Beware of button batteries this Christmas

“I went from having a fully weaned toddler to feeding him via a tube.”

Hollie, Mum of one-year-old Ralphie who swallowed a button battery

If a child swallows a big powerful lithium coin cell battery, the damage can be life-altering or even fatal.

But button batteries are an inevitable part of Christmas. They power so many products, from Christmas novelties to remote controls for anything that lights up.

While toys from reputable retailers will come with a screw on the button battery compartment, cheap toys bought online may not offer any protection.

Plus, gifts arrive with loose spare button batteries that can fall out unnoticed.

The damage a lithium coin cell battery does to a child’s food pipe if it gets stuck can happen alarmingly quickly, with few clear symptoms to warn you.

So it’s important to know how dangerous they are and to be alert to where they are in your home.

This Christmas, when buying toys look for brand names you know, give new toys a quick check to make sure battery compartments are secure and watch out for spare batteries that come loose with new products or toys.