It’s Spooky Time
(L-R) Amélie, Andwele, and Akeem in their Halloween Costumes
Happy Halloween! The count down is on to the trick-or-treating main event!
In our home, Halloween kicks off fun festivities for the rest of the season. If you’re like me, you probably brought out seasonal décor items, fun accent string lights, and you will most likely have a lit pumpkin or jack-o’-lantern. And once today wraps up, I quickly switch over to the merry holiday season in all its glory – and I don’t think I’m alone in this.
But a lot of these seasonal items we bring out can be battery-powered and you’d be surprised by how many of those items take the small lithium coin batteries, as well as other devices around our homes such as remotes, car key fobs, calculators, musical greeting cards, toys, etc. These batteries can be extremely dangerous, and even fatal, if swallowed.
Becoming a Child Safety Advocate was never on my radar, but after my daughter Amélie nearly died from ingesting a lithium coin battery back in 2020, my focus shifted forever. If a child swallows a lithium coin battery, which is about the size of a nickel, it can become lodged in their esophagus and cause internal burns within only a couple of hours. Unfortunately, as I’ve found out over the past couple of years our story is not uncommon.
Amélie post-surgery at The Stollery Children’s Hospital
I am so grateful for Amélie surviving the ordeal that I do all I can to raise awareness about the dangers so that other families can be spared this painful experience. I can’t emphasize it enough to keep lithium coin batteries safely out of reach from small children and being aware which devices in our home take these batteries and keeping them secure.
Amélie at The Stollery Children’s Hospital
I was pleased when I found out Duracell took action to help keep young children safe by adding a non-toxic bitter coating to its 20mm lithium coin batteries to help discourage swallowing. Duracell Lithium Coin Batteries with bitter coating can offer some peace of mind to help us keep our homes a little safer for our families. I buy them at Costco but you can also find them on Amazon.ca and at London Drugs.
So when you light your jack-o’-lanterns tonight with flameless tea lights or votives, use the lithium coin batteries with bitter coating and set them out of reach of small kids. And when you pack up to store your Halloween seasonal items and bring out your holiday favourites, for anything battery powered, it’s good to remove the batteries from anything you are storing away and to use fresh new batteries in items you are bringing out. Just remember to properly dispose or store lithium coin batteries in a secure place. Take the opportunity to also do an audit of your home using this checklist from Duracell to see which common devices around your home may contain lithium coin batteries and store those devices away and out of reach of children.
When replacing your batteries in devices, make sure that the battery compartments in all of your household items are secure, and follow the guidelines for safe disposal of old batteries:
When removed from device(s), ensure batteries are locked in a secure container and placed in a safe location that children cannot access.
Check with your local municipality to see if they have a battery collection program.
Find a mail-in recycling program that accepts batteries.
Inquire with local retailers, as some will accept used batteries and dispose of them at no cost.
Most importantly remember I advocate to educate! Wishing you and yours a safe and fun fall celebrating all that makes this season so beautiful. Feel free to share our story and come back for more tips and help on how to safely celebrate the upcoming magical holiday season!
