Small kids and small coins a risky combo

Timaru Herald

A BITE TOO MUCH: Zane Nolan, 3, was taken to hospital after swallowing a 20-cent coin, which became stuck in his throat. He now has the coin mounted on his bedroom wall as a reminder.

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Here's an extra reason to keep the kids away from your wallets - swallowing coins is a common cause of hospital visits.

Doctors at Starship children's hospital in Auckland are warning parents not to leave cash near their children after 77 young coin-eaters ended up in the hospital's emergency department in two years.

One-fifth needed surgery and another third needed an ear, nose and throat procedure.

"Coin ingestion is common in young children, and many coins pass through a child's body without intervention, but some need hospital treatment to remove them," Asghar Mahmood Bhatti said.

He and two colleagues conducted a "retrospective audit" of coin ingestion by children between July 1, 2005 and June 30 this year.

He is presenting the research at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine's conference on the Gold Coast this week.

Ten-cent coins were the most commonly ingested (28 per cent of cases), followed by 20c pieces (22 per cent).

Fifty-cent pieces were less appealing, with no children recorded swallowing either the old or new, smaller kind.

Two-thirds of the children were preschool age, and the median age was three.

Dr Bhatti said preschoolers swallowed all sorts of things, particularly toy parts, and tended to favour shiny objects. Batteries were particularly dangerous. "They can really, really cause a lot of trouble."

Fish bones were a problem in school-age children. As well, beads commonly became stuck in children's noses or ears.

Rona Nolan, of Temuka, says her three-year-old son Zane no longer puts foreign objects in his mouth, after swallowing a new 20c coin in January.

He has the coin stuck on his bedroom wall as a reminder, and tells his younger brother not to stick stuff in his mouth.

The coin went down his throat after he jumped off a chair with it in his mouth.

Struggling with his breathing, he managed to tell his mother what had happened.

"I couldn't believe it when he said it was a coin. It was pretty scary."

Mrs Nolan had to drive to Christchurch Hospital because Timaru Hospital did not have the paediatric staff needed. "He was vomiting all the way."

- © Fairfax NZ News