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

[batterychicken]

I am a colorectal surgeon and we have had to perform 5 emergency operations in 2 weeks related to button batteries but this is so far from the normal, it is increasing exponentially

If you suspect your child or elderly person with dementia or anyone with SEND and who has difficulty communicating has swallowed a button battery and I mean if you even notice the compartment on a battery operated toy or tea light is open and missing and you didn't see you child swallow it. GO IMMEDIATELY TO A&E button batteries and shiny, easy to grab for
Toddler and easy to confuse for tablets for elderly patients

If your child is over the age of 12 months old give 2 teaspoons of honey every 10 mins until you reach hospital. This is crucial and will coat the battery so it doesn't burn the oesophagus or intestines.

Yes it's not ideal if the child needs surgery but there are emergency procedures we can do to minimise risk of aspiration and the risk of aspiration of honey is less than the risk posed of the battery.

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.

There are photos online portraying the damage that honey does to the battery on the slice of ham but it's not to be looked at because the whole point of the honey is to coat the battery and help it not stay too long in one place and move through the digestive tract.

I will also add these absolutely horrific orbeez things to this thread but really they need banning from the world.

If your nursery or child care provider uses them in sensory play, please tell them to stop or move child care providers (hard I know) but orbeez feel brilliant to children and when they have no taste so when they're exploring orally it's very very easy to eat them. And you can't see them on xray until they're a certain size and even then they look like built up gas in the bowel. Obviously if the child has ingested loads then they you see them. However if it's one or 2 they can be tiny when swallowed but they continue to expand and expand, they can case major bowel obstructions.

Please do this. No orbeez and keep and eye out for button batteries (god why are they in so many toys??!)

First photo is a button battery on ham for 30
Mins, second photos is an orbeez removed from
A child and the 3rd shows you how many much they can expand from
The original.

Don't let it impact your life but just keep it at the forefront

If this stops 1 more family from meeting me for surgery on their child then good!

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!

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

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 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! 😨

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 very much for sharing this information.

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!

Wow thank you x

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you very much.

@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!

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

@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.

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

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

It really was, I think someone was definitely watching over her that day.

She told us that she had done it, but we couldn’t be sure as the childminder didn’t recall having any and couldn’t find one “missing”. We took her straight to A&E, they confirmed it by X-Ray and sent us straight to a bigger more specialist hospital to prepare for surgery. Thankfully as it had dropped down into her stomach they kept her in, x-rayed again to check it was moving and let it come out naturally. If it had stayed in her oesophagus the outcome could have been very different very quickly.

She’s 10 now and doesn’t remember any of it!

A useful and informative post! I had no idea about the honey.

I have noticed button batteries becoming more prevalent. I had to replace my kitchen scales and I bought what I thought was an identical set. They look identical but the new ones use a button battery and the old ones took an 9v. Same with my bathroom scales. The button batteries don't last nearly as long.

@Member984815 I thought the same thing!

Thank you op!

My kids had orbeez gifted to them in party bags a couple of months ago. I had no idea they were so dangerous.