You’re fielding a call from a family who suspects their 2-year-old toddler swallowed a button battery. You tell them to head into the ED, but what should you tell them to give the child orally on the way? Honey! For children over 12 months of age, give 10 mL of honey every 10 minutes, up to 6 total doses, to coat the battery which may reduce the risk of caustic injury. If the child is already at the hospital and honey is unavailable, sucralfate 10 mL every 10 minutes for 3 doses can be given. Differentiate button batteries from coins on radiographs the double ring sign on AP view and the extra bulge on lateral view – examples found here. An algorithm for managing button battery ingestions is found here, and linked from the PEMsource Algorithms page.
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