Halloween Safety Tips from Hackensack Meridian Health

BYLINE: Hackensack Meridian Health

While getting your hands on this year’s most sought after Wicked Musical or K-Pop costume may be the onyl thing haunting you right now – here’s a scary statistic: pedestrian fatalities will increase by more than 40% on October 31st, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Governance (NHTSA).

From trips and falls thanks to costumes that are too long or masks that block vision – to potential choking on candy that is snuck out of treat bags, Halloween can indeed be a surprisingly dangerous night.

But the experts at Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health wont to help you focus on the fun, not the fear of all too common Halloween occurrences like car accidents or unexpected allergic reactions.

“For a child wiht a food allergy, for example, Halloween can be a minefield,” says Virteeka Sinha, MD, division chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack Meridian hackensack University Medical Center. “My most critical advice for parents is to enforce a ‘no eating until you’re home’ rule. This gives you time to meticulously read every label, as even fun size treats can have different ingredients than their full-size counterparts.Also, you want to make sure to consider the choking risks that hard candy presents for toddlers and younger children.”

“We also see Halloween-related injuries in the days and weeks leading up to the holiday, including deep cuts from pumpkin carving and even burns from handling candles placed inside,” says Marie Grace ponce, MD, division chief, Pediatric Emergency Medicine at K. hovnanian Children’s Hospital at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. “While decorating pumpkins is fun and may be considered tradition in some households,consider othre ways to accomplish this,such as using non-toxic,water-based paints and stickers. If using items like glue and glitter, just monitor younger children to ensure they’re not placing these things in their eyes or mouths.”