Caring parents spend the whole day trying to prevent all sorts of strange things their child's mouth . In most cases, everything ends relatively well - the main thing is to avoid the danger of suffocation .
The situation is completely different when it comes to batteries - in addition to suffocation, children are also at risk from the chemical composition of the battery, as well as the metal parts of the shell.
Most portable devices include mechanisms to prevent children from having easy access to small parts and batteries. But what happens if a child swallows a battery ?
Can he do this only with a round battery in the form of a tablet, or is there a threat with the little finger and finger ones too? Below you will find out which risks for a baby from swallowing a battery really exist, and which are far-fetched.
Regular coin cell batteries
They look like a coin , are small, and are easy to swallow like a pill . These batteries are cheap to produce and hold a charge for a long time, which is why they are common in low-power devices. These include watches, calculators and, of course, children's toys .
The human body is resilient - in most cases, an ingested battery will pass through a child's digestive system without incident , but there are tragic exceptions.
The British Accident Prevention Trust ( CAPT ) has shown that lithium batteries can react with saliva . As a result, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda NaOH ) is formed, as in pipe cleaners (remember the example of how Bari Alibasov ended up in the hospital). In just a couple of hours, internal injuries can lead to death . See what it looks like.
Incorrect and dangerous actions when providing assistance
Sometimes parents, trying to rid their child of a battery he has swallowed, commit incorrect and dangerous actions:
- They turn the baby upside down , shake them, hoping that the foreign body will fall out,
- Pour honey into the stomach , it can worsen the burn if the battery is in the stomach for more than 2 hours, cause allergies, and honey is generally not recommended for children under 4 years old.
- They give the child food , especially coarse, hard food in the hope that it will push the battery into the intestines faster,
- They give a laxative , give a cleansing enema, they can increase damage to the intestines if there is already a burn to the mucous membrane,
- They wait until the battery comes out on its own in the feces, guided by the satisfactory condition of the baby, because it can worsen at any moment.
All actions when a foreign body enters the stomach must be performed by a specialist in a medical institution after an appropriate examination of the child.
CPR Kids illustrated the consequences of swallowing a battery
The founder of the publication, Sarah Hunstead, organized an experiment using slow motion (when the action is sped up), a lithium battery and animal meat.
This helped to find out that due to contact with organic tissues and conductive saliva (in an oxidizing environment), in just 2 hours, corrosive processes cause a chemical reaction and serious burns to organs .
Sarah was prompted by an incident when her daughter in a supermarket in the children's goods department took a small battery from the shelf .
According to Sarah, her daughter was extremely interested in a small, cold, shiny object . She liked the metal shell of the lithium battery, which is potentially lethal . Luckily they managed to avoid being swallowed. But the proactive mother hastened to share her knowledge with an expert approach and visual evidence of the danger of the situation.
How to feed your baby after an accident
When the danger has passed, the battery has been successfully removed and the baby and mother have been discharged home, this does not mean that he is completely healthy. Even if the child does not complain about anything, is active and eats well, you need to keep in mind that during its stay in the esophagus and stomach, the battery to one degree or another had an effect on the mucous membrane - both mechanical and chemical.
Against this background, an acute or chronic inflammatory process can easily develop - esophagitis, gastroduodenitis or enterocolitis.
Therefore, for 2-3 weeks until the mucous membrane is completely restored, the child needs to organize a gentle diet. It is necessary to exclude rough foods:
- Raw vegetables and fruits,
- Legumes,
- Fried foods,
- Black bread,
- All kinds of chips and snacks,
- Carbonated drinks,
- Canned food,
- Pickles, marinades.
You also need to exclude foods that take a long time to digest - red and fatty meats, mushrooms, pasta, animal fats, baked goods.
Food should be boiled or steamed, have a semi-liquid or mushy consistency, in a small volume with a feeding frequency of 5-6 times a day.
It is useful to make enveloping decoctions for your baby - rice, oatmeal, potato jelly. Vegetables and fruits can be given peeled, stewed or baked, or in the form of a soufflé.
