Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!

This week's guest columnist is Dr. April Weliever, a Family Practice resident at the University Hospital and Clinics here in Lafayette. In the past weeks Dr. Hamilton reviewed Christmas safety issues.  Christmas must be pretty dangerous, because there's more to talk about this week!  Dr. Hamilton talked about choking hazards with toddlers putting things in their mouths, and last year he saw a toddler who put a Christmas tree light bulb in his mouth and chewed it up!  Fortunately the baby didn't get cuts in his mouth or swallow any glass.  But toddlers like to explore with their mouths, and bulbs look pretty tasty, all smooth and brightly colored. Christmas also comes with fire hazards.  Natural trees look and smell great, but if the needles become dry, a spark can start it aflame.  Add hot lights, an overloaded power socket, and your risk increases.  If you get a natural tree, stand it with the trunk sitting in water, and keep that water replenished.  Your tree will suck the water up and need more, to stay hydrated and fire-resistant.  Keep space heaters and other hot sources (time to upgrade to LED bulbs?) away.  In the old days, people used to put lit candles on their trees, and not surprisingly, fire departments had busy Christmases.  Don't try this at home! Fireplaces are another hazard.  In many homes they're dormant until the family wants a Christmas eve fire in the grate.  If you light a fire, have your chimney inspected beforehand by a chimney sweep.  Birds can nest there, old soot can build up, and these can either catch fire in the chimney or block the flue, filling your house with smoke. Also have a fire screen, so that sparks and flaming logs don't roll out and set carpets, presents, or trees alight. Last Christmas tip, and it's those pesky toddlers again!  Keep holly, mistletoe, and poinsettas out of reach.  Kids rarely eat enough of these to get poisoned, but don't chance it!  If your child does ingest something potentially toxic, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) to see if he needs to get seen.  Don't leave alcoholic drinks lying around either- toddlers love to imitate their parents, but you don't want them emulating you that way! So if you've gotten safely through Christmas with no conflagrations or toddler poisonings like we discussed above, now it's time to talk about New Year's.  New Year's is traditionally a time for reflecting on the year past and planning for the year ahead.  It's also a time of year for family and friends to get together, drink a lot, and then attempt to blow some fingers off with fireworks. Seriously though, many celebrations will include fireworks displays in the community, and also in many backyards.  Though fireworks are lots of fun, festivities can get out of hand, and every New Year's we see several kids with burns and blast injuries.  According to the National Fire Protection Association, Emergency Departments treated nearly 12,000 individuals for firework-related injuries in 2015 alone.  Over 3000 of those were kids. Drinking and fireworks make a bad combination.  Have a "designated shooter" who is not drinking, to handle the fireworks and matches or lighters, so that safe decisions are made, and kids are well watched.  Light only one firework at a time, and have a bucket of water or ready garden hose to put out flames.  Never try to re-light duds, or light broken fuses.  Stick those guys in a bucket of water and forget about them!  Avoid buying fireworks packaged in plain brown paper.  These can be commercial-grade fireworks, and maybe too hazardous for backyard use.  Nothing spoils New Year's like a house fire. Sparklers are another child hazard.  They seem safe enough, but the hot tip actually gets to 1200 degrees, hot enough to melt glass!  And when they throw sparks, little kids' arms are too short to keep them far enough away, and can get a spark in the eye. New Year's time is terrific for kids to zip around on the cool toys they got for Christmas- bikes, scooters, skateboards and ripsticks, dirt bikes and ATVs.  Make sure Santa also brought the helmets!  And for those skates, skateboards, and ripsticks: wrist guards.  Don't start the New Year with a broken wrist- it hurts a lot, and puts the toys back in storage until the cast comes off.