A foreign object in the stomach leads to very dangerous injuries. Everyone needs to know what to do if they swallowed a piece of glass or ceramics. This situation can happen either due to inattention or by accident. It is especially dangerous for small children and animals, because they cannot tell what happened and ask for help.

How to understand that a child or adult has swallowed a piece of glass

Children cannot be under vigilant round-the-clock supervision of adults. A certain amount of freedom is good for the development of the baby. However, here lies the main danger. A child from 8 months to 3 years old can grab and swallow any object, especially bright and shiny.

What should I do if I accidentally swallowed a piece of glass?

Symptoms:

• severe persistent hiccups;
• refusal to eat;
• complaints of chest pain, a very young child may grab his throat or knock himself;
• wounds in the oral cavity;
• increased salivation;
• nausea and vomiting with blood clots;
• blood in the stool.

These symptoms are not unambiguous, but they may lead parents to suspect an injury to the esophagus.

Do not try to find out in practice whether it is dangerous to swallow glass. If this happens to any of the family members, you should immediately call an emergency room or go to the hospital yourself.

Injuries to the esophagus, stomach or intestines can be life-threatening!

If the piece of glass is tiny, no larger than a grain of wheat and without sharp edges, then you can try to induce vomiting. This must be done right away. After a couple of hours, the contents of the stomach will enter the intestines. If it was not possible to evacuate the foreign body with vomit, then check the stool daily. It should come out in about a day.

However, if there are symptoms that a piece of glass was swallowed by a child, do not hesitate to contact a traumatologist or gastroenterologist.

The dog swallowed glass: what to do

Animals, like small children, are sometimes very promiscuous about what to eat. It is not uncommon for a dog to swallow foreign bodies. Glass is the most dangerous. The animal will not show where it hurts, and can die from internal bleeding in just a matter of hours.

A small child is inquisitive and, having barely learned to crawl, begins to study reality, learn about the world, grabs everything with his hands and pulls it into his mouth. Because of this, there is a very high probability of getting into the mouth, and then into the stomach of a foreign object. And quite often this object turns out to be glass - a fragment of a glass or a mirror, which he himself broke by dropping. And if the child has already swallowed the glass! Parents need to know what to do in such cases and what it threatens.

The outcome of the situation largely depends on the size of the glass, on its shape and surface. Of course, in any case, glass is dangerous, and the main danger is that a shard can get stuck in the esophagus or in the intestines of the child. Objects of a more complex shape or large size remain, as a rule, in the stomach. A is very sensitive, so the situation is really difficult. It's good if the child gnawed glass beads - they are smooth round in shape. But if he swallowed a fragment of a bottle or a glass carrot from a New Year's snowman, then this is already more dangerous. But not everything is so scary, the main thing is to follow the simple rules of first aid. By the way, if a metal object gets into the esophagus, it is even more dangerous, since it may not come out naturally and remain in the stomach for years, and surgical intervention is already needed here.

First aid for swallowing a sharp object

If this happened in front of adults, then there is still a chance to get the fragments. It is necessary for an adult to open the child's mouth and press the root of the tongue with a finger. The child will have a vomiting urge, and a fragment will come out with vomit and saliva - saliva and vomiting wash out the fragment, while the esophagus is not damaged. Be sure to immediately call an ambulance.

After two hours or more, the glass object will most likely have already moved to. And in this case, no action can be taken independently. It is very important to tell the ambulance doctor the size of the piece of glass swallowed and the time of the incident. It is useless to do X-rays - the glass remains non-contrast in X-rays.

While the fragment remains in the esophagus, the child can be fed with cereals, boiled hard vegetables and monitor the stool for three days. You can not take any action to cause diarrhea - give a laxative or.

Forecast of the situation next: if the parents did everything right, then we can expect that glass fragments will come out naturally in the very next few days.

When should you call an ambulance immediately?

• any metal object - a nail, buttons and paper clips, needles and pins, fish hooks
• any sharp and small objects, toothpicks
• object longer than 3 cm
• batteries - batteries
• magnets
• shards of glass
• large fruit pits

Items that can come out on their own are smooth streamlined items - buttons, coins, small balls. If within two to three days the swallowed object has not come out naturally with feces, then you need to consult a doctor.