Fresh fermented milk bioproducts containing lactobacilli, bifidobacteria - bifidoyogurt, biokefir and other analogues - will serve well. Herbal teas with linden blossom, chamomile, and St. John's wort are also very useful.
The baby's diet should be agreed with the pediatrician; it is usually recommended to temporarily stop fruit and vegetable complementary foods.
Little finger and finger batteries
Swallowing such large objects primarily fraught with suffocation and only secondarily with chemical damage to internal organs. But even despite their larger dimensions than a round button battery , little finger (AAA) and even finger (AA) batteries, due to their cylindrical shape, quickly pass from the oral cavity into the esophagus, immediately causing extremely unpleasant sensations in the child.
is even more terrible if we are talking about very young children who cannot consciously express the cause of severe discomfort.
The worst thing is if, during the game, the child also saw through the shell. The electrolyte could leak out and get into the mucous membranes of the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. As soon as you notice that your baby is unwell, check to see if he might have eaten a lithium battery. If in any doubt, call a doctor .
Symptoms of a Swallowed Battery
Signs of a swallowed battery begin to appear 1.5-2 hours after the incident. If the child did not say this out of fear of punishment, or he is too young, you need to pay attention to the following symptoms:
- Lethargy, weakness, lack of appetite,
- Increased body temperature
- Increased heart rate
- Nausea, vomiting,
- Pain behind the sternum, in the abdomen,
- Frequent stools mixed with blood and a metallic odor.
In severe cases, there is vomiting of blood, severe pallor, cold sticky sweat, loss of consciousness, which indicate internal bleeding.
If a small button battery was swallowed with food and quickly passed from the stomach into the intestines, it may not cause significant harm and will be excreted in the feces. But you shouldn’t count on this, but be sure to take your baby to the doctor.
How do you know if a child has swallowed a battery?
These are the main signs that can appear simultaneously or separately. Information for parents provided by CAPT. Usually they occur in increasing order from the most harmless to the most severe symptoms.
- • Nausea
- • Loss of appetite
- • A sore throat
- • Abdominal pain
- • Excessive salivation
- • Vomit
- • Choking
In most cases, an ingested battery will not cause harm . But under any circumstances, you should quickly call the doctors or take the child to the emergency room yourself.
The medical facility will take an x-ray , which will show the condition of the body and the effect of the battery on it. Then measures will be taken to remove it. Remember that within just a couple of hours of ingestion, a deadly chemical reaction can occur inside your baby.
What should you do if your child puts something in their nose, ear or throat?
We recently wrote about what to do if your baby swallows a battery, coin, magnetic ball or other foreign objects. What if a foreign object ends up in your nose, ear or throat?
If you have any questions, you can ask them using the Doctis application.
1. The niece put a bead in her nose. The parents tried to make the child sneeze and get the foreign body out with a knitting needle, but it didn’t work. Doctors later said that it was impossible to act like that. How is it possible?
You can and should immediately call an ambulance or take the child to the hospital yourself. It is strictly forbidden to provoke sneezing, rinse your nose with water, remove a foreign object with a knitting needle, tweezers, crochet hook, etc. Otherwise, you can push it even deeper. We had a little patient who stuck an earring clip in her nose. The parents tried to get it themselves. It didn't work out. After some time they went to the doctor, but he saw nothing. The adults decided that the clip had fallen out of the nose. And they relaxed. And after some time the girl fell ill. The ENT specialist suspected sinusitis and sent the child for an x-ray. So, the picture showed that the foreign body is located under the inferior nasal concha! His parents put him there when they tried to extract him on their own. The child had to undergo a complex operation. And if they had immediately gone to the hospital, such consequences could have been avoided.
2. Is it true that a foreign body from the nose can get into the trachea?
Unfortunately yes. For example, a child placed a foreign body in the nose. He can aspirate (inhale, draw in) an object that was in the upper respiratory tract into the larynx, and from there into the trachea and bronchi. That is, a foreign body in the nose becomes a foreign body in the respiratory tract. And that's another story. And another extract. Much more complex.
