Young children put everything they find in their mouths and, for that reason, parents have to take extra precautions so as not to leave small pieces within their reach with which they can suffocate.
But oversights happen and can cause serious consequences. It was what happened to Abigayle Galle, a two-year-old girl from Texas (United States), who swallowed a button cell and almost died.
In addition, the serious accident has left important consequences. Her mother wanted to make her experience public to remind other parents of the risks of these batteries.
An accident that could have fatal consequences
As Lacey Galle explained, her mother, to the SWNS news agency, the girl's father, Jeff Galle, had bought a battery for her watch. But when he started to change it, he found that it was no use and left it on the table, next to his computer.
When Abigayle began to cry in pain and tried to vomit, he was scared, although he did not suspect it was because he had swallowed the battery. He immediately called the mother who, at the time, was buying. When he arrived, the girl did not stop crying and her voice became weaker every moment.
They took the girl to the emergency room where, after doing an X-ray, they discovered that a circular object had been swallowed.
In Babies and more So you can see how dangerous button cells are: this baby was about to die and has serious consequencesThe doctors thought it was a 25-cent coin, until later he began to vomit a black, acidic liquid. The girl was immediately taken by plane to the Cook Children's Medical Center hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.
There they performed an emergency surgery to remove the battery and assess the damage to his throat: "She was lodged in her airways, which made her breathing difficult."
Luckily, the acid in the battery had not burned completely on the wall of Abigayle's esophagus and survived. But the girl spent a week in the Intensive Care Unit and was fed through a tube for two and a half weeks.
Abigayle's mother explains that doctors assured her that her daughter had been lucky because "If the battery had been inside longer, it would have been fatal."
In Babies and more, why is it so dangerous to swallow a button cell?The accident took place last summer, when the little girl was still 15 months old and still today, her mother talks about the aftermath:
"In the ICU they placed a feeding tube, through which she was fed for two and a half weeks. Sometimes, when she sleeps, she makes gasping noises that scare and she has trouble breathing and swallowing. We have to cut her very thin food ".
He adds that he has become extremely protective because "I never imagined that a small battery could cause so much damage." Therefore, throw a message to the rest of the parents so that "Be very careful with the batteries. They are in everything".
Ingesting a battery can be deadly
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 3,500 incidents of ingestion of button cells arrive at the United States poison control centers every year.
Although in Spain we do not have figures in this regard, we do know the dangers of a child swallowing these striking round objects that are found in a large number of commonly used devices (watches, cameras, toys ...).
In fact, the Child Injury Safety and Prevention Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), warns of its dangers and consequences for children under six years.
And points out that 20 mm lithium batteries are the ones that cause the most damage, even death: their large size causes them to stay in the esophagus where they cause severe burns in less than two hours.
And it is that button cells contain mercury, zinc, silver oxide, lithium, and sometimes sodium or potassium hydroxide. When opened, it releases very corrosive material, which could cause mucosal necrosis where it is lodged when ingested, usually in the trachea (10%) and in the digestive tract (90%).
They can also cause decubitus injuries (pressure against the skin reduces blood flow to the area and the affected tissue dies) or low-voltage electrical burns.
For that reason, If the child swallows a button battery, one must immediately go to the hospital emergency room to remove it. In 99 percent of cases it is usually done with an endoscopy.
In Babies and more Button batteries: out of reach of childrenSo, as Abigayle's mother warns us, the best treatment is prevention, so that we must make sure to keep them in a safe place and, once used, quickly discard them to avoid going around the house.
The AEP makes these recommendations regarding button batteries:
Keep button batteries and the objects that contain them out of the reach of children.
Check that the battery cover is properly closed and, if it is damaged or broken, make sure it is properly closed (for example, with a strong adhesive tape).
Do not leave any button cell batteries, including used and recyclable, loose on any surface.
Do not let children play with button batteries.
