Magnetix Toys - The Dangers....

[Magmum]

Hello

I'm new to Mumsnet and I would like to ask your advice.

I have loads of Magnetix toys for my son but I have just been told by a well meaning good friend that they can be extremely dangerous to children, that is, if they swallow them.

I did Google and found a few horror stories - how do other parents feel about these toys? Should I get rid of them or should I restrict them to supervised use only?

Magmum

How old is he?

How old is your son?

Geomag is better than Magnetix as the magnet goes right the way through rather than ones at either end. They are more expensive though.

He is 4 nearly 5.

I wouldn't. What about Knex? These are solid pieces. ds had some at this age, less to swallow.

The problem that was described to me was that if two pieces or more are swallowed, they can connect in the intestine and perforate it. That's the bit that concerns me.

4 is quite young. Maybe wait a bit. There are loads of other construction toys. My ds's liked mobilo at that age.

My DS1 was given some for a birthday present when he was 5, and I always made sure he didn't play with them unsupervised because of the risks (he has a younger brother too so extra worry!) To be honest though he was never really interested in them and the novelty soon wore off.

Yes. The magnets can attract to each other through the walls of the intestines. Geomag don't have magnets at each end but a whole magnet coated in plastic. I wouldn't suggest a 4-5 year old has this though. Maybe Lego or Knex?

Get him some Lego if you are worried

FWIW DS got some age 4 and was fine with it.The little silver balls were a pain though,a fair few have got sucked up the hoover pipe!

Do children really swallow things at the age of 4 and 5?

Mine never have

It depends on the child. I've seen 6 year olds that have swallowed things (coins/lego) so anything's possible.

Just because they haven't doesn't mean they won't Jingle. My 2 have both been to A and E in the last year for sticking things in their ears - they are 7 and 10!

At some stage your DS will have friends over and they might love putting things in their mouth.

I watched a documentary on magnet toys and the affects of swallowing can be horrific. They can shred the intestines. They even featured a 12 year old that nearly died. We had quite a lot of magnetix and we binned the whole lot as soon as the programme finished.

I'd bin the lot of them, they are lethal - I watched same documentary. They should really be banned.

Mine only play with geomag supervised, tbh though they know it's not for putting in your mouth, I think some common sense needs applying over the age of 5.
We had one bead up the nose incident when the baby was 18 months old and it's put them all off sticking things in body parts.