Button batteries, how to proceed if the child swallows a
No matter how safe a home, a child's curiosity can not be curtailed. This desire for adventure and discovery in their first years they make them investigate until the last corner and analyze what they are finding. One of the ways they have to know what they have before them is to take some objects to their mouths.
In some cases, bringing these objects to your mouth is a big danger. Especially things that are small in size are very risky because there is a danger of choking. But in other cases like those of the button batteries not only have to worry about suffocation, you also have to take into account the possibility of poisoning by the components of these items.
Everyday object
Button batteries are an object very usual in our homes. Clocks, remote controls, some portable devices such as hands-free, etc. In addition, these items usually carry lithium batteries, the most dangerous, because their larger size are lodged in the esophagus where swallowed by minors making in a few hours appear serious burns caused by the chemical reactions triggered.
Not only these devices are those that include button batteries. There are many toys that carry these batteries, in fact the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, AEP, estimates that approximately 61,8% Six-year-old children swallow these items even when they were well housed in the objects with which they played.
Unfortunately the symptoms of the child having swallowed a battery are very difficult to notice. This coupled with the fact that in most cases the parents they do not witness the ingestion of these batteries makes it late in diagnosing what is causing the discomfort in the smallest of the house.
Prevent, the best cure
If there is nothing to heal, there is no reason to be scared. Therefore, all risks that can cause a child to swallow a battery should be prevented. First, assess if there is the possibility of buying a toy that do not contain these products and in case you have them, assess that they are well attached and that they are not made of lithium. It is also necessary to ensure that these objects have not been damaged, allowing these batteries to remain loose.
Other objects of the house such as clocks, remote controls, etc. who can carry button batteries, they should stay Out of range of the kids. It is best to place them in drawers or in high places, where the child can not see them, so that curiosity does not lead them to uncover the accommodation of these batteries to take them to the mouth.
Once these batteries are exhausted, you must take these used objects as soon as possible. recycling container correspondent. Each day they spend at home is a risk to the child because they are loose and there is more chance that the child swallows them if he sees them during their investigations.
And if the child swallows a pile
In case the child ingests one of these button cells, we must act with speed. In case the child acts strangely, it is advisable to check the toys that are around him and check if they still contain the button batteries. If there is a likelihood that the child swallowed one of these batteries, you should see a doctor to get it out as soon as possible.
The first step is to eliminate the battery from the body of the baby and the second is to assess how much damage has occurred. Once this point is assessed, it will be the specialist who determines the better treatment to counteract the effects these batteries have had.
Damián Montero
