“ The coin shaped batteries are easily caught in the oesophagus, and when stuck start to cause damage immediately and can erode through the oesophagus wall very quickly (within 2 hours) ”

Well that was news to me. I'll have to make sure that my batteries are stored in places where a six-year old cannot easily get its grubby little hands on them.

Yeah the paediatric SLTs at the hospital I work at become incredibly stressed out whenever they see me changing button cell batteries in medical devices and insist on watching to make sure the old batteries are put in the battery bin.

At least with non-removable batteries in phones the number of burns is down since kids can't chew on them anymore.

Yeah the paediatric SLTs at the hospital I work at become incredibly stressed out whenever they see me changing button cell batteries in medical devices and insist on watching to make sure the old batteries are put in the battery bin.

are things that bad you need micro managing to change batteries to ensure you dispose of the old ones?

They have that little trust?

could they not change the batteries themselves, or does that require some specialist training?

It's not their job to manage equipment, it's their job to see patients (and do the stupid amounts of paper work the NHS requires). And they see the consequences of when kids swallow batteries, so it is only natural for them to be a bit neurotic about them.

Some manufacturers (Duracell) put a bitterant coating on parts of their button cells to dissuade kids from trying to eat them. Unfortunately the stuff is not particularly conductive. If you find a device not working with a new battery, or the battery seemingly dying way faster than expected (like my car key fob), try giving the cell a good scrub with meths to remove the coating.

Meth coated battery? What could go wrong...

I knew about it before we had our boy and as soon as I saw him start smashing anything containing a button battery I took it off of him. The toys just aren't well made and the batteries can just fly out.

It's the magnets I didn't know about. He has magnetic blocks and I know at least one of the tiles broke open and a magnet fell out. When I saw it I said to him (he's 3) that the tile is broken and we need to throw it away, which he was fine with. 10 minutes later he's come up with this small grey block (must only be 5mm thick and 20mm long, if that) and said "Daddy this came out of the block we need to throw it away". Thought nothing of it at the time other than a bit proud my boy was intelligent enough to spot something like that. Now I'm just full of fear, like I have been with button batteries, that he might swallow one of them or stick it somewhere.

If a child swallows a single magnet then unless large enough to be a choking hazard it is usually excreted without harm. It's when two or more magnets are swallowed that the problem occurs, because they can pull together and perforate the bowel. This wasn't a hazard in our childhoods (making certain assumptions here), it only happened after (a) the discovery of neodymium magnets in 1984, and (b) the commercialisation and commoditisation in the 1990s, and (c) the adoption by companies that made cheap kids toys without the slightest thought of the risks (late 1990s onwards, at an increasing rate).

Once swallowed, removing them is not an easy operation, and may require surgery.

I always understood that batteries are a far greater issue than coins,

It appears to be that as usual the reporting is focussing on coins and going cashless (which they clearly see as a benefit) rather than the numbers of things that have coin-cells in reducing because, guess what, most are now rechargeable!!!!!

So who would have guessed that Apple et al were performing a public health service when deciding to make phone (and every other electrical device) batteries unreplacable.

See it was all for the greater good! It wasnt about profits, at all... Think of the children!!!

Noting the icon, but even so, phone battery chewing was never really a big problem, although I wouldn't recommend it. Anybody unfamiliar with the hazards of button and coin batteries should view the video short on this page from the Child Accident Prevention Trust:

https://capt.org.uk/button-batteries-understanding-the-risks/

On a related note, some of you may have found that packaging for these batteries has become more difficult to remove in recent years. If you've injured yourself getting one out, this is because a group of people (some of whom I work with) took the decision that adults mostly have the knowledge and sense to get into tricky packaging without injuring themselves, or have only themselves to blame, young children on the other hand don't.

Don't forget them - things that you need to be aware of if you have small children also applies when you have animals.

In addition, you need to keep certain foodstuffs away from reach like chocolate which is toxic to dogs

I have a cat with a thing for foam earplugs. He's a lovely cat but as dumb as a box of rocks.

@blackcat

Used or unused ear plugs?

... Several of the cats we have had over the decades have liked licking our ears - always wondered if there was something about the smell/taste of ears that some cats liked, or whether it was just part of the general grooming affectionate licking behaviour they like to do (if your cat liked used ones more than fresh ones might add some support to hypothesis that some cats like ear scent / taste)

@tiggity

Used. He's the sort of cat that will jump on you and start giving you a bath.

Our family dog that I grew up with would wolf down huge quantities of chocolate with no ill effect. He would insist on sharing chocolate digestive biscuits if anyone had them, had a particular like of Yorkie bars and one Easter when left alone he polished off several chocolate eggs and chocolate shaped hens, ate most of the foil wrapping too. This might be an indication of how little cacao is in cheap chocolate, but he didn't really care about quality, from Belgian/Swiss at one extreme to American at the other he would scoff it and be none the worse.