded to discover 40 calls to our center during the past six months (Jan 1, 1980 to June 30, 1980), or approximately one of every 100 calls for children under the age of 5 years involved potential powder aspiration. Nine of these calls originated from emergency rooms, five from physicians' offices, and 26 from mothers at home. We are presently doing a retrospective and prospective analysis of these calls. However, we do feel that this hazard represents a sufficient threat to children of fatal aspiration of powder that the pediatricians responsible for their care be notified without waiting for the results of our study. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has also been notified of this hazard. Baby powder is not considered harmful by most parents. Physicians caring for children should emphasize to parents that powders are not considered essential to the routine skin care of infants, but if powders are purchased, they should be stored out of reach of children because of their potential hazard. Some powder containers have the appearance of a baby bottle and may be mistakenly used in such a manner.