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The turn of the century has not been good for kids choking on and swallowing foreign bodies. Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System just published in the journal Pediatrics shows that twice as many kids are choking on and swallowing foreign bodies now compared with 20 years ago.

A majority of ingestions involved infants and toddlers 1 to 3 years of age. The most frequent objects ingested were coins at 62%, then toys at 7%, jewelry at 7%, and batteries also at 7%. Almost 90% of the batteries ingested were the button batteries, and these are the most dangerous type of foreign body ingestion since the batteries can leak caustic chemicals that damage gastrointestinal or respiratory lining tissues.

Preventing these potential tragedies is easy:

• Store items such as spare change, batteries, high powered magnets, and medicines out of sight and out of reach.
• Don’t disable child-proof packaging.
• Follow age recommendations when buying toys, and use the choke test cylinder to determine when a toy or toy part is safe for a child under 3 to handle.
• If an ingestion occurs, get helps quickly. If a battery or magnet, get your child to the ED as soon as possible.
• Call for advice from the local ED or the national poison control center at 800-222-1222.

We parents need to keep a closer eye on our kids, and remind them not to put anything but food and drink into their mouths.

Danielle Orsagh-Yentis, Rebecca J. McAdams, Kristin J. Roberts, Lara B. McKenzie. Foreign-Body Ingestions of Young Children Treated in US Emergency Departments: 1995–2015. Pediatrics, 2019; e20181988 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-1988

#Ingestion #parenting #battery #coins #infants #toddlers #childsafe