Are all your electrical outlets covered?

[Anonymous]

My 4 year old dd tonight stuck a pair of tweezers into an electrical outlet. It has been a very scary night for us, and we went to the ER, but she is ok. I feel really bad about what happened and am still all upset. I was trying to calm my 2 year old dd, and my 4 year old had gotten ahold of my tweezers. We had recently rearranged the furniture, and the outlet she played with had been covered up by the bed. I am not going to make excuses though, we do need to do my childproofing around here. I am just so grateful that my dd is ok. What a scary night. We're covering up every single outlet in the house in the morning after we can get out to the store.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad your daughter is ok.

[Anonymous]

What happened to your DD?

Covering up outlets is not going to deter an industrious four year old. They will pull them right out. Outlet covers are good for the baby age, though. We did cover any visible outlets when our kids were babies.

I remember sticking something metal into an outlet when I was a kid (7 or 8 or so - what a dummy) and boy, did I learn my lesson very quickly.

[Anonymous]

I'm really really sorry OP. I'm sure that was terrifying. I'm so glad she was OK. I also stuck a screwdriver in an outlet when I was a bit older (maybe 5?), but not far enough to get really shocked, but I felt the most freakish "vibration" throughout my whole body. Scared me seriously, because I knew quite well I wasn't supposed to do that.

You know, we do the best we can as parents, but we won't be able to prevent everything. Please don't beat yourself up.

And no, my outlets aren't covered. I have a 3.5 year old and thought we could actually start removing them now. I guess I'll wait a bit.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't have thought a 4 year old needed covered outlets either, but I guess it makes sense they would be curious.

Sorry OP - don't beat yourself up. Those things happen.

[Anonymous]

OP, what did happen to your daughter? What symptoms made you take her to the ER? Did she get burned? Or were you just being cautious? What treatment did she receive?

[Anonymous]

We're in the process of replacing all of our outlets--for some reason when our house was built they were all installed upside down, and are an ugly beige color with a ribbed texture.

The ones we are installing are tamper-resistant--unless pressure is applied into both holes of the outlet at the same time (i.e. a plug) nothing will happen. There's a sort of plastic barrier that stays in place unless both sides are pushed in. Somebody told DH that new building codes require this in all new home construction, and hospitals have used them for a long time.

[Anonymous]

My son is 5 and has been able to pull them out for a year or two. I think the preschool ages and young ES ages are just as hard b/c you don't think they would do things like that. You think they would know better but sometimes they don't. I am glad your child is okay.

[Anonymous]

We have a 10-month-old and have been debating whether to cover our outlets--I've heard that the plastic covers are choking hazards. Is this really true? It seemed a bit far-fetched to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard that the plastic covers are choking hazards. Is this really true? It seemed a bit far-fetched to me.

Our child popped on in her mouth at about 12 months and started choking. Fortunately we were both sitting there and noticed her choking (although did not see her put it in mouth), and were able to dig it out of her throat. It was pretty far back there, and the flat part had fully blocked her throat. Pretty scary, and potentially very back if one of us had not been sitting right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 10-month-old and have been debating whether to cover our outlets--I've heard that the plastic covers are choking hazards. Is this really true? It seemed a bit far-fetched to me.

You could do something like this (http://www.amazon.com/KidCo-Universal-Outlet-Cover-Pack/dp/B000V1QW3W) or this (http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-48308-Outlet-Shortener/dp/B000HKVG9C). We use a combination. Hell, I can barely get into them.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP, and some people asked about dd's symptoms. Her hand was a bit stiff that had been holding the tweezers, and at first she almost seemed ok. I brought her down to watch a show to calm down and to evaluate her. Then I gave her milk to drink. She was having trouble drinking, and then she grabbed onto her mouth. Then she seemed to have a bit of trouble breathing. In the middle of this, she also got hives on her face. While all this was going on, I ran to call 911, but my dh was already on the phone with them. They said to take away the milk and not let her have anything to eat or drink. In just a few minutes, her breathing returned to normal, and she was commenting on the diego show and telling me what was going on on the show. By the time the ambulance got there, she seemed much better. At the ER, they gave her an EKG and blood test, and everything was normal. We went home and finished watching Diego, then went to bed, and she has been fine all day today.

We are getting tehe locking electrical outlet covers and doing a thorough review of safety around our house today. I am so glad to have my 2 little girls to celebrate with today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Somebody told DH that new building codes require this in all new home construction, and hospitals have used them for a long time.

I don't think this is correct. We live in new construction, and our house does not have them.

[Anonymous]

Sorry you went through that OP. It could happen to anyone, definitely don't beat yourself up. I'm glad that everything is ok. Good reminder to keep outlets capped/plugged.

For the PPs who mentioned choking, definitely read reviews for the various options. I first bought some kind of "push and pull" pieces of crap that were so easy to pull out they were a joke. Picked them up in a store and then saw later online that they had awful reviews and for good reasons. I then found the best reviewed ones and they are MUCH better and hard to get out of the outlet. Nothing can prevent accidents 100% but they're worth having.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Somebody told DH that new building codes require this in all new home construction, and hospitals have used them for a long time.

I don't think this is correct. We live in new construction, and our house does not have them.

Maybe it depends on where you are--we're not in the DC area anymore, so maybe its just where we live. At any rate, we've been happy with the new outlets.