Parents often find their child has swallowed a penny, triggering immediate concern. While alarming, many instances of children swallowing small, smooth objects like pennies resolve without serious complications. Understanding the penny’s typical path and recognizing signs of a problem helps parents respond appropriately.
Immediate Actions and When to Seek Medical Help
Assess the child’s immediate condition to determine if emergency medical attention is needed. If the child is choking, coughing forcefully, struggling to breathe, drooling excessively, gagging, or showing distress like turning blue, the penny may be blocking their airway. Call emergency services immediately. While waiting, caregivers should perform age-appropriate choking first aid, such as back blows and abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuver for older children), to dislodge the object.
If the child breathes normally and shows no immediate distress, the situation is less urgent, but medical evaluation is still necessary. Contact their pediatrician or an emergency room for assessment. Avoid inducing vomiting or giving laxatives; these can cause further harm or push the coin into a more dangerous position. An X-ray will likely determine the penny’s exact location, as coins are visible.
How Coins Travel Through the Body
When swallowed, a penny typically enters the esophagus, the tube connecting mouth to stomach. Most small, smooth foreign objects, including pennies, that pass beyond the esophagus continue through the digestive system without complication. From the stomach, the penny moves into the small and then large intestine.
The body’s natural muscular contractions, peristalsis, propel the coin through the gastrointestinal tract. Most swallowed coins pass in the child’s stool within a few days, often within 48 hours. In some cases, it may take up to a week or even a few weeks for expulsion. Monitor the child’s stools for the coin’s appearance, confirming passage.
Recognizing Signs of Trouble
Even if a child initially appears well after swallowing a penny, monitor for delayed or less obvious complications. If the penny lodges in the esophagus, symptoms may include persistent drooling, difficulty swallowing or refusing to eat, gagging, vomiting, or chest/throat pain. Younger children might become irritable, cough, or experience noisy breathing, indicating airway pressure.
Should the penny pass into the stomach or intestines but cause issues, signs of trouble include abdominal pain, bloating, persistent vomiting, constipation, or lack of appetite. In rare instances, a swallowed penny, especially one issued after 1982 containing zinc, can cause corrosion or chemical injury if it remains in the digestive tract for an extended period. This can lead to symptoms such as black or tarry stools, indicating internal bleeding, or persistent nausea and vomiting. Any of these symptoms warrant prompt medical evaluation.
Preventing Future Incidents
To minimize the risk of a child swallowing coins or other small objects, implement proactive measures at home. Keep all loose change, buttons, small toy parts, and other small household items out of reach. Child-proofing cabinets and drawers where such items might be stored can further reduce access, especially for toddlers who explore by putting objects in their mouths.
Consistent supervision, especially during playtime or where loose change accumulates, helps prevent accidental ingestion. Educating older children about the dangers of placing non-food items in their mouths or playing with small objects around younger siblings is beneficial. Regularly checking play areas and floors for choking hazards helps maintain a safer environment.