Alastair Sutcliffe, a consultant paediatrician and professor at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, recommends going old-school with gifts this Christmas
Doctors have warned some popular toys could present a risk to children – and parents may unwittingly be planning on gifting them this Christmas.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has issued a safety warning about water beads, which have become common children’s toys but could make for a dangerous Christmas present.
If a child swallows one, they can cause bowel obstruction and the consequences can be fatal. The RCEM advises that the beads should be kept well away from children aged under five as a precaution.
Alastair Sutcliffe, a consultant paediatrician and professor of paediatrics at University College London, has spent a career working in children’s medicine and tells The i Paper what people should be aware of when buying Christmas gifts for infants.
Toys with button and coin cell batteries
A good first step to choosing a safe toy is to look at what is inside powering it.
The RCEM has warned against toys containing button and coin cell batteries – which are typically small and easily swallowed – after a three-year-old girl died from ingesting a coin cell battery, unwitnessed by her parents.
The child became ill and after several trips to medical professionals, paramedics arrived eight days later to find the girl in a cardiac arrest and bleeding heavily from her nose and mouth.
It was only in a postmortem examination that a 23mm diameter lithium battery in the child’s oesophagus was discovered.
“These batteries can just bore through the oesophagus and kill children,” Sutcliffe said. “I know of cases where they’ve just gone from the oesophagus into the trachea into the aorta. Two children bled to death.”
He added: “The principle here is little. Little things can block airways.”
Batteries in children’s toys are covered by toy safety regulations and these sorts of batteries must be securely enclosed to prevent them falling into the hands of children.
But the Child Accident Prevention Trust warns that toys bought online or from markets, discount stores or temporary shops may not properly follow toy safety regulations.
Trading standards officers have issued warnings about light-up fidget spinners where the battery is easily accessible to children.
Items that may be on a child’s Christmas list that commonly contain these sorts of batteries include gaming headsets, light-up gadgets and anything that comes with a small remote control.
Water beads
Water beads, also known as jelly balls, sensory beads, or water crystals, were the subject of an RCEM warning three days before Christmas.
Though marketed as a crafting item they are often used as toys.
Generally only a few millimetres in size, the beads can expand to several times their original size when exposed to liquid within just a matter of hours, causing bowel obstruction and potential death.
The body of emergency doctors has warned parents to avoid giving water beads to children under the age of five, and also issued the notice as a “safety flash” to doctors on duty to remain aware of them over the festive period as the beads do not show up on X-rays.
“Having seen the effects first hand, which can be devastating and detrimental, we are asking people to please think twice about the dangers these pose while selecting and gifting presents this season,” Dr Salwa Malik, Vice President of the RCEM, said.
Digital devices for young children
Aside from the physical dangers toys can present, Sutcliffe also advises parents to think about their child’s mental development when Christmas shopping.
“Some toys are sort of hazardous in terms of delaying children’s development,” the paediatrician said. “[Children] don’t have normal conversations when they’re watching a digital device, and they don’t interact with a digital toy the same as a real toy.”
Instead, he recommends avoiding digital devices as gifts for children under the age of five.
“Social interaction is key when children are young,” he said.
Toys that are a good idea – go traditional
Instead of digital products, Sutcliffe recommends going old school with gifts like traditional brick toys and wooden toys.
He also recommends foam boards, an early form of a jigsaw puzzle suitable for small children which requires them to put things into flaps and boxes.
These, the Professor says, are good for neurodevelopment.
Other good options are “anything that makes a noise” and which “model bigger things”.
“If you think about a doll, a doll is nothing like a human being. But a child will see a doll and think of it as a sort of representation of humanity. And cuddly toys,” Sutcliffe said.
Another top recommendation he used in a research project which he says children “absolutely loved” was a kaleidoscope.
