Baby Chewed or Swallowed Battery? – What You Can Do

Children who are in the teething phase are curious creatures who cannot differentiate between right and wrong, toxic and non-toxic. With that said, chewing on a battery accidentally can have hazardous or life-threatening implications. Here’s what you need to know about what to do if your kid ends up chewing or swallowing a battery.

How Dangerous is Chewing or Swallowing Batteries for Your Baby?

Chewing or swallowing a battery is extremely dangerous! Here are some of the possible implications your baby may face if she does that-

1. Internal Bleeding

Batteries contain chemicals like zinc, mercury and lithium which are harmful to the human body when ingested. These may cause internal bleeding and damage the organs.

2. Ruptures the Food Pipe

If the battery gets stuck in the food pipe when swallowed up, the pressure exerted leads to damage or rupture of the food pipe.

Why Do Children Chew or Swallow on Batteries?

Children chew on or swallow batteries because it’s human nature. Children are curious by nature. They’re at an age where they can’t label their surroundings or understand the differences between what’s toxic or non-toxic. A piece of glass, metal, plastic, or food lying around – all these look the same to them. And when they are in the teething phase, the urge to chew becomes simply irresistible.

How to know if your child swallowed a battery? Just read our list of signs and symptoms below.

How to Tell If Your Baby Has Ingested a Battery?

If your baby has swallowed a battery, these are the symptoms and signs you need to watch out for:

• Pain in the abdomen
• Vomiting
• Gagging
• Drooling often and frequently
• Stools that look dark and bloody
• Difficulty breathing
• Choking
• Sore throat
• Fever

What Can Parents Do If Their Baby Has Swallowed a Battery?

If your baby has swallowed a battery, here’s what you can do.

• Give her honey. The nutrients in honey have the ability to neutralize the effects of harsh chemicals leaked out by the batteries. Honey works as a protective barrier and may neutralize the damage caused to your child’s internal organs. If she has swallowed a battery, you can feed her a spoonful of honey every five to ten minutes. Keep doing this until you get her to the hospital for emergency medical attention.
• If your child has swallowed a battery, remember that you have just two hours to act before the chemicals in them cause serious damage. Take her to the hospital immediately and don’t delay.
• If you’ve got any batteries lying around the house, keep them away somewhere, preferably where your child cannot reach them. If there any toys that use batteries, remove those from them.
• Discard any old batteries from your home. Those are just as dangerous as the new ones and lithium battery child death does happen.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Here’s what you need to do if your child has swallowed a watch battery or any other kind.

1. Take Her to the Hospital

Don’t delay it because, like we mentioned before, you have a two-hour window before things turn worse.

2. Get an X-ray Done

A chest and abdominal X-ray are most preferred. This will reveal whether the battery is lodged somewhere and let you know the extent of the damage.

3. Your Child May be Hospitalized for a While

If the damage is already underway, doctors may advise hospitalizing your child for at least two to three days. This will be the time needed for treatment to prevent further perforation or rupture to the organs from those chemicals.

4. For Cases of Lodging

If the battery is stuck in your child’s food pipe, then doctors will try to surgically remove it via instrumentation endoscopy. In this case, your child will be administered anaesthesia and taken to the operating room.

5. Oral Medications

Your child will also be given oral medications to clear up the lining and the dosage/type will depend on the doctor’s advice or prescription.

Other Important Tips and Guidelines

Here are some important tips and guidelines with regard to safety, prevention, and other aspects.

• The battery has to be removed as soon as it is ingested. The size of the battery and the symptoms your baby shows aren’t reliable indicators for making out where it’s lodged. That’s why immediate medical attention and imaging are needed.

• If your child is under 12 years old, seek immediate medical treatment. This is because her organs are developing and still very sensitive to the chemicals in these batteries. That also means she’s way more susceptible to damage from the electrochemical composition of these batteries.

• When buying toys, check if the battery compartment is required to be opened using a screwdriver. If the compartment is loose or can be easily removed with fingers, it’s not a toy worth buying for your child.

• The best step towards prevention is to remove all batteries from your child’s reach. Don’t keep any batteries in the house or in places where your child can access them.

• If you have to keep batteries in the house, lock them away in shelves or cabinets which are at a height.

• If you don’t have honey lying in the house for feeding to your kid after she has ingested a button battery, try using lemon juice. It has alkalizing properties and works just as well.

Saving your child is not too late after she’s ingested a button battery. Take her to the hospital and do the best you can using our preventive and safety measures. You might just make it in time and save your child’s life.

Also Read:

How to Stop Your Baby From Putting Everything in His Mouth
Ways to Keep Your Baby Safe and Protected
Tips to Buy Safe Toys for Babies