Parents, Pay Attention To These Foreign Objects Most Often Swallowed By Children

JAKARTA - Several times it was reported that children swallowed small objects and had to undergo surgery. This happens quite often. Claire McCarthy, MD., pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School says, "In fact, it is estimated that 20 percent of children between the ages of 1 and 3 ingest non-food items at some point."

Claire explained that children especially under the age of five do exploration by putting objects in their mouths. "Putting something in their mouth is as natural as touching or sniffing something, and some of them have absolutely no idea what is food and what is not," he said. Swallowing foreign objects is of course dangerous for their safety.

Research conducted by the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, USA and published in the journal Pediatrics, reported Friday, November 26, shows that 75 percent of incidents of accidentally swallowing foreign objects occur in children under 5 years old. As many as 21 percent of these incidents were experienced by children under the age of one year.

Research conducted by observing the data for twenty years can also find what foreign objects are most often swallowed by children. What are they?

Because of their larger size, children who accidentally swallow coins are more likely to be hospitalized.

In these observations, the most commonly swallowed were marbles and other objects that looked like candy. Small magnetic toys are also one of the most frequently swallowed foreign objects by children. Moreover, often more than one magnet is swallowed. In this study, 13.3 percent of children who swallowed magnets swallowed more than one.

Accidentally ingesting more than one magnet is very dangerous. This is because magnets can stick to each other, trapping the tissue in between, damaging the body's organs. Not surprisingly, 71 percent of children who ingested magnets were hospitalized.

This is more common in girls than boys.

Generally small round batteries. The danger is that these foreign bodies release acids that can burn the lining of the digestive tract. As many as 9.2 percent of children who ingested it ended up being hospitalized.

Maybe pins and needles too. Most of these objects pass through the body without causing problems, but some sharp objects such as nails can scratch the throat or organs.