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An emergency department doctor has warned parents about a lesser-known but potentially fatal risk to kids as families prepare for the holiday season. Known as “Granny’s Purse Syndrome,” this risk arises from the items in grandmothers’ purses that may unintentionally endanger children.
During family get-togethers, the paediatrician emphasised the value of parental attention in a newly published TikTok video. She clarified that many grandparents carry common items in their purses, such as tiny objects, prescriptions, or even stray coins, which can provide serious choking or poisoning hazards to inquisitive young children.
With the holidays often involving frequent visits and larger family gatherings, she urged parents to be proactive in ensuring that such items are kept out of reach of children. The awareness comes at a crucial time, as emergency rooms often see a spike in accidental ingestions and related injuries during the festive season.
Parents are encouraged to educate grandparents about the risks and take simple precautions, like securing purses or placing them in inaccessible areas, to safeguard their children during the celebrations.
“If you are spending time with your family for the holidays, it’s important to know about something called ‘granny syndrome’ or ‘granny’s purse syndrome,'” she said.
“This is when young kids get into their grandparents’ medications that are not secured properly-for many reasons. One of them is that grandparents are not used to having kids around. Often their medications are on low shelves or in their purses or in medication containers that are not child resistant.”
According to a 2006 study published in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, grandparents’ medications account for 10% to 20% of unintentional paediatric intoxications in the United States. To characterise circumstances leading to and outcomes from paediatric pharmaceutical exposures. To identify preventable risk factors associated with this pattern of injury, referred to as the “granny syndrome.”
