Child Safety Button batteries: go to emergency, don't wait
A swallowed button battery can burn through a child's food pipe within hours. What to look for, what to do, and where they hide at home.
A coin-sized lithium battery stuck in a child's throat reacts with saliva and starts to burn. The damage can be severe within hours, often before the child shows any sign of it. About 20 children a week go to an Australian emergency department with a suspected swallowed or inserted button battery, and at least three Australian children have died since 2013.
Suspect a swallowed battery? Go straight to the emergency department. Call 13 11 26 on the way.
What to do
- Go to the nearest emergency department now. Don't wait for symptoms.
- Call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 (24 hours, all of Australia) on the way.
- Don't let the child eat or drink, and don't make them vomit.
- Take the device or the battery packet with you, so staff know the size.
Where they hide
Remote controls, car key fobs, kitchen and bathroom scales, thermometers, watches, hearing aids, flameless candles, singing cards, light-up toys and key finders. Flat batteries still burn, so spares and used ones go in a locked cupboard, not the kitchen drawer.
Signs, if nobody saw it happen
Drooling, gagging, refusing food, pain swallowing, coughing, vomiting, or blood in saliva or vomit. A child can also seem completely fine. If a battery is missing from a device and a small child was near it, treat it as swallowed.
What changed in Australia
Since June 2022, mandatory safety standards require button battery compartments that children can't open, and child-resistant packaging. Products bought before then may not. Check that every compartment is screwed shut, and tape it if the screw is lost.