Swallowed Object (Foreign Body):

Children, especially small ones, love to put things in their mouths. Anything and everything on the floor is fair game to them (this seems particularly frustrating when your child refuses to eat the foods that you prepare). It causes a great deal of concern for parents. However, the vast majority of objects swallowed by children will pass through the child’s body in three or four days.

The objects most commonly swallowed are coins. Small coins, such as pennies and dimes, will usually pass through your child’s digestive tract without causing any problems. Larger coins might become lodged in the esophagus (swallowing tube) and cause symptoms. If this happens, your child will usually have fits of coughing, pain, vomiting, or other complaints. Surprisingly, small pieces of glass usually pass through the child without causing any harm.

Some of the most dangerous items that your child might swallow include:

• Thin, sharp objects (pins, including safety pins, needles, nails, toothpicks), and
• Batteries, such as those from a hearing aid.

This last group deserves special attention. Tiny batteries are used very commonly in a variety of electronic devices, including hearing aids, watches, cameras, and even toys. When they are swallowed, they can cause damage in many ways.

1. First, bodily fluids will "short out" the battery, causing it to discharge quickly. This generates heat, and can cause burns. (Ed. note: I personally had an experience with this. One of my children put an AAA battery in his mouth, and I got him to spit it out almost immediately. When I went to pick up the battery a few moments later, I found that his saliva had shorted the battery out. It had generated so much heat that it nearly burned my hand. I shudder to think what that would do inside a child.)
2. Second, as the battery discharges, the electric current itself will destroy the tissue immediately around the battery.
3. Third, these batteries contain acids, alkalis, and poisonous metals. The digestive juices will corrode the battery casing, allowing these poisons to leak out.

Please do not be fooled by their small size. These tiny batteries are extremely hazardous.

Prevention:

As with most dangers, prevention is the best approach. Recognize that young children often put nearly everything in their mouths. Periodically check the floors, beds, tables, couches, and chairs for any loose item that a child could swallow. Look for buttons, coins, pins, safety pins, marbles, toothpicks, and any other items that a young child might swallow. Remember that, even when your children are old enough not to swallow these things, other children will still be in danger when they visit or stop by.

You should also check clothing (both yours and your children’s) for loose buttons, sequins, bells, bows, or anything else that a child might be able to pull off and swallow. Frequently, these items become loose, hanging on literally "by a thread" without us knowing. If you find a loose item, sew it back on immediately. If that is not possible, clip it off and keep it in a safe place until you can.

Be very careful when disposing of batteries from watches, calculators, hearing aids, etc. These are very dangerous to children, and must be discarded with care. Remember that these are dangerous not only when swallowed, but also when children put them in their ears or noses. Please be careful!

What to do if your child has swallowed a foreign object:

• If your child is choking or having trouble breathing, Call 911 immediately.
• If your child is breathing fine, call the doctor’s office or answering service. Tell your doctor what you think your child has swallowed, even if you are not certain. Some objects (such as batteries) are very dangerous. If your doctor feels that your child does not need to be seen immediately, you can try simple measures at home (see below).
• If your doctor has asked you to watch your child, call the doctor if your child has abdominal (belly) pain, vomiting, or bloody stools in the next few days.

As always, please contact your child’s doctor with any questions or concerns you might have.

Simple Home Measures:

If your child’s doctor feels that it is appropriate for you to watch your child at home, then offer your child some water to drink. If your child is able to drink without difficulty or discomfort, give him/her some bread to eat. If your child has difficulty with either of these, call your doctor back. If your child is able to eat bread (or a similar soft food) without problems or symptoms, then the foreign object most likely has passed through the esophagus into the stomach. Once they make it that far, most swallowed objects will pass through in your child’s bowel movement in about four days.

Unless your child has symptoms, it is generally not necessary to check your child’s bowel movements to see when the foreign body has passed. However, if the object is sharp, long (more than about an inch), or your child’s doctor instructs you to do so, you should check your child’s bowel movements to make sure that the object passes within three or four days. There is no pleasant way to do this.

Collect your child’s bowel movement in a diaper or potty-chair. Using a stick or plastic knife, cut the bowel movement into very small pieces until you find the object. You can also place it in a colander (as I said, this is not pleasant) and rinse it through with water to look for the object. Make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly and carefully, and that you wash or discard any knife, colander, or other utensil used.