🧲 What happens when your child swallows magnets.

 

Hi Kat,

Someone in my mother’s group mentioned how dangerous magnets are for kids to put in their mouth. Why is this? Does the metal burn like a battery might or something like that?

-Sarah

No doubt you’ve heard about the dangers of button batteries, but did you know about magnets? Magnets are everywhere- in toys like building tiles, fridge decorations, jewellery, electronics and don’t forget the humble badge. While magnets are seemingly small and innocent, they can pack a punch when it comes to injuries to our children. So, let’s have a look at why magnets are dangerous, what to do if your child swallows them, and some tips on preventing magnet ingestion in the first place.

What's the issue with magnets?

Unlike button batteries, which can cause corrosive burns, the danger with magnets lies in what happens when more than one is swallowed, or when a magnet is swallowed along with a metal object.

Once inside the body, the magnets can attract each other through the walls of the intestines or other parts of the digestive system, causing tissues in the digestive system to become pinched between the magnets. EEEKK!!

Here’s what can happen when magnets attract inside the body:

🧲 Bowel Obstruction:
Magnets can block the passage of food and waste through the intestines, causing severe pain, bloating, and vomiting.

🧲 Perforation:
The pressure created by magnets can cause holes (aka perforations) to form in the intestines or stomach, leading to dangerous infections and internal bleeding.

🧲 Necrosis:
When digestive tissue gets pinched by magnets, the blood supply can be cut off, causing the tissue to die.

How Can I Tell if My Child Swallowed a Magnet?

One of the scariest things about magnets is that swallowing them isn’t always immediately obvious. Young children might not be able to tell you what happened, and symptoms may take a while to appear.

However, here are some signs to watch for:

🚩 Unexplained stomach pain

🚩 Frequent or uncontrollable vomiting

🚩 Excessive drooling or difficulty swallowing

🚩 Refusal to eat

🚩 Fever (which could indicate infection)

🚩 Changes in behaviour, like becoming more tired or irritable than usual

Unfortunately, a lot of these signs are non-specific. So in all honesty, if you suspect at any time that your child might have swallowed some magnets, you need to get help straight away. Head straight to your nearest children's emergency department…this is not one of those times where you're going to just “wait and see”. Remember, symptoms are generally delayed, so if your child starts showing symptoms, it means damage has already started occurring, so just get help straight away!

How to Prevent Magnet Ingestion

Here’s a few simple steps you can take to keep little ones safe.

✅ When buying toys with magnets, check that the magnets are securely attached or embedded in the toy, and that they can't come off easily.  

✅ Keep toys with strong magnets, or magnetic parts that are small enough to be swallowed, away from young children.

✅ Supervise playtime, and make sure any broken toys with loose magnets are thrown right away.

✅ Store household items containing magnets, like fridge magnets or magnetic jewellery, out of reach.

✅ Educate older kids about the dangers of swallowing magnets, so they know never to put them in their mouths.

Final thoughts:

Thanks for your question, Sarah. While magnets aren’t going to cause a corrosive burn like a button battery, if more than 1 magnet is swallowed or a magnet is swallowed along with other metal objects, then they can still cause life threatening complications.

🏥 If at any point you suspect your child has swallowed a magnet, head to the ED, don’t wait for symptoms to appear.

if YOU would like a first aid question answered, send it through to us at [email protected].