Traditional guidance has suggested that when a child swallows a button battery — those small round batteries that show up in everything from singing greeting cards to fidget spinners — one should wait to see whether it passes naturally. Caveats: unless it has lodged in the esophagus or if there are symptoms.
But a recent preliminary study is instead suggesting that parents get their child to a hospital regardless of whether symptoms appear. Researcher Dr. Racha Khalaf's team analyzed records of 68 children treated at four pediatric hospitals between 2014 and 2018 and determined that 60 percent showed some erosive damage to the stomach lining, even though many hadn't shown symptoms.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
