(5MinNewsBreak.com) – Parents have been warned to watch their children closely as their favorite toys could be ticking time bombs.
Doctors are sounding the alarm on seemingly innocent playthings that are sending thousands of kids to emergency rooms each year.
From water beads to button batteries, these hidden dangers lurk in plain sight, ready to devastate unsuspecting families.
The threat is real and growing. Over 150,000 children under 12 visit emergency rooms every year due to toy-related issues.
This staggering number should make every parent think twice about what they bring into their homes.
Water beads, those colorful little orbs that expand in water, are a particular menace.
These innocent-looking objects can expand to 400 times their size when swallowed, potentially causing deadly bowel obstructions.
Dr. Salwa Malik warned:
“As an emergency medicine doctor, I have seen parents holding their child’s hand and watching over them while they lay on a bed in an emergency department, in need of urgent care because they have ingested one of these items. As a parent, I can imagine how utterly terrifying and traumatic that would be to go through – for a mum, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, brother, sister and, of course, the child themselves.”
But water beads are not the only culprits. Button batteries, those tiny power sources found in everything from remote controls to greeting cards, pose an equally fatal threat.
The McMillan family learned this the hard way when their 1-year-old son, Luke, swallowed a button battery.
The incident went undiagnosed for two months, initially misdiagnosed as acid reflux and an ear infection.
When the truth finally came to light, the McMillans were shocked. “They found out it was a button battery … and they were surprised that he was alive,” KC McMillan recounted.
“They told us, ‘You need to take him to the emergency room … something is stuck in there, and it needs to come out,'” said Erica McMillan.
The danger does not stop there. Small, high-powered magnets found in some toys can cause severe internal injuries if swallowed.
These magnets can attract each other through intestinal walls, leading to life-threatening complications.
Even seemingly harmless items like hair styling tools pose a risk. In less than a decade, burns from curling irons have affected 31,000 young people.
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