Did you know that in the US alone, there are over 100,000 incidents every year of children 3 years old and younger swallowing common household items? While many of these items are harmless, there is still a large number of them that can cause serious permanent damage.
What are the most common objects that children swallow?
Unfortunately, kids swallow all sorts of things. Anything that they can get their hands on can wind up in their mouth. The key is to limit access to these items to reduce the possibility of accidents occurring.
The 5 Most Common Objects that Children Swallow Are:
- Coins
- Magnets
- Toys
- Sharp Objects (screws, nails etc)
- Batteries
What do you do if your child swallows one of these objects?
Swallowing anything is scary for the child and parent!
The 1st thing that should be done is call your doctor and go to the nearest emergency room, ideally one that has services for children. There they can do the right testing to see if it needs to be removed by endoscopy or will pass in the stool on its own.
If your child swallows a button battery:
- This is a life threatening emergency!!! Go straight to the closest ER (ideally one for children)
- Batteries can cause serious damage to the esophagus in less than 2 hours!
- The damage is caused by electrical discharge from the battery into the tissue and causes a corrosive injury that can lead to perforation and even serious bleeding (even fatal) if the injury is near a blood vessel
If my child swallows a magnet, what does it mean?
- It is also very dangerous to swallow magnets especially more than one as the magnets can stick together inside the bowel and cause perforations and bowel obstruction
- This often times requires surgery and can have long term complications
What do you do if your child swallows something seriously harmful like cleaners or chemicals?
- Call poison control and go to the ER
-
Poison control number 1-800-222-1222.
SAVE THIS NUMBER IN YOUR CELL PHONE!
- Take a photo of the product ingested or bring the container with you to the ER. This will help the medical staff identify what it is more easily to decide the next steps in treatment
- Do NOT induce vomiting
- You CAN use water to wash face and mouth
Simple Baby Proofing Tips from Doctors Who Have Kids
Everyone wants to make sure they provide a safe environment for their children. We all want our kids to have fun but more importantly be safe. These are some simple and some obvious things that we should be doing to our homes for our children.
- Baby proof cabinets
- Lock up medications
- Do not transfer the medication to a separate container (keep in original packaging)
- Do not leave anything on the floor that they can get into
- Do not give them small objects to play with
- No Coins
- No Keys
- No Toys with accessible batteries
- Do not buy products that may look like candy
Your Pediatric Team at PB Digestive
Sari M. Kay, MD is a board-certified Pediatric Gastroenterologist. She has a specialties and expertise in treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, constipation, infant reflux, and functional GI disorders.
Laura E. Irastorza, MD is a board-certified Pediatric Gastroenterologist. She has expertise in treating patients with eosinophilic esophagitis, constipation, reflux, and functional GI disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.
