Fidget spinners, the latest toy craze for kids of all ages, can be potentially harmful, says a Texan mom.
Kelly Rose Joniec, from Houston, took to social media to warn parents the wildly popular toy almost caused her 10-year-old daughter to choke.
To make her point about toy safety, the concerned mother posted on Facebook a full-detailed account of what happened, including the ordeal she went through before her child was finally out of harm's way.
The Child Put The Toy In Her Mouth 'To Clean It And Somehow Swallowed It'
In her Facebook post, Joniec claims 10-year-old Britton ended up swallowing one of the fidget toy's metal pieces after putting it in her mouth "to clean it."
The mother recounts they were on their way from a swim meet when her daughter allegedly choked on one of the spinner's bushings (the three round metal pieces of the toy).
"She said she'd put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it," Joniec writes in her social media post.
The bushing became lodged in the girl's esophagus and it took a failed Heimlich maneuver and a trip to the Texas Children's Hospital in The Woodlands to get it removed.
According to Joniec, she first drove her daughter to a local urgent care clinic, but the case was transferred to the Texas Children's Hospital because the doctors weren't able to tell whether the metal bearing was lodged along the airway or the esophagus.
After an X-ray confirmed where exactly the spinner's metal piece was located, Britton was put under general anesthesia and the bushing was endoscopically removed.
Are Fidget Spinners A Chocking Hazard?
Fidget spinners are 3-inch twirling gadgets that have a stable middle and a disc with two or three paddles which can be spun to relax the user.
One of their purposes is that fidget spinners can be used to help kids improve concentration and focus. The toy is particularly useful in managing attention for some people with ADHD, because it satisfies their need for constant stimulation.
However, just like any other toys that contain small parts, these too may sometimes pose a choking risk, as Jonies underlines.
"Fidget spinners are the current craze so they are widely distributed. Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings," she says in her Facebook post.
Joniec warns the toy's bushings can be easily dislodged, tuning into a potential choking hazard for children younger than 8.
Although some people are skeptical about her story, there is still a lesson in this. Many toys come with choking hazard warnings, and parents should be particularly careful when letting their kids play with such gadgets, especially those that have smaller parts.
"Food, coins, and toys are the primary causes of choking-related injury and death. Certain characteristics, including shape, size, and consistency, of certain toys and foods increase their potential to cause choking among children," states the American Academy of Pediatrics.
