One mum has issued devastating warning after discovering her baby swallowed button batteries.
Kiara West, who hails from Minnesota in the US, has opened up about the nightmarish ordeal that saw her nine-month-old daughter, Rosantina West, being rushed to the hospital last month (14 February).
The 24-year-old mum is now urging other parents to throw out electrical items that have button batteries after little Rosantina swallowed one and it burned into her throat.
Kiara first noticed a problem when Rosantina began wheezing one morning.
Advert
Her husband, Daniel West, 22, took the tot to the local ER where doctors sent her home with a nebuliser, suggesting she had RSV, a respiratory virus much like the common-cold.
Recalling that fateful day, she said: "At first when it happened I just noticed her wheezing.
"My husband took her to the local ER and they sent her home saying it was RSV, a respiratory issue.
"They sent her home with a nebuliser and they said it'd get better after a few times of using it.
Advert
However, just two days later, Rosantina's wheezing 'got even worse', so the mum-of-two took her to Children's Minnesota Hospital where an x-ray quickly discovered a button battery was lodged in her oesophagus.
Kiara was left in tears as doctors revealed just how lethal the button battery could be, before Rosantina was quickly admitted to the operating table.
"My heart just dropped to my stomach. I heard 'battery' and thought 'wow that's bad' because of the acid," she carried on.
Advert
"I didn't even know how much damage that could have caused but seeing it lodged in there, I was as scared and shocked as any parent would be."
She continued: "Everyone seemed so rushed and I started to think 'maybe this is worse than what I thought?'
"I already thought it was bad but they quickly started prepping her for the operating room.
"They said the button battery is one of the worst batteries a child could swallow and that she had it lodged in her oesophagus. It burnt into her oesophagus.
Advert
"Rosantina was just crying and crying. She's only nine months old so we couldn't even explain to her what was happening."
The hospital gave Rosantina medicine to coat the battery before putting her under anaesthesia and operating on her throat to remove the battery.
Baby Rosantina remained intubated for six days after the surgery due to the damage caused to her oesophagus, with her parents unable to talk to her or touch her.
Advert
Kiara recounted: "My husband came immediately. They explained everything to him and that's when I really started listening.
"At first, I'd been so focused on my daughter and what was going to happen that I was just in my head.
"But then Daniel was like 'okay you need to stop crying' that's when I started listening.
"They said they were going to have a lot of trouble because it was burnt into her tissue.
"The operation was thankfully successful but there was so much damage done to her oesophagus that she had to be intubated.
"After her operation we didn't even get to talk to her or touch her until six days later.
"I think she could hear us a little bit but that was it."
Now that little Rosantina has recovered, the couple believe it was a 'miracle' the damage wasn't worse, with doctors suspecting the battery may have been dead. "It was almost like a miracle. All the doctors were super surprised that her damage wasn't as bad as it could be," Kiara noted.
"They think she may have swallowed a dead battery so it might be why it wasn't quite as bad."
Daniel later discovered two items at home that they suspect the button battery could have come from: a remote for LED lights or their three-year-old son Kidan's light-up toy car for the bath.
Since then, the pair have removed all items in their house with button batteries and warn other parents to do the same, or invest in a play pen to help keep an eye on little infants.
Kiara said: "I'd definitely warn other parents to check all their kids' toys to make sure they don't have button batteries and just throw them out if they do.
"Of course some household items need them and things like hearing aids, but make sure the screws are tightly screwed on.
"We've looked through everything in the house with button batteries and gotten rid of them."
She added: "A play pen is also definitely something that could potentially help busy parents.
"Infants get into everything especially when they start crawling so maybe consider that for extra precautions."
Rhiannon Ingle