Experts at McMaster Children’s Hospital say there are more than twice as many cases of kids eating button batteries than last year.
According to Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), the hospital generally sees less than five kids a year who have ingested batteries.
They say they’ve seen ten cases in the last 12 months.
Pediatric surgeon at the hospital Dr. Mark Walton says that batteries can become lodged in the esophagus and lead to urgent procedures to remove them.
“The injuries from these batteries are very severe – and can be fatal – yet all these injuries are very easily preventable,” said Walton.
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While button batteries are small, the alkaline inside them can react with saliva which can burn through children’s tissue in as few as one or two hours. In severe cases a battery can erode into airways or major blood vessels.
The HHS says these patients often require two or more procedures with stays in hospitals lasting from days to months.
Pediatric surgeon Dr. Michael Livingston suggests if a battery is swallowed, to immediately bring the child to an emergency department and to give the kid some honey to swallow.
He says while honey is not recommended for children less than one year old the honey would coat the battery slowing chemical reactions, “with a swallowed battery the benefits outweigh the risks.”
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