We once had a child in our department who was saved... by his own cow. Not in the literal sense, of course. The boy was resting in the countryside. Grandma turned on a cartoon for him and gave him a peeled pomegranate. The child stuffed his mouth full of pomegranate seeds and then started laughing at the funny scene in the cartoon. A sharp breath - and the grains entered the trachea. The boy began to choke. Fortunately, at that moment a neighbor, a resuscitator by specialty, came to them for milk. He carried out resuscitation measures and brought the baby to the hospital. It turned out that his entire trachea and bronchi were clogged with pomegranate seeds! The child was saved. But if the grandmother had not had a cow, if the neighbor had not turned out to be a doctor, and if he had not been nearby at the right moment, no one knows how it would have ended.
It is no coincidence that I told this story. Unfortunately, in many such cases there is a grain of adult oversight. Therefore, we must not forget the rule - when I eat, I am deaf and dumb. Make sure that the child is not distracted while eating: does not fidget, does not laugh, does not talk.
3. The baby may remain silent about the fact that he put an “unauthorized” object in his nose. Are adults able to somehow figure this out?
If it is a piece of foam rubber, polystyrene foam or some kind of organic foreign body, as a rule, an extremely unpleasant putrid odor appears from one half of the nose. In this case, you should immediately consult a doctor. This is a very characteristic symptom. In addition, one-sided nasal congestion, difficulty breathing, discomfort, and pain often occur.
4. What symptoms indicate that there is a foreign body in the ear? And how to get it yourself? Maybe with a cotton swab? Or rinse with water from a syringe?
First, about the symptoms. The child may rub his ear and complain that he can’t hear well. The inflammatory process does not always occur.
Now let’s talk about how to remove a foreign body from the ear yourself. I answer - no way. No cotton swab, no rinsing - nothing. There is only one rule: see a doctor immediately. Otherwise, by removing the foreign body from the ear canal, you can push it towards the eardrum. Removing it will be much more difficult.
5. I heard that a foreign body can get stuck in the tonsil. Is this really possible?
Maybe. For example, a fish bone. Adults usually advise the child to chew a bread crust or something hard, but part of the bone may break off and remain in the thickness of the tonsil. This threatens the development of an inflammatory process up to an abscess - a dangerous condition that requires urgent treatment in a hospital.
An abscess can be suspected based on the following symptoms. First, the child develops a severe sore throat. Moreover, on the one hand. Secondly, he is unable to open his mouth wide. Maybe just a little bit. Thirdly, asymmetry occurs: one half of the pharynx swells more than the other. Fourthly, body temperature rises.
What measures are needed to ensure that a child never swallows a battery?
- 1. If you have batteries that are not in use, store them in places out of reach of children's pranks.
- 2. If possible, dispose of used batteries and accumulators immediately - remember that they can explode.
- 3. Examine toys before allowing children to play - where the battery pack opens without a screwdriver, there is a high chance that a child will open it.
Learn all about battery safety
If you have children, have you told them about the dangers of batteries? Share your experience with other parents in the comments. We are waiting for your messages on VKontakte @NeovoltRu.
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Recommendations for parents on how to keep their baby safe
Universal advice to which there is no alternative is not to leave the child unattended and remove all small objects, primarily batteries, from their reach. Further, all modern children play with electronic toys, and they all run on batteries, which are not difficult to remove. And yet, when buying a toy, your child should choose one where the lid covering the cavity with the batteries is fixed with a screw.
It is also useful to seal the lid well around the perimeter with tape. If you suddenly get distracted for a while, the baby will barely have time to remove the tape.
Remote controls for electronic equipment, watches, and alarm clocks should also be stored in places inaccessible to children. Before throwing used batteries in the trash, you should tie them tightly in a bag, because a child can easily get them out.
You should communicate more with your child from an early age, always answer his “what” and “why,” introduce him to various objects, and talk about dangerous ones.
And if, nevertheless, trouble with the battery does occur, do not rely on “maybe” and various dubious advice, do not put the health of the creature most dear to you at risk, but immediately consult a doctor.
