As many people begin their holiday shopping, doctors are pointing out potential dangers of certain toys, particularly toys for young children.
On Thursday, a holiday toy safety event was held at Yale New Haven Health where doctors and the CT Department of Consumer Protection recommended keeping an eye on certain toys, including toys with button batteries.
“If they ingest a battery like this, it can cause caustic burn to their esophagus and can really be a life-threatening emergency,” James Dodington, MD, medical director with the Yale School of Medicine, said.
Magna Dias, MD, chair of pediatrics at Bridgeport Hospital, said parents should be mindful when shopping for toys online.
“The difficulty of shopping online is that it’s a little bit more difficult to assess whether or not there are small pieces, removable pieces that are part of the toy,” Dias said.
NBC Connecticut
Dias provided some advice for parents if a child is choking on a toy.
She said if a child is coughing and crying, they are still getting enough air in their airways to be able to spit the toy out on their own.
She added if they are not making any noise, that is when parents should be concerned.
“If they are turning blue, then that would be a concern when you’d want to make sure you do the Heimlich maneuver, try to dislodge that and call 911 to get them taken care of as quickly as possible,” Dias said.
In 2023, there were 10 toy fatalities in 2023 and nationwide, there were more than 230,000 toy-related injuries in children 14 and younger, according to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission.
With some families struggling with their daily budgets, there are some tips for people looking to reduce their holiday spending, while still keeping their children safe.
“One other thing to do is we’re coming up on Black Friday, there’s lots of coupons, opportunities to stack and get good quality products at a lower price,” Dias said.
Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli with Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection, said parents should be mindful of cheaper products.
“If it doesn’t have labeling on it, that’s number one. Number two, we’ve seen with some of the knock off toys if they have obvious spelling or grammatical errors, often times that’s a sign that it was produced somewhere and not using standards that would confirm with the U.S.,” Cafferelli said.
Expert tips while shopping:
- Make sure toys are age appropriate
- Watch choking hazards for young children, especially children under the age of three
- Make sure fabrics are labeled flame resistant
- Check all painted toys have lead-free paint
- Avoid toys with button batteries and magnets