What are button batteries?
Button batteries are flat, disc-shaped batteries. They come in several sizes.
Button batteries are used to power many common household objects and personal items, including:
- toys
- remote controls and key fobs
- digital scales, calculators and thermometers
- singing greeting cards
- flameless or tealight candles and other household decorations
- watches, torches and flashing holiday jewellery
- medical devices, including hearing aids and glucose monitors.
Button battery ingestion and insertion: risks for children
If your child puts a button battery into their nose, ear or eye, there’s a risk of the battery getting stuck and causing injuries.
If your child puts a button battery into their mouth or swallows it, these are the main risks:
- Choking – this is when a child’s airway gets blocked. Anything smaller than a 20-cent piece can cause choking.
- Internal burns – the chemicals in button batteries can cause internal burns in minutes and can burn through the oesophagus (food pipe) in as little as 2 hours. These burns can lead to serious injury, surgery or death.
How to stop children from inserting or swallowing button batteries
Here’s how to reduce your child’s risk of serious injury from button batteries in medical devices, toys, electronic devices and household appliances.
If you have devices or other items powered by button batteries
- Keep loose button batteries in a child-resistant container. Store them and button battery-powered devices in a locked, high cupboard out of your child’s sight and reach.
- Get rid of button battery-powered devices from your home if you can. Consider alternatives.
- Check devices to make sure that battery compartments are secure and close properly.
- Don’t use sticky tape to hold battery compartments closed.
- If devices have loose or broken battery compartments, get them repaired or replace them immediately.
- Change batteries yourself, or supervise your child when they change batteries.
- Read about how to prevent children from inserting foreign objects.
When you’re buying devices and other items
- Choose devices and other items without button batteries. If this isn’t possible, choose items with rechargeable, sealed batteries that your child can’t get to.
- If you can’t get items with rechargeable, sealed batteries, choose items with screw-locked battery compartments or with a 2-step battery removal process. This is safer than open-and-close battery covers.
- If people are buying gifts for your child, ask for items without button batteries.
Some newer button batteries have a non-toxic, bitter coating, or they turn blue when wet. The bitter taste encourages children to spit them out, and the blue dye can help you spot an inserted or swallowed button battery. It’s a good idea to replace old button batteries with these newer ones if you can. But it’s still very important to follow the safety tips above.
Swallowed button battery symptoms
The signs that your child has swallowed a button battery might not be obvious and can look like many other illnesses. For example, your child might:
- gag, drool or have problems swallowing
- have chest or stomach pain
- start coughing or have noisy breathing
- vomit or refuse food
- have blood in their vomit, poo or spit, or have blood coming from their nose or ears
- have a fever or feel generally unwell.
What to do if your child has inserted or swallowed a button battery
Button battery stuck in the nose, eye, ear or other body opening
- Immediately call 000 for an ambulance.
- Don’t try to remove the battery yourself because this could cause further injury.
Swallowed a button battery
- Immediately call 000 for an ambulance.
- Don’t encourage your child to vomit.
- Don’t give your child food or drink.
How to safely dispose of button batteries
Here’s what to do when you remove a button battery from a device:
- Immediately wrap both sides of the battery in clear sticky tape. This helps to prevent accidental swallowing and reduces fire risk.
- Put the battery in a vented, child-resistant container – for example, an empty medicine bottle with small holes in the sides.
- Keep the container out of sight and reach of children, ideally up high in a locked cupboard.
- Take used batteries to a battery recycling point. Many local supermarkets, stationery shops and battery retailers have safe drop-off services.
- Never throw button batteries in the bin. If they’re disposed of in this way, they can cause fires and harm the environment.