Keep Coins and Button Batteries Away

It is an exciting time when your child learns to crawl, and later as they begin walking. This human being that once relied on you for absolutely everything is now able to move around on their own. Of course, now that they can move around on their own, you are no longer able to take your eyes off of them but for a few seconds. While you used to be able let them lay on the floor for a few minutes, you now have to know where they are at.

You wouldn’t need to keep an eye on them all of the time if they didn’t love to put anything and everything in their mouth. Kids will eat some pretty disgusting things as they grow up, but a lot of times they simply don’t know any better (and the other times they are probably just being disgusting). Whether it’s food that has been laying around for multiple days, or a basic toy, kids will put it in their mouth if they can.

Obviously, you need to keep small items out of reach of kids at this age. They see something small, they grab it, and it goes right in the mouth. While this may not be a problem, it can lead to big problems if you’re not lucky. Small items that fit in their mouth, but don’t go down their throat easily are serious choking hazards. While you should absolutely know CPR you really don’t want to have to use it.

Some of the most dangerous items for kids are buttons and coins. These items can easily get stuck in your child’s throat, and they can be extremely painful depending on how far they go in and how they get turned. Seeing your child choking on something that feels like it won’t come out is one of the scariest feelings you can experience as a parent - keep these small items away from them.

Even scarier than coins are button or coin batteries. These batteries are used in many small electronic devices these days instead of larger batteries. If you’re replacing batteries in devices, make sure the old batteries are put into a location that your child cannot get to. These batteries are a double edged sword - they can get stuck in your child’s throat or if they go all the way down they can cause serious damage.

If your child does swallow a button battery, then you absolutely need to head to the emergency room. Leaving a button battery inside of your child can lead to more serious issues, and the doctor will absolutely want to get it out as soon as they can. While a trip to the emergency room isn’t really enjoyable, it’s much better than having a very sick child with more serious issues later on.

Yes, we’ve experienced this before and it was absolutely terrifying. At the time, our son was two years old and got hold of a button battery that we didn’t get put away. While we’d told our son multiple times not to put things in his mouth, he still did so all the time (unsurprisingly). The button battery was stuck in his throat and he could barely breathe. When we got to the emergency room, they forced him to throw up and the battery came out (it took them a while to wade through and find it). I would not recommend the experience to anyone.

Keep small items that your child can choke on off the floor and out of reach. You don’t want to have to make a visit to the emergency room.