WFAA-TV

Hand sanitizer is a common product, but studies show young kids are getting buzzed and sometimes drunk from licking too much sanitizer off their hands.

While beer is 5 proof alcohol and vodka 80 proof, ingested hand sanitizer is 120 proof.

Simply using the sanitizer on a child's hand can place a risk that the child will ingest 62 percent ethyl alcohol. Studies show an average 2-year-old can get buzzed off one teaspoon of sanitizer and legally drunk off of two teaspoons.

Smaller children can ingest smaller amounts and have side affects.

Theresa Lobmeyer said her children have been loopy and even clumsy at times, but was unaware of the dangers of hand sanitizers.

"When I do sanitize them, it's right before we eat," she said. "So, they may not be ingesting it by licking it, but they're handling the food their eating, so they're getting a little of it."

Children's Medical Center of Dallas officials said 12,000 kids under six got sick from sanitizer nationwide last year.

"What you do worry about are the more severe symptoms, excessive lethargy, unable to be aroused, stumbling [and] slurred speech," said Dr. Ben Lee, Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

While Lobmeyer said she hasn't seen any signs of that with her children, she said she will be more cautious when it comes to hand sanitizers and her children.