Not long ago, 3-year-old Khang Khang in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China had an anal blockage after swallowing a small toy into his stomach. His family said that Khang Khang had previously suffered from constipation and often had to use an enema to solve the problem. This time, they guessed that he had swallowed a foreign object into his stomach, but they thought he would pass it on his own, so they weren't too worried and looked for many folk remedies to help him. They even forced him to eat chives to make it easier to defecate instead of taking him to the hospital, which almost led to something serious happening.
X-ray image provided by the doctor.
A pediatrician at Nam Y Hospital said: "Because this toy has sharp edges, it poked the baby's anus, causing damage to the anus and the baby was also very scared. Hearing that eating chives can quickly solve this problem, they forced the baby to eat a lot, causing the accumulated waste to not be able to escape."
The foreign object that Khang Khang swallowed was a toy with sharp edges.
After using endoscopy and some professional tools, the doctor was able to remove a 2cm long, 1.5cm wide toy dog from the boy's body. The doctor added that if treatment was delayed, the boy's small intestine could be permanently damaged.
If treatment is delayed, the boy may suffer intestinal damage.
Doctors recommend that, in addition to toys, parents should also be especially wary of button batteries because they are highly corrosive and can burn the digestive tract in just 10 minutes. If a child accidentally swallows a foreign object, absolutely do not listen to word-of-mouth remedies but go to the hospital immediately.