Holiday Toy Safety: Swallowing & Choking Risks
The holidays are around the corner, which means your kids will be getting some new toys and games. Sometimes children, being curious, will put small toys or part of a toy in their mouth to see how it feels or what it tastes like. This can lead to unintentional swallowing it, which is very dangerous.
Recognizing Symptoms When an Object Is Swallowed or Inhaled
When the Object Goes Down the Food Pipe (Esophagus)
Children may experience:
- Chest pain
- Stomachaches
- Difficulty Swallowing
- Drooling
In many cases, if the object is smooth and non-sharp, it may travel through the digestive tract and pass naturally in the stool within 1–2 days.
When the Object Goes Down the Breathing Pipe (Airway)
This is more urgent and signs include:
- Coughing
- Difficulty Breathing
- Gagging or gasping
- Respiratory distress
If the object goes down the breathing pipe, this constitutes an emergency where you may need to call 911 or take your child to the emergency room.
None of us want to think about performing CPR on our child, but this may be a situation where you may feel thankful afterwards that you took a CPR class!
If the object goes down the food pipe, hopefully it is not a sharp object, and they will pass it out in their poop in the next 1-2 days. Magnets are a different story where they need to be retrieved before they damage the bowel system. Button Batteries can also be a danger because they can be corrosive on the bowels and cause a perforation.
If you are looking for ideas on how to buy safe toys, take a look at this article from the AAP website.
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