Mom shares urgent warning for parents after baby swallows battery and spends 48 days in the hospital
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IDAHO FALLS — A 14-month-old Idaho Falls boy who spent five weeks in the hospital after he swallowed a battery is now home with his family and his mother has a warning for other parents.
Baby Orrin spent 48 days in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center after a button, or coin, battery burned a hole in his throat. It caused severe burns in his esophagus and trachea.
“Orrin had eaten a button battery from a light fixture remote, but we didn’t know that at first,” said his mother, Katie, who asked that her last name not be used. “We didn’t know anything was wrong until he started vomiting clear liquid. We could tell he couldn’t swallow and that he had something stuck in his throat.”
Katie rushed Orrin to the ER, where an X-ray showed he had ingested a battery, and pediatric surgeons performed surgery immediately.
“When you put a button battery in your mouth, it basically turns on. It creates a closed circuit. Orrin probably had it in his throat for about two hours, and it continued to damage his throat over the next couple of weeks. His throat was just mush,” Katie explained.
Button cell, watch batteries or coin batteries are associated with thousands of emergency department visits nationwide each year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They can cause immediate, devastating effects and burn through a child’s throat or esophagus in as little as two hours.
“In our case, we didn’t know what was in Orrin’s throat until we had the X-ray. By then, precious time had gone by,” said Katie.
Following the surgery, doctors thought they’d need to perform a follow-up operation to help close the hole, but tests revealed it was closing on its own. Orrin needed suction 24/7 and was placed on a feeding tube.
“Everyone was so great to us, and they really loved Orrin,” Katie said. “They were super helpful and kept us informed about everything that was going on. The recreational therapist was awesome, coming in every day to play with him. It seemed like he was fine, but because he still had a hole in his throat, he was at risk for getting pneumonia.”
Orrin’s family was ecstatic as he was able to leave the hospital in time for Christmas. The EIRMC PICU held a “graduation” ceremony for the toddler, complete with celebration streamers and applause. The toddler was discharged with a feeding tube, but that didn’t dampen his spirits.
“The nurses who taught me how to feed him said that he would probably not wear the backpack that contained his food because most kids don’t — and that I would probably have to carry it around for him,” Katie says. “But he wore it every day, and it didn’t bother him at all. A few days before Christmas, he pulled the feeding tube out of his stomach. When we took him back to EIRMC’s ER, they said he didn’t need it anymore. But he was so used to the weight of the backpack, that his balance was off and he had to get used to walking without it.”
Dangers of button batteries
If a child consumes a button battery, call the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at (800) 498-8666 or the Poison Help Line at (800) 222-1222 for treatment information.
The National Capital Poison Center recommends giving honey to children 12 months and older on the way to the emergency room to reduce injury in the critical time between ingestion and when the battery can be removed appropriately. But, experts say, do not delay going to the ER to obtain honey. Administer 10mL of honey every 10 minutes only to children 12 months or older who have ingested button batteries within the past 12 hours. Do not exceed six doses of honey.
Battery companies are also working to prevent emergencies. Within the past year, Energizer and Rayovac have introduced coin lithium batteries that feature more secure packaging, a nontoxic bitter coating to discourage swallowing, and a “color-alert technology” that dyes children’s mouths blue if swallowed.
“We had bought cheap batteries, but we won’t do that again. I would tell parents not to buy cheap, knock-off batteries. Get the ones that are coated with stuff that tastes bad and turns your mouth blue when swallowed,” Katie explained.
Orrin is expected to make a full recovery, and his mother appreciates the help of everyone at EIRMC. She hopes their story will serve as a learning experience for other families with young children.
“You never think this will happen to you, but bad things happen to everyone. We’re just so grateful that our son is doing so much better,” Katie said.