Pieces of glass often end up in drinks if you're not careful when opening bottles with a corkscrew. Sometimes in the store there is a bottle with a marriage, in which there are small pieces of glass at the bottom. Small children can swallow a piece of broken glass from a Christmas toy. How risky is this for life? People sometimes accidentally swallow pieces of glass. This material is extremely strong and will not be digested in the stomach. In addition, the fragments have dangerous pointed edges. What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? How to proceed: rush to the hospital or try home remedies?

Features of the structure of the esophagus

The gastrointestinal tract is a long, flexible muscular tube. If a person swallows food, the muscles contract and push the food further. Indigestible edible substances and inedible objects pass through the tract unchanged.

Man-made substances (iron, glass, plastic) do not change in the intestinal tract, so swallowing these items is risky.

What happens if you eat glass?

The risk of ingestion of foreign bodies is not excluded. What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? All danger depends on its shape and volume. Sharp pieces of glass can cause damage to organs. What happens if you eat a piece of glass with pointed ends? There may be a slight puncture of tissues and slight bleeding in the intestinal tract. Blood can be found in fecal analysis.

But what happens if you swallow a small piece of glass with food? Once food is swallowed, it rapidly passes through the esophagus into the stomach. In a narrow section of the stomach there is an exit, a pylorus. Too large pieces cannot go through it. They remain in the stomach. The doctor is able to remove pieces through the mouth using a flexible device - an endoscope. Anything past the gatekeeper is unlikely to cause problems.

What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? It is more dangerous to swallow small pieces with sharp ends. They can cut through tissue and cause infection.

Symptoms of swallowing an unsafe object

What will happen if you swallow a small piece of glass with water, because the oral cavity and the human tongue are very sensitive? Usually a person has time to identify foreign bodies before swallowing.

However, children sometimes taste different things and drinks and may swallow unwanted items. A father and mother can immediately find out that their child has swallowed an object dangerous to health. A number of signs suggest that the child has swallowed a small piece of glass.

Among them:

• vomit;
• salivation;
• stomach ache;
• difficulty in swallowing;
• stool change;
• strange sounds in the stomach.

With any of these signs of the child, you should immediately show the doctor or call an ambulance. Small pieces from bottles and glasses are not easy to see on x-rays. If there is no severe sharp pain, doctors wait 24 hours for the fragments to come out completely on their own.

What is the threat to children?

There is a health hazard if a child swallows a shard. What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? Little explorers are curious, and the best way to analyze the surrounding objects is to taste them. Often the subject of study are glass objects. In this case, you need to know what is the risk of swallowing the glass. The result of the situation depends on the characteristics, shape and surface of the element. The child can eat a piece of the glass. So, what happens if you swallow a piece of glass from a glass? It gets stuck in the esophagus and can damage it. If the object is even in shape (for example, balls), you can consider yourself lucky. The danger is reduced to the usual stuck in the stomach, and damage can be ruled out. No need to worry, because there are a number of methods by which you can get rid of a stuck object. The most important thing is to act quickly, especially if the situation has formed in front of the parents.

What to do if the baby ate a shard?

What to do if you swallowed a small piece of glass? If a child has eaten glass, the most important thing is to remain calm and not panic. A similar situation can happen to anyone, therefore it is important to act quickly and clearly.

Firstly, you can carefully remove the visible part of the object yourself, and secondly, you need to call an ambulance. There is no need to let everything take its course, since a piece that has got inside the body can provoke serious consequences. Small pieces can be removed directly, but even they can touch the internal organs. If the piece is large, it can get stuck in the stomach for a long time. In this case, surgery is indispensable.

Immediate action if glass enters the stomach

In the event that a person immediately noticed the swallowing of glass, then it is most correct to provoke vomiting. The piece will be rapidly removed from the body with food and mucus, without causing much damage. If this happens to a child, then vomiting must be induced artificially by pressing on the root of the tongue.

