Pediatrician shares essential Halloween safety tips for families

Back at 922 this morning, carved pumpkins, creative costumes, and neighborhood trick-or-treating make Halloween one of the most anticipated and fun nights of the year. But before setting your family out into the dark, you might want to take some simple precautions. Let's welcome in Dr. Keidra McNeil, a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente East Bay. Thank you so much for taking the time with us today. One of the safety health hazards that I think of immediately is kids eating too much candy or candy they're not supposed to be eating. I imagine you get a lot of that the day after Halloween. Yes, yes. We can definitely see kiddos coming in with those tummy aches because they've eaten too much of the candy, as you mentioned. But we do try to make sure that parents are aware of the amount of candy that they're consuming and also checking the candy, especially if they're going to be doing trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. They've got to check that candy, make sure that it's sealed, that it hasn't been tampered with, so that it is safe before the kids actually get a chance to consume it. Just kids? Kids and adults. Okay, I was going to say, are the adults just exempted out of this? That'd be great. No, obviously not the case. So many other activities other than just trick-or-treating. Let's talk about maybe a couple days before Halloween. There's a lot of pumpkin carving going on, a lot of all these other just crafts that people want to do to kind of get into that spooky spirit that can also pose some danger. So what's something to think about if you're starting up some of these activities? Yeah, so I think that the key for all of those activities is adult supervision. So if you're going to be carving the pumpkins, they've got the safety knives that are in place that you can supervise your younger children with using. You also want to make sure that if your children are wearing specific costumes with masks or with pieces that are maybe longer or dangling or hanging, that they try that on ahead of time so that you kind of give it a little bit of a test run before you actually get out there in the street and you know that there's not a tripping hazard or anything that could pose a safety hazard while walking. What is something that if you see in the trick-or-treat bag should immediately raise a red flag? So anything that is unwrapped should be discarded immediately. Anything that seems as though the wrapper has been tampered with or maybe there's holes poked in it or homemade treats. I know we love those kind of a lot of times older neighbors who like to make homemade treats. If you don't really have a relationship with them or know them very well, then I would recommend just going ahead and discarding that to be on the safe side. Yeah. Let's talk about, too. I feel like there's always a notice that's put out. It's usually by the police department or even schools for drivers to be very careful and watch out for costumes that are dark and that can be difficult to see at night. What are some of your recommendations to be as safe as possible when you're actually walking the streets? Absolutely. So that kind of goes back to that preparation that we talked about. So if your child is wearing a mask, making sure that they can see and their vision is not obstructed. If they do have a dark costume, then add some colorful stickers to it, some, you know, something that can be seen with the headlights or they can use glow sticks or flashlights. They should always be lit in some semblance. So then that way they are visible and they're safe as pedestrians. In the case of an emergency, and I hate to go there, but we know that can happen sometimes. What is kind of the best practice to respond to something bad that happens if a child eats a piece of candy that could be contaminated or something like that? Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, if there is an emergency like that, then you just want to go ahead and call 9-1-1 to try to get some help as soon as possible. If your children are going to be going without adult supervision, then let them know that they can call 9-1-1 or they can have an adult call 9-1-1. And a lot of kids will have those tracking watches or, you know, tracking phones where you can keep tabs on them. So those are those emergency measures that can really help to prevent something serious from happening. I asked you this over the break, and I want to ask you this on air because I loved your response. Do doctors hate Halloween because they see so many things that could be preventable? What's your take on that? No, I mean, as a pediatrician, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because this is the kid holiday and kids at heart, too. So we get to see the kids coming in in their costumes. We get to come into the clinic in our costumes. So we really just want to have a good time and we want to make sure that everyone is proactive so that the kids can enjoy it, the adults can enjoy it. That ends up being a really great, memorable day for everybody. What are some things that maybe aren't so obvious to think about? I think if you see an unwrapped piece of candy, that probably triggers something. Of course, you know, there are so many best practices to safety when you're out in the street. Is there anything that has come to mind to you over the years as being a pediatrician that you thought, oh, that's not something that every parent probably thinks about? Yeah, I mean, I think that kind of making sure that you have a little path made ahead of time. I know some people will not necessarily stay in their own neighborhood. they may go to another neighborhood. So if you are going outside of your neighborhood or staying in your neighborhood, just knowing what the path is ahead of time so that it's not a last minute split second decision. And that just helps to really make sure that the safety measures are all intact as well. Okay. Real simply, how much candy is too much candy? I mean, I'm very conservative when it comes to candy. Unfortunately, my kids have a pediatrician for a mom, so they only get like two pieces a night yes so i mean i would say you know conservatively a couple of pieces a day a couple of pieces a night maybe maybe three or four pieces on actual halloween day but you don't want the kids to fill up on the candy and the junk food that's just not good for their teeth their body like overall so kind of space it out uh you know the kids will be mad that they can't you know bring it all down but good on you for making sure they feel okay the next day because I know my stomach is going to feel it on November 1st. Dr. Keijer McNeil, thank you so much for being here with us. Pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente East Bay. We're going to take a quick break.