A recent pediatric report stated that there has been a marked increase in ER visits for children who have swallowed foreign objects. Boys are being seen more often than girls. When I had my pedaitric practice, I was amazed at what some of the things my patients swallowed. One child swallowed a razor blade, another swallowed a safety pin that ended up in his trachea. A doctor friend's little grandchild swallowed a piece of raw carrot. (The mother didn't like to cook and often gave the little boy chunks of raw carrot.) He had to be rushed to the hospital to have the chunk removed from his lung. Unbelievable. A child on an airplane tried to swallow a peanut which fortunately I was able to remove. Not only do children swallow common foods or objects, but toys and other things that contain magnets are causing terrible damage when a child swallows the magnets. One patient of mine swallowed dishwasher detergent and had to have part of his feeding tube or esophagus replaced. Another child saw an open coke bottle in a neighbor's yard and swallowed some of the liquid. It was a caustic liquid to use in the garden. This child, too, had to have major surgery.
There is a museum in Boston, I have been told that contains objects children have swallowed. Medications found in bedside tables, medicine cabinets, or visitor's purses have and can cause a lot of problems. I think the answer for parents is to teach their children that putting things in their mouths other than food the parents can supervise may lead to a lot of trouble. My children heard countless tales from me about the children whose stomachs I had to pump out because they had swallowed harmful substances. They both learned that was not something they ever wanted to happen to them!
Comments