Yes! And let me take a moment to do my service announcement about batteries. ALWAYS make sure that anything your child has access to has a sturdy battery compartment that is screwed shut! If it doesn’t, do without it! Lot’s of forum members probably recall that my daughter had a life-threatening injury from a button battery that she swallowed at her baby-sitter’s house. The baby sitter has never admitted as to where my daughter got the battery, but they are extremely common. They are in toys, tools, remote controls, watches, instrument tuners, and all sorts of devices you don’t even think about. Even McDonald’s toys come with them inside! Lots of times all it takes is one drop on a hard surface to pop the compartment open. The button batteries are small enough that a child will put them in their mouth. One it touches the saliva it shocks them, causing the swallow reflex. The smaller ones will go down to their stomach and likely pass, although they can cause severe problems too. But the quarter sized ones dont’ go down as easily. They will often adhere to the side of the esophagus and begin a chemical reaction which can burn through the lining of the esophagus. Within two hours, your child could have a hole in their esophagus. But it can get worse! Depending on which side of the battery is up, it can continue burning until it makes a fistula into the trachea, causing bleeding into the respiratory tract. If it’s facing the other way, as it was with my daughter, it can burn into your childs carative artery. If this happens, you child will bleed out. There is nothing they can do at that point. What’s even more scare is that once the chemical reaction starts, even removing the battery won’t necessarily stop it. Fortunately, with my daughter, removing the battery did stop the reaction before it went to far. She had a hole burned in her esophagus and was on a feeding tube for six weeks, but she’s okay now. However, to this day, I derail random threads to warn people about button batteries.
