‘Tis the season when most of us celebrate according to our tradition, let our hair down, and relax. Although we should not drop our guard completely, because the risks our families face will still be there. Take button batteries for example. Those shiny discs full of energy reminding us of coins, even the sweets we loved to suck as kids.
The Temptation to Play with Button Batteries
Button batteries are almost everywhere we go nowadays, for example in our laptops, hearing aids, and key fobs. They are so small we can easily misplace them after we replace them, forgetting that they still contain electrical energy. If we can’t find them easily, the temptation is to forget it and move on.
Alberta Health Services reminded us on December 18, 2023 how losing these shiny discs can lead to unintended consequences. “A swallowed button battery can cause chemical burns,” they warn. “And destroy the tissue in the upper digestive tract and may even cause death”.
The point of this all is that spent batteries still contain an electrical charge. And that short circuiting the terminals together with a suitable conductor can generate heat if swallowed. The moisture in a child’s soft flesh inside their body is a near-perfect conductor, and the heat this generates can cause internal burns.
How to Tell if Your Child Swallowed a Penny Battery
“The damage can be rapid and is likely to be worse if the battery gets stuck in the esophagus,” Alberta Health Services explains, “instead of moving into the stomach”. After swallowing a button battery your child might have one or more of these signs:
“Wheezing, drooling, coughing, gagging when eating, trouble swallowing, chest pain, belly pain, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and fever. Injury can still occur without these symptoms.”
We can help our children avoid this trap, by educating the older ones, and keeping button batteries out of reach of little ones. If we drop our guard we need to get the child to the emergency room as soon as possible. ‘Tis the season to be happy. Please, let’s keep it that way.
More Information
Honey After Swallowing Button Batteries
Lithium Button Batteries Safety Tips for Kids