After that, even after making sure that the fragment came out, you need to contact the doctor, describing the situation. He will give advice for follow-up actions and prescribe a study that will detect defects in internal organs, if any.

Urgent actions:

1. In the event that the glass does not come out with vomiting, you must immediately call an ambulance, describing the situation, and prepare for hospitalization.
2. In the event that it took more than 2 hours, the parts could have time to move into the intestinal tract and worsen the situation. Then only a highly qualified doctor will decide what to do, who should be informed as clearly as possible about the size of the fragment and the time of the accident.
3. An x-ray in such a situation is often ineffective, since the glass in its glimpses does not contrast.
4. You should not rely on the fact that the fragment is very small, and sit at home until it comes out naturally.
5. The use of laxatives and enemas is also not recommended without medical research.
6. If the fragment does not go immediately after vomiting, secondary efforts can be dangerous, therefore, calling a doctor and waiting for the arrival of an ambulance will be the best thing to do.
7. A lot of activity during this period is also harmful, since each movement can provoke internal injuries.

Small pieces often actually leave the body naturally, without bringing almost any inconvenience to their owner. However, it is not necessary to count on this, since ignoring in this case threatens with serious injuries and even death.

Small children often swallow glass by accident. In order to avoid the penetration of glass into the body, you should carefully monitor the child. It is not recommended to allow the use of glass objects for the game. Such accessories must be kept out of the reach of children. Parents are obliged to wean the child to hold various objects in his mouth.

To prevent the child from accidentally getting on glass objects, the following rules should be observed:

• do not forget fragile products in the field of view of the child;
• remove all breakable decor items from the reach of children;
• if the glass object is broken - secure the child, keeping it away from the broken glass, and carefully collect everything;
• follow the child while walking on the street;
• do not leave the baby alone for a long time;
• do not feed from glassware.

Conclusion

Glass is a dangerous foreign object. It has the potential to cause fairly substantial injury.

Swallowing glass is fraught with wounds in the mouth and parts of the digestive tract. Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious and, in the event of an emergency, take urgent measures.

Unfortunately, you cannot establish minute control over your children. No one can. It happens that in moments when the child is out of your sight, unpleasant things happen to him. It is enough to look away just for a second, and then find that a curious child has already opened a seemingly securely closed cabinet or taken something from a shelf that he could not reach before.

You can't keep track of everything. Tasting things is one of the ways children explore the world around them. All you can do is to be prepared for such situations and know what to do first if misfortune does happen.

One of the most unpleasant events that can happen to you and your child is glass or any other foreign object swallowed by the baby. In general, inedible things that a child can swallow rarely cause him any harm unless they are too large, poisonous, and have sharp edges. They naturally leave the body of the child after some time. This applies to coins, beads, buttons and other similar things. It is quite another matter if the child swallowed the glass.

The first thing to do if your child has swallowed any foreign object is to take it to the doctor immediately.

According to statistics, as we said earlier, most foreign bodies really go out on their own within the first few days after swallowing and do not cause any harm to the body. But the risk, although not great, is still there.

It happens that swallowed objects get stuck in various parts of the digestive tract and cannot come out on their own. In this case, the child at first will not make any complaints about his condition. Meanwhile, remaining in the esophagus, stomach or intestines for a long time, foreign bodies can cause damage (and serious ones). There have been cases when swallowed coins, buttons, balls and other things caused intestinal obstruction, intestinal disorders and perforation of the esophagus.

Again, these are isolated cases. But you need to make sure. Why should you take your child to the doctor?

Has your child eaten glass? In this situation, do not hesitate to call an ambulance. If you are warned that the ambulance will take a long time, take a taxi and take the child to a medical facility on your own. Do not hope to cope with the problem without the help of doctors, this is fraught with the most terrible consequences.

Do not wait for the child to cry or complain about something after swallowing the glass. These reactions may not follow, but the problem will still be.

