Nine-month-old girl who swallowed battery left with burnt throat

A mum is warning parents to throw out any electrical items that have button batteries after her baby swallowed one and was rushed to hospital.

Kiara West, 24, first noticed a problem when her nine-month-old daughter Rosantina West began wheezing on the morning of February 14.

Kiara’s husband Daniel West, 22, rushed Rosantina to the local ER where doctors sent her home with a nebuliser, suggesting she had RSV, a respiratory virus much like the common cold.

However, two days later Rosantina’s wheezing got worse, so the mum-of-two took her to Children’s Minnesota Hospital where an x-ray revealed 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.

Daniel, who works as a fork-lift operator, 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’s light-up toy car for the bath.

While a surgeon was able to successfully remove the battery from Rosantina’s throat, the couple are now warning others of the dangers button batteries can pose.

Kiara, from Chanhassen, Minnesota, said: ‘My heart just dropped to my stomach. I heard “battery” and thought “wow that’s bad” because of the acid.

‘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.

‘Everyone seemed so rushed and I started to think, “Maybe this is worse than what I thought?”‘

She added: ‘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.

‘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.

Relieved that their daughter has now recovered, the couple say it was a ‘miracle’ the damage wasn’t worse, with doctors suspecting the battery may have been dead.

Since then, Kiara and Daniel 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.’

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