Battery Ingestion Treatment

Self-Care at Home

The most prudent home treatment for someone who has swallowed a disk battery is to give nothing by mouth and to go to the nearest hospital emergency department. If it will not delay going to the emergency department, bring a sample of the battery ingested. All disk batteries contain an imprinted code that can be used to identify manufacturer, the battery's actual size, and its contents.

• If no battery can be found, then bring the device from which the battery was removed.
  
  
• The National Button Battery Ingestion Hotline (202) 625-3333 may be consulted for battery identification and emergency instructions.

• Although antacids helped to prevent disk batteries from leaking in animal models, the dosage required in children would be too much. Avoid medicines like ipecac, which promote vomiting. Batteries that have safely passed into the stomach can be forced back into the esophagus.