There has been a disturbing increase in children swallowing button batteries. These tiny power sources run everything from toys to hearing aids, TV remotes to flameless candles. They can be as small as three millimeters across, but the ones that tend to do the most damage are about the size of a nickel. According to the National Capital Poison Center, 37 children have died from swallowing a button battery. More than 2,700 children ingested one last year — 80 percent of them younger than 6 years old.
Becky Roberts rushed her 4-year-old grandson to Dayton Children’s Hospital after he swallowed a button battery in September. “It was one of my husband’s hearing aid batteries, and I had warned Hunter not to touch them. But he got in the drawer anyway then told me during dinner, ‘Ma-maw, I swallowed a battery’ with a big smile on his face,” said Roberts.
In Hunter’s case, Dayton Children’s doctors were able to remove the battery very quickly. “Hunter had trouble swallowing for a few days, but the doctors say he only suffered minimal damage, which healed well,” says Roberts.
Hunter is among the lucky ones. Many times parents and grandparents aren’t aware their child has swallowed a button battery. The first symptoms can mimic the flu. It’s not until their child starts having trouble swallowing or breathing, that they realize something is very wrong. By that time, the battery has done major damage, many times in as little as two hours.
“It looks like a little bomb has gone off in a child’s throat,” says Ravi Elluru, MD, PhD, advanced pediatric airway, ear, nose and throat doctor at Dayton Children’s. He has had to reconstruct the airway of a child who swallowed a button battery. “You can see the indentation in the esophagus where the battery was and a lot of blackened scar tissue around it.”
“There is an electrical reaction between the button battery and the lining of the throat that produces a chemical,” Dr. Elluru says. “That chemical then eats away at the tissue.”
“The larynx can be damaged, the nerves to the vocal cords can be paralyzed, which can also make it hard to breathe, or the battery can burn a hole through the esophagus to the rest of the chest. If any secretions leak from the esophagus into the chest, it can cause an infection. That is rare, but a child can die within 12 to 24 hours.”
Parents need to take extra precautions to put button batteries out of a child’s reach. If the gadget containing one can’t be put away, a piece of duct tape over the battery compartment may keep small children from getting to the battery inside. Parents can also warn family members, friends and caregivers to do the same.
If you suspect a child has swallowed a button battery, get to the emergency department immediately. Time is the enemy. The longer a button battery sits against the tissue in a child’s throat, the more devastating the outcome will be. If it’s nothing, you’ve only wasted an evening. If it’s a battery ingestion, you may have saved a life.
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