New warning for parents about pills kept in organizers and not child-resistant bottles

NEW YORK -- There is a new warning for parents regarding pills that are kept in organizers and not child-resistant bottles.

Child-resistant caps are designed to help keep kids under 5 from getting into medications, but in 2012, more than 64,000 children went to an emergency room for medicine poisoning. And in many cases, the medicine belonged to a parent or grandparent.

With the help of Montclare Children's School in manhattan, we got some little kids together to see if they could open medication containers, child resistant and not.

Not one toddler in the group of 2- to 3-year-old was able to open the child-resistant bottles, but getting into weekly pill organizers -- which are meant to be easily opened by the elderly -- was a different story.

Three-year-old Margot opened the pill box in nine seconds.

Experts say the eye-catching boxes look like toys.

dr. robert glatter / lenox hill hospital er physician

"We use them for storage of toys or for small trinkets or for arts and crafts," Lenox Hill Hospital emergency department physician Dr. Robert Glatter said. "When they see that, they're curious and they put things in their mouth."

Three of our five little kids broke into the boxes in under 15 seconds, and a group of 4-year-old children was even faster.

Parents were shocked.

"I guess I was surprised that he could open this one," mom Kelli Konop said. "I didn't really think about it."

But the kids caught on fast.

Experts advise teaching your children to come to you immediately if they find any medicine bottles or organizers within their reach.