Another important point that we want to note right away is that do not scold the child, do not yell at him or punish him. He will be frightened by the circumstances anyway, and you, showing your dissatisfaction with screams, will only increase his fear. If he starts crying, this can also negatively affect his health in this situation. Because of all this, do your best to calm the child, and do not panic yourself. The kid will see that something is wrong with you, and he will begin to worry.

While the ambulance is on the way, inspect the child's mouth for splinters. If there are, carefully remove them by washing your hands first. Just do not try to reach the debris located beyond the palatoglossal arch. This can only be done by a doctor. You can cause a gag reflex in a child - a spasm. Because of it, glass fragments that may be in the esophagus or stomach injure the contracting muscles of the organs.

Do not even try to "shake" the foreign body out of the child or push it further into the stomach. We guarantee that you will not achieve anything good with this. Do not give your child food or drink. Often in such cases it is advised to give the child bread, but this is wrong.

Some sources write that you need to induce vomiting: so the glass with vomit and saliva will come out by itself. In no case do not do this for the same reason that we described above. Vomiting spasms can cause even more organ damage with an object that the child has swallowed.

It is also strictly forbidden to put an enema on a child who has swallowed glass and other foreign objects. Do you think such a measure will contribute to the speedy exit of glass from the body? Now think about the damage that a splinter swallowed by a child can do to the child's stomach and intestines as it passes through them (also during cramps). In addition, a foreign object in itself is a strong stress for the body. So do not aggravate the situation with vomiting and enemas.

It happens that a child can eat a button, a coin, a part of a toy or glass, while being out of your field of vision, and not show any alarming signs. Fearing punishment, children do not admit to such things, so pay attention to the slightest deviations from his normal state. This will help you understand that something is wrong with the baby. The following symptoms may indicate that a child has swallowed a glass or other foreign object:

• profuse salivation, hiccups;
• belching, nausea, vomiting;
• refusal to eat;
• the child will not be able to eat: all the food will go back;
• blood in the stool;
• complaints of pain in the chest;
• wounds in the mouth.

If you notice these symptoms, take your child to the doctor as soon as possible. He will conduct an examination, prescribe the necessary examination: ultrasound, X-ray or endoscopic. According to the results of the study, the doctor will make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

Prevention

Remember that children are very active and curious. They need to touch and try everything that catches their eye and arouses interest. Therefore, firstly, be very careful when choosing toys, pay attention to the age restrictions indicated on their packaging. Toys must be of high quality and not have small parts that a child can break off.

Secondly, do not forget that babies grow quite quickly. Because of this, over time, it is not difficult for them to get to places in the house that they could not reach before: some shelves, drawers, cabinets. As the baby grows up, make sure that there is nothing dangerous for his health in the indicated places. This must be done without fail.

Also, do not forget to monitor the condition of your baby. Pay attention to any deviations from his normal behavior. If you have a suspicion that something is wrong with him, try to calm him down and find out what makes him uncomfortable (this should be done calmly, without anger and screaming). As we have said, kids rarely admit their actions, fearing punishment. Reassure the child, let him know that you are not angry and are not going to swear.

The child often puts everything in his mouth. If you swallowed glass, parents should know what to do. The outcome of such a situation depends on the shape, surface and size of the fragment. In any case, there is a risk that a sharp object will get stuck in the esophagus or intestines of the child. And if a child swallows glass of complex shape or large size, then it will remain in the stomach.

Before helping a child, parents need to calm down. If the baby swallowed a fragment in front of her parents, then there is a chance to get it. In such a situation, adults should open the child's mouth by pressing a finger on the root of the tongue. The emetic urge that appears will provoke the release of vomit with saliva and a fragment. In this case, the esophagus is not damaged. Then you need to call an ambulance. The child is hospitalized and examined. Ultrasound is prescribed, and if necessary, other diagnostic methods.

Fragments swallowed by children at an unknown time cannot be pulled out on their own. It takes 2-3 hours for them to move into the intestines. In this case, it is recommended to immediately call an ambulance. Parents should tell the doctor the approximate size of the swallowed glass and the time of the incident. Since such an object is non-contrast in X-rays, this diagnosis is ineffective.

