X-rays show lithium battery swallowed by Toronto-area toddler

CTV Toronto: Toddler swallows lithium battery A Toronto-area toddler is recovering in hospital after X-rays showed she had a small battery lodged in her esophagus. Zuraidah Alman reports

A Toronto-area toddler is recovering in hospital after X-rays showed the girl had a small battery lodged in her esophagus.

Katie Smith, 2, started coughing a week ago. Her father thought she had choked on a cracker and checked her airway, but found that she was still breathing.

Katie's parents monitored her through the night, and noticed that the girl seemed "off," her mother said.

"She wasn't eating. She would drink a little bit of juice here and there, but not too much," Christina Smith told CTV Toronto on Monday.

"She just didn't look normal, like her normal self, so we knew something was wrong."

The toddler appeared lethargic, her parents said, so they took her to a doctor. The doctor told her worried parents that it was likely just the flu.

Her parents didn't believe that the cause of Katie's pain was that simple, so the family visited four other doctors for further diagnosis. Three doctors told the parents that it was the flu, though the toddler wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms, but the final doctor decided to order an X-ray.

The small girl was given an X-ray, which showed a small object stuck in Katie's esophagus.

"He said, 'You need to come look at this,'" Christina Smith said.

"It was just so upsetting. We just felt so let down that this wasn't caught sooner."

The girl was rushed to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) by ambulance, where the object was removed.

It appeared that Katie had swallowed a small, circular battery, which had started to corrode in her esophagus.

"Even if you're in the same room as your child, anything can happen in a split second," her mother said.

Katie is recovering well, and was bouncing around in her crib on Monday.

Watching the happy toddler, her mother warned other parents to push for more testing if they're concerned about the health of their child.

"You know your baby… You know your kids better than anyone else and you need to get something done, get your answers that you need."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Scott Lightfoot