I want to start this article by saying that you should always trust your gut and question things. Do not let anyone make you feel bad for questioning. It is because I trusted my gut and asked questions that my son is not only happy and healthy, but he is alive.

It was two weeks before my son’s first birthday and he was playing on the floor with our new puppy and my husband. They were playing with a Halloween pumpkin bucket that had a light up handle. Seemed safe enough to us. All of the sudden my husband looks and me and says that the puppy chewed open the battery pack on the handle and the button batteries fell out. There were four in there, but there were only three on the ground. We knew at this point that it was very likely either the dog or our son ate the battery. I looked online and it said if a battery is swallowed, proceed immediately to the hospital. So, we jumped in the car and rushed to the local hospital. We figured if the battery was not in our son, we would then take our dog to the emergency vet.

At the hospital, they took an X-ray and there was the shiny battery, in my son’s stomach. The Physician’s Assistant told us that the Gastro doctor was not in, and that since the battery was in the stomach, we were to go home, feed him a lot and see if we could get it to pass. She said that we needed to return in 24 hours. She said he was safe since it had passed his esophagus and was in the stomach. She assured me that he would be fine.

On the drive home, I started thinking about the advice she had given us and it did not make sense to me. Batteries, rust, they are corrosive and they leak acid. So, I called the hospital back and asked them what happens if the battery wears down in his stomach. The nurse I spoke with told me and I quote, “85% of kids are just fine”. So, I said and the other 15%? He said “they have irreparable damage or death”. I was horrified. I wasn’t willing to gamble with my son’s life, like they had instructed. I then called the pediatrician on call, who told me that you never leave a battery in your child’s stomach. He told me to head right to the children’s hospital.

At the children’s hospital, they observed him few hours, and then said there was no way it was going to pass on its own and needed to be taken out surgically. They successfully removed the battery. However, the battery had started to corrode and he needed to be on medication for three weeks due to minor burns on the inside of his tiny belly. This happened after five hours of being in his stomach. He would have been in the 15% had we waited 24 hours.

It is hard for me to tell this story, because you feel so guilty as a parent that let this happen. I have shared this story on the news and social media, as a way to inform other parents of the dangers of button batteries, and the importance of asking questions and trusting your gut. I had lots of people blame me for letting this happen as the parent. However, things happen when you have children. You do your best to keep them safe. In this case, my husband was on the floor with him when this happened, and we had no idea about dangerous button batteries. We now know. I say this, so you do not beat yourself up and take other’s judgement to heart. Just do your best, trust your gut and ask questions.