Jennifer, an injury prevention specialist at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital works with Safe Kids of Greater Grand Rapids. She’ll periodically be joining us to help us keep our kids safe. Today she’s writing about button batteries and their surprising dark side.
Coin size lithium button batteries are a hidden danger that is very likely in your home. Why are they so bad? Check out the powerful video www.thebatterycontrolled.com and learn more here. The combination of small size and quick-acting hazardous chemicals are what make these little batteries so dangerous to our children.
Hidden inside items like your bathroom scale, your pedometer, your flameless candles, the MP3 player remote, the portable DVD player remote, and many other items lies a battery the size of a nickel. It is a 3 volt lithium battery. It is very powerful – and very dangerous if your child swallows it. If your child swallows one of these batteries it takes less than 2 hours before the battery begins to burn a hole in your child’s esophagus. 2 hours!
The battery doesn’t cause kids to choke or stop breathing, it just lodges in the esophagus and begins eating away – it is terrible.
I’m a mom – I know we can’t watch out kids every minute of every day, and I also know there are many things in my home that require the use of these batteries that I can’t live without. Here is what I recommend:
- Walk through your house – locate all the items that use these types of batteries.
- MOVE THEM OUT OF REACH. Keep them high, locked up, or out of sight.
- Tell everyone you know about this danger – share the video (www.thebatterycontrolled.com) on your facebook page!
- If you suspect your child has swallowed one of these batteries GET HELP FAST – go directly to the emergency department.
Knowing what I now know about button batteries, I have this new passion for sharing the dangers these little batteries carry. Being a mom of 4, I should know how to keep my kids safe. Being an Injury Prevention Specialist, I should definitely know how to keep my kids safe. But early in November I realized I knew nothing about the dangers of Button Batteries. And, if I didn’t know, how many other moms and dads out there don’t know? – That’s when I knew I needed to spread the word. This is a huge danger that keeps growing every day. The number of battery ingestions has quadrupled in the last 5 years! Keep all kids safe – spread the word.
If you have questions or need more information please contact me at 616.391.7233 or Jennifer.hoekstra@
