Toilet discs and hand sanitisers top the toddler wish list

WHILE parents are preoccupied cooking dinner, toddlers can be busy finding their own snacks - and brightly coloured toilet sanitising discs are the current big hit.

Glow sticks, hand sanitisers and toilet cleaning discs are among the most widely gnawed items by little ones, prompting panicked parents to ring the NSW Poisons Information Centre (PIC).

Silica gel sachets from shoe boxes and tasty infant medicine syrups are other special favourites of young children.

Most of the unwitting victims are under four years of age, Judith Kirby, chief poisons information specialist said. "The substances have changed but I don't think the rate (of poisonings) is increasing," she said.

"Things vary. Hand sanitisers didn't exist five years ago and now they are one of the top things. Glow sticks weren't around five years ago. Panadol probably comes out on top of both deliberate and accidental poisoning.

"Then things like detergents are very high.

"Detergent tastes terrible so they tend to take a mouthful of it but they will drink a whole bottle of paracetamol.

"Whatever is in it - they like it."

Dinner time is the main time curious toddlers manage to ingest poisons.

"Mum is busy and tired and they are tired and irritable and hungry," Ms Kirby said. In 2010, 47,072 children were victims of poisoning.

Experts at the PIC were able to reassure 80 per cent of callers that their child was safe to remain at home.

A further 566 victims were sent to GPs, while 2312 were referred to hospital.

Children three years or younger accounted for 77.3 per cent of calls.

"One-year-olds take slightly different things to three-year-olds," Ms Kirby said. "A one-year-old will take a cigarette butt, a bit of pot plant or the discs that sit in the bottom of the toilet. They like those a lot.

"Two-year-olds put anything in their mouths but a three-year-old is more likely to take tablets. They get a bit more sophisticated over time."  (dailytelegraph.com.au)