I don't care if I am. I could save your child's life

Thank you for the tip about honey, very useful and not something I would have thought about.

Bloody hell! Burst balloons was another thing I was scared of my kid putting in their mouth but combined with button batteries... ugh

Thank you. I sometimes wonder how mine managed to survive into adult hood.

@Error404pagenotfound that must have been terrifying. I hope she was ok.

Batteries and small magnets were my number one fear (second was marbles). Didn't have these orbeez but they look really dangerous too.

This is a timely message with Christmas around the corner , I wasn't aware of the dangers of orbeez .

@PrioritisePleasure24 I couldn’t believe the responses on that post either!!! Our son’s nursery has a complete ban on anything with button batteries and they frequently remind parents of the dangers, especially around Christmas etc. Any kind of “show and tell” day notification comes with a reminder that no toys/books with button batteries should be brought into the nursery!

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

My daughter swallowed one when she was 2 years old at her childminders. It still makes me feel sick to think about.

It was quite large and I still didn’t know how she choked, and was dead so didnt cause any damage and dropped straight into her stomach. I am aware “dead” batteries can still give off charge and we were extremely lucky.

Please take this warning seriously, and remove everything with button batteries if you can. If you can’t then check daily that they are secure. Picture of the one my daughter swallowed.

This is what mumsnet is for!! I remember seeing an awful article of a 2 year old girl who died after swallowing one of these.

I am at the other end, elderly parent with dementia and hearing aids. It never even crossed my mind. Thank you @batterychicken for the warning.

Thank you.
My dd refused to allow these in the house when dgc were small.

In the US, all energiser branded button batteries are coated to taste bitter and covered in a safe dye that dyes the tongue and mouth blue. This is being rolled out the Uk slowly but surely.
Brilliant idea.

Thank you. We are very anal about batteries in our house as we know this risk but I guess things do accidentally happen so the advice with the honey has been noted!

I was at a party for two/three year olds once and the parents had got in a load of light up balloons which all had button batteries in. Older kids were popping the balloons and there were button batteries all over the floor where the kids were crawling. So stressful and I was received as a neurotic loon trying to tell the parents about the dangers and crawling round trying to pick up the batteries

We had a scare with a potential battery a few weeks ago on holiday in France, DS 21 months woke up screaming in agony and we took him to a&e. He was vomiting and in so much pain. The xray showed a big bulge blob in his tummy, but he hadn't been near anything with a battery. He had to have a gastrointestinal exam under anaesthetic and it was raisins! He had a snack box earlier and they'd all congealed in his tummy and rehydrated. The Dr's said raisins are not really available as snacks to kids under 5 in France. So please be careful if you're giving your toddler raisins, they're sold as safe for 1yr plus here.

Wow thank you x

My daughter has a hearing aid with a button battery and it worries me because she tends to put things in her mouth so I keep a very close eye and religiously count them!

Thank you very much for sharing this information.

Thank you OP. I've had the water bead argument with a childcare setting, unbelievable really, though they did concede in the end.

Thank you for sharing this. The amount of Chinese imported tat containing button batteries (and which may not comply with UK toy safety laws) is awful. I hadn't even heard of orbeez! 😨

Brilliant post.
I’m used to work as a theatre nurse and we saw this often. Balloons were another one.
I am a Health Visitor now and harp on about button batteries in my visits. I didn’t know about honey though, thank you!

Thank you for your very informative post! I knew about the batteries, but not about the honey.

I also didn't know about orbeez, I thought that once they had got to a certain size they stopped growing!
I work with SEN children and we have orbeez for sensory time. We also have children who put everything in their mouths, so I will be highlighting this on Monday when we're back at work!

My in laws could be like this, I once came back to my 1 year old sat alone in a paddling pool that was quite deep! They’ve got an upstairs window that’s quite low (old house), that they refused to shut even though a child could have easily fallen out of it.

Refused to cut up grapes!! It was very stressful whenever they went there.

But thanks Op for highlighting this. The government needs to do more if it’s happening this often!

Thank you for the important warning. I knew about batteries and I’ve taken my toddler to A&E for an X-ray before on the tiny chance she might have swallowed one, but I didn’t know about Orbeez.
Can I also add popped/deflated balloons to the list of hazards? I used to crawl round picking up fragments at birthday parties. I think these are more of a choking risk than a bowel hazard.

I work with the deaf and am constantly warning my clients about the dangers of button batteries. I write a warning in big red capital letters on all of my reports!

If I ever drop a battery anywhere I will not rest until I find it. I also worry about the danger to animals ( my DDs puppy is a real scavenger )

Thanks for this important reminder as lots of people are just not aware of the dangers.