If there is a fragment in the esophagus, the child is allowed to eat cereals, decoctions of hard vegetables. For 3 days, parents should monitor the baby's stool. It is contraindicated to cause diarrhea with laxatives or enemas. If all the recommendations of the doctor are followed, the glass will come out naturally within the shortest possible time (2-5 days).

If the case in question occurred in nature or in another area where there is no medical center, then parents should adhere to the following recommendations:

1. In order not to injure the mucous membrane, the child needs to drink a thick liquid - yogurt, jelly. Similar compounds envelop the walls of the digestive tract. The liquid helps to relax the esophagus, and the fallen fragment will immediately penetrate into the stomach. If the child complains of pain, and the jelly does not help, then the help of a qualified specialist will be required.
2. It is forbidden to feed the child with solid food and increase the contractility of the intestines.

2 Difficult situation

If the swallowed fragment got into the child's trachea, then it is necessary to create physical rest. We supply clean air to the baby, removing the fragment on our own. For children who have swallowed large glass, the Heimlich method is used: the victim must stand up. Mom or dad stands behind the child, clasping his body. One hand is clenched into a fist and applied to the stomach. The second hand presses into the first, applying pressure, making a quick push up.

If a child who has swallowed a splinter is having difficulty breathing, then the following actions are recommended:

1. Raise the baby by the legs (head down).
2. Shake.
3. Take a deep breath with your child.

3 Therapeutic measures

In severe cases, urgent hospitalization of the affected child is required. In the hospital, specialists (pediatric surgeon, pediatrician) examine the child. Various diagnostic methods are carried out (ultrasound, endoscopic). Then the specialists make a diagnosis, determine the level of the location of the foreign body. Doctors can:

• observe a small patient until the glass comes out on its own - for this, the child is given laxatives;
• assign an operation.

Indications for surgical intervention:

• deterioration in breathing;
• difficulty moving glass through the gastrointestinal tract.

In 99% of cases, surgeons use an endoscopic treatment technique. This method of removing glass from the child's body is used when the object is above the duodenum 12. This is due to the fact that the endoscope reaches the specified place. To remove the glass, doctors use an endoscopic loop, baskets, or clamps passed through the endoscope. This item is introduced into the child's body through the mouth.

The object is pulled up to the endoscope, and then removed. Upon completion of this procedure, a re-examination of the gastrointestinal tract is indicated. If during the endoscopy the glass was pushed through by the apparatus, then the child is prescribed laxatives. This technique is effective if applied within a few hours of the incident.

If the glass is below the duodenum, then radiography is indicated. You can not drink laxatives. Vaseline oil can be used. With the appearance of vomiting, pain, fever, bleeding, a laparotomy is performed. This method, unlike abdominal surgery, does not require a large incision on the anterior wall of the peritoneum. Then a laparoscope is inserted into the cavity.

Cavity surgery is performed after finding out the location of the foreign body, its size and shape, the condition of the affected child. But any surgical intervention injures the child's body, causing various complications.

4 Use of the colonoscope

Less commonly, a swallowed fragment can reach the caecum and sigmoid colon. In such cases, a colonoscope is used. With the help of a small camera, the doctor examines the intestines. The procedure lasts 45 minutes. First, the baby is dressed in a hospital gown or pants with a slit. A small patient is put on an oxygen mask or tubes (for oxygen) are passed to the nose. If necessary, the child is given a dropper, with the help of which an anesthetic and sedative will be poured into the body.

Then the child is laid on the left side. The colonoscope is inserted into the intestine. To facilitate the insertion procedure, the doctor uses a Vaseline lubricant. At the same time, air is injected into the organ under study (to open the lumen and facilitate camera movement). This procedure can cause discomfort and bloating in the baby.

The colonoscope is a flexible instrument that rotates easily in the intestine as needed. The image from the camera is transmitted to the monitor. A small instrument is used to remove the shard, which is passed through the colonoscope. If the camera is not able to overcome the bend, then surgery is indicated.

To prevent accidental swallowing of glass, you must carefully monitor your child.