Christmas and Hanukah are over and the decorations have been put away but parents with young children should keep an eye out for batteries left lying around the home.

Many people have these shiny little buttons laying loose in drawers or in everyday household items easily accessible by curious kids. Unless the item is classified a toy, locks or screws to get to the battery are not needed by law. 

According to the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C., each year, nearly 2,000 people of all ages in the United States unintentionally swallow miniature disc or “button” batteries of the type used to power hearing aids, watches, and calculators. The Center has been studying what happens when one of these button batteries is swallowed. Most button cells pass through the body and are eliminated in the stool. However, sometimes batteries can get “hung up”, and these are the ones that cause problems. A battery that doesn’t move through the gut, especially one that lodges in the esophagus, may adhere to tissue and leak or the electrical current passing through adjacent tissue can generate alkali. Chemical burns may result. When a battery is swallowed, it is impossible to know whether it will pass through or get “hung up”, however, a number of factors are known to predict a bad outcome. 

Some common products that contain button batteries include: remote controls, garage door openers, bathroom scales, toys, cameras, watches, calculators, digital thermometers, hearing aids, singing greeting cards, talking books, flash and pen lights, flashing shoes, toothbrushes, bedwetting monitors, key chains and flashing or lighted jewelry or attire.

A story about 2-year-old Brianna Florer in Oklahoma is making its way around the internet. Florer died the day after Christmas. She was laughing and jumping around with her older brother and two sisters opening presents at her grandparents' home. The next day the toddler died and doctors discovered she swallowed a tiny button battery that ate through to her carotid artery by way of her esophagus and doctors were unable to stop the bleeding.  

READ: Toddler's death puts spotlight on battery dangers

Button batteries may also cause severe injury when placed in the nose or in the ear. Young children and the elderly have been particularly involved in this kind of incident. Immediate removal is essential to prevent severe damage. Whenever pain and/or a discharge is noted from the nose or ears, an exam should be conducted to exclude the presence of a foreign body. Never use nose or ear drops until the person has been examined by a physician as these fluids cause additional injury if a battery is involved. 

Nearly half of ingested batteries are cells intended for hearing aids. Close to 12-percent of batteries are swallowed from games and toys. Other sources include watches and clocks; calculators; camera equipment; beeping or lighted key chains; pocket organizers; remote control devices; thermometers; phones; fishing bobbers; as well as musical, beeping or lighted jewelry, greeting cards, shoelaces, shoes, clothing, pens, doormats, and story books.

There has been nearly a seventy-percent decline, in last eight years, in the percentage of ingested batteries that come from games and toys. The toy industry is making serious efforts to secure the battery compartments of their products so that small children cannot easily open them.

However, toddlers and babies are not the only age group at risk for swallowing batteries. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, from 1997 to 2010, over 40-thousand 13-year olds were treated in hospital emergency departments for battery-related injuries, including confirmed or possible battery ingestions.

How Much Do You Know About Button Battery Safety?

Take this quiz provided by the Consumer Protection Safety Commission, http://www.cpsc.gov/pagefiles/114261/387.pdf.

The National Capital Poison Center created a hotline. If anyone swallows a battery, this is what you should do:

1) Call the 24-hour National Button Battery Ingestion Hotline at 202-625-3333 IMMEDIATELY (TDD 202-362-8563). Feel free to call collect. Your physician or emergency room may also call. The hotline is open 24-hours a day, seven days a week. 

2) If available, provide the battery identification number (from the package or from a matching battery). 

3) An x-ray must be obtained immediately to be sure that the battery has gone through the esophagus into the stomach. Do not wait for symptoms to develop before getting an x-ray. If the battery remains in the esophagus, it must be removed immediately. CAUTION: Batteries lodged in the esophagus can cause severe burns in two hours. Battery removal is done with an endoscope; surgery is rarely, if ever, indicated. Do not give ipecac.

4) If a battery has moved beyond the esophagus, it can be expected to pass by itself. The passage may take many days or even months. Removal is NOT indicated if the battery has passed beyond the esophagus and the patient is asymptomatic. Once you are sure the battery is not in the esophagus, the patient can be sent home to wait for the battery to pass. Watch for fever, abdominal pain, vomiting or blood in the stools. Report symptoms immediately to your physician and the Battery Hotline (202- 625-3333).

5) Watch the stools until the battery has passed. Clean the battery, tape it to a card or wrap it carefully, and mail it to National Capital Poison Center 3201 New Mexico Ave, Suite 310 Washington, DC 20016 Be sure to include your name, address and telephone number. To learn more about battery ingestions, a toxicologist analyzes each battery and correlates the severity of the patient’s clinical effects with the degree of corrosion noted on the battery.

Read more: National Capital Poison Control Center