(LEX 18) — Doctors have an important warning for parents of young children before you open up the presents underneath the Christmas tree. They say learn what items in your house contain button batteries, and make sure to keep them away from kids.
It could save a child's life.
"So many things we have around our households have those button batteries," said Sherri Hannan with Safe Kids Fayette County.
Found in everything from remotes to key fobs, button batteries are small but incredibly powerful. Lithium batteries are especially dangerous for young kids because they're similar in size to a nickel and a child's esophagus.
"It is an electrical pulse, so when you mix it with that soft tissue, it burns," Hannan told LEX 18. "It gets lodged in the esophagus and causes burns there, anywhere it just sits."
According to safekids.org, each year in the U.S. more than 2,800 kids are treated in emergency rooms after swallowing button batteries. That's one child every three hours. Their injuries can be serious or even deadly.
"We don't want to see a kid go through those types of things, if it can be avoided, and certainly something like that is very preventable," said Hannan.
Make sure you keep loose batteries locked away and up on a shelf. If you suspect a child has ingested a battery, go to the ER right away.
Finally, enter the National Battery Ingestion Hotline in your phone. It's 1-800-498-8666.