Battery Danger
A button battery is small in size, has smooth edges, and the likelihood that it will pass through the digestive tract and come out is very high. However, more often the situation is not so favorable.
The battery contains caustic substances, alkalis, toxins, acids and mercury. These substances, in any case, will harm the baby’s fragile body.
does not stay in the child's mouth . Entering through the pharynx into the esophagus, there is a chance that it will get stuck at the level of one of the sphincters. While there, the battery begins to oxidize and is soldered to the mucous membrane. Toxic substances that are released from it cause 3 types of mucosal burns: chemical , thermal and electrical . The wall of the esophagus is destroyed, up to complete destruction.
The battery may pass through the esophagus and end up in the stomach. There, under the influence of gastric juice, it begins to quickly oxidize . This occurs due to hydrochloric acid, which is part of the gastric juice. And all the same processes occur as in the esophagus.
The longer a battery is left in the body, the higher the risk of depressurization of its housing and the release of toxins into the body.
Small batteries
Children often swallow small foreign objects, especially in the first years of life. If you eat some small (non-sharp) object that does not contain chemicals, it may not pose a threat to the baby. If the child feels well, does not show anxiety, does not experience pain in the abdomen and when swallowing, there is no need to worry. You should feed it vegetables or liquid puree during the day, and after some time the item will be in the pot along with the stool.
However, if a child swallows a battery from a soft toy or watch, this is very dangerous.
In this case we are talking about batteries in the form of shiny metal “tablets” (LR44 and others like that). In appearance, disc batteries seem durable and “packed” in an iron shell, but it is this shell that primarily reacts with the acidic environment of the stomach. You should also be aware that the contents of a small battery are filled with dangerous chemical compounds. Their long stay in the body of a baby who inadvertently swallowed such an object can lead to serious consequences.
If a child swallows a button battery, the first thing that happens inside the esophagus is its iron casing. Since any battery is a source of electrochemical energy, the tablet can shock you from the inside.
As a result, the following may occur:
- electrical burn of the esophagus;
- discharge damage to surrounding tissues;
- The “pill” can grow into the tissue and remain there without moving further.
Of course, it is not a fact that if a small battery was swallowed, all the symptoms will be exactly the same. Some sources write that such an item is not dangerous, and you just need to wait for the moment when the “pill” comes out naturally.
On the one hand, this is true, and in many cases this is exactly what happens. However, there is one “but” here. If a child swallows a battery and turns out to be the lucky one in whom it does not get stuck in the esophagus or in the walls of the stomach, this is the most favorable outcome. Most likely, it will gradually move through the intestines along with the stool and eventually come out.
But the esophagus is a very narrow place. There is always a risk that a small flat “tablet” will get stuck in one area or another and stick to the walls. As a result, chemical reactions will begin very quickly, and the consequences can be very dire - from internal burns to acid corroding the walls of the esophagus and stomach.
Thus, even if a baby who has eaten a small food source does not appear to have dangerous symptoms, he should still be taken to the doctor immediately. Using an x-ray, it is usually possible to determine in which part of the gastrointestinal tract the ill-fated object is located. Next, the doctor will act depending on the situation.
How to remove the battery
What to do if a child swallows a battery? Extracting it is a rather difficult process, but possible. The only way is surgery, which is usually performed under general anesthesia. In this case, surgeons use special instruments that are designed specifically to remove foreign bodies. As a rule, a special gripping loop is used, with which the battery can be removed on the first try. Before administering general anesthesia, the doctor must ask the parents whether the child has any allergic reactions.
After successfully removing the foreign body from the body, the baby should remain in the hospital under observation for some time. For general development, all parents are recommended to watch Dr. Komarovsky’s video, in which he talks in detail about what parents should do in this case.
Of course, it also happens that a child swallowed a battery, and the x-ray showed that it was already in the intestines. In the absence of alarming symptoms, you can expect it to be naturally excreted in the feces. Of course, this does not negate the vigilance of parents and medical supervision. The baby should be fed foods that help loosen stools. Usually the foreign body comes out within three days. If this does not happen, unfortunately, it will be impossible to do without serious surgical intervention.
