An 8-year-old boy was recently hospitalized after he swallowed some toy magnets. The youngster evidently knew that his actions were wrong, but sometimes kids can’t help themselves. He thought it would be a fun thing to do, and the urge was simply too strong, as were the magnets.
Thankfully, the boy confessed his actions to his mother, resulting in a trip to the hospital. After receiving medical treatment, everything worked out, and the boy was OK.
More from CafeMom: ‘I Feel So Sick’: Mom Is Disgusted By What She Finds in Blender After Making Toddler a Smoothie
Mom Louise Mcfarlane, gave her son Junior Gallon a set of magnetic balls that he could use to build models. The 8-year-old boy was typically good about playing with his toys the correct way. But then on December 22, 2024, he decided to try something different.
“Junior had come out of his room and said, ‘Mummy, I’ve got an emergency,'” Mcfarlane said in an article shared by the New York Post. “I went in and he said he swallowed two of these magnets. He burst out crying.”
According to the mom, the boy “thought it would be ‘cool’ having a tongue piercing,” and decided to try it. “He had tried to make it look like a tongue piercing and as soon as he had done that, they pinged off his tongue and popped together,” she explained.
Mcfarlane has told her son repeatedly that he shouldn’t and couldn’t put the magnets in his mouth. But at the end of the day, he’s still just a kid. “Obviously he panicked when he swallowed them because he knew it was the wrong thing to do,” she shared.
More from CafeMom: 1 Twin Toddler Suffers Permanent Brain Damage from Choking on an Apple at Daycare
Worried that something could be seriously wrong, the mom rushed her son to the hospital. X-rays showed the magnets clumped together in his stomach. The mom explained that her son was “lucky they pinned together before he swallowed them,” because it could have been worse if he hadn’t.
Doctors feared the magnets could stick to his organs. After an overnight visit, the magnets moved to a different side of his stomach. As a result, doctors told the mom to rest easy; the magnets would pass naturally.
“They told us to keep magnetic items and clothes away from him, even [zippers], because the magnets in his body can follow the zips. We had to make sure we had no clothing like that for a good few weeks,” Mafarlane shared.
The family didn’t notice the magnets pass through the boy’s body. But a follow-up x-ray showed no trace of the magnets.
“You hear horror stories when kids do die, with batteries and stuff, so you instantly think the worst,” the concerned mom said. “His dad and I really prepared ourselves, but it was a massive relief when we realized he was OK.”
The mom said that in the future, she is avoiding magnetic toys, for her son’s safety.
