Mum Shares a Warning to Other Parents After Her Daughter Choked on a Fidget Spinner Part

If you have school-aged children, you’d be well aware of the current fidget spinner craze that is spiralling out of control across the globe. Children everywhere are obsessed with the bloody things, while parents are only too happy to buy them for their kids because they are fairly cheap and best of all – relatively quiet!

But they are not without their dangers, as this mum from Texas has discovered. Her daughter popped a part of her fidget spinner into her mouth to give it a clean and accidentally swallowed it, choking as the part lodged in her windpipe.

Kelly Rose Joniec explains what happened to her daughter with a series of images taken during and after their close call on Saturday.

“On the way home from a fun swim meet, I heard Britton make an odd retching noise in the back seat as I was driving. Looking back in the mirror, I saw her face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth – she could utter noises but looked panicked so I immediately pulled over. She pointed to her throat saying she’d swallowed something, so I attempted Heimlich but there was no resistance. She said she’d put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it.

Frantic, I went straight to urgent care where they checked her for choking. They couldn’t discern where the foreign object was located – along the airway or the esophagus. From there we got the red-light treatment via ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital. X-ray showed the spinner bushing lodged in her esophagus. The GI doctor was fascinated…he’d only just learned of fidget spinners that morning when he was at the mall with his son, so it was a surprise to be faced with one in a case a few hours later. He’s also an advocate for related child safety in toys, so he took a special interest in the case.

After multiple, very stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object. Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while…not only because of the initial ingestion, but then the concern about the composition and structure of the object, and finally, the risk with general anesthesia.

From this I wish to offer some word of caution to parents. 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. The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under 8 yr old) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.”

Many commenters on the public Facebook post have criticised the mum for everything from poor parenting to suggesting that her child has special needs or is of poor intelligence.

While it is understandable that a lot of parents will simply roll their eyes and say “well, der!” at this mum’s warning, it still serves as a reminder that cheