VERNON, Conn. — The parents of a Connecticut toddler are warning others about small button batteries, which come with some toys, after their 18-month-old suffered a severe injury when he swallowed one.
The battery lodged in Cameron Soto's throat, burning his esophagus, among other injuries, according to WTIC-TV.
Button or lithium batteries in the gullet or throat can react with saliva, creating caustic soda, which is the same chemical used to unblock drains.
The boy's mother told WTIC it happened in December and she immediately knew something wasn't right.
“He looked OK, kind of. You could tell he was in discomfort and something was wrong, but it looked like he probably had a sore throat,” Marisa Soto said.
But it wasn’t a sore throat, as she soon realized.
Soto said she rushed Cameron to the hospital, but at first doctors couldn't diagnose the problem. They finally found the battery lodged in the toddler's esophagus after taking X-rays.
They were able to extract the battery, but the child was already injured by that time.
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The battery burned his esophagus and caused inflammation from the boy's brain to his heart, the station reported.
Doctors had to insert a trachea to help in the child’s recovery and the Sotos said their once-healthy boy couldn’t eat anymore, or talk or crawl.
But they got lucky. Cameron began recovering from the frightening ordeal, slowly starting to eat and talk again.
Marisa Soto said she wants other parents to know what happened and how easily it could have been avoided if they had known about the tiny battery in their child's toy.
"It's so hard to keep reliving the same moment, but it's like super dangerous. If we had known, we would've never have had any toys that have those batteries in our house," she told WTIC.
Soto said they'll keep sharing their story to help raise awareness about the dangers associated with these small batteries in the hands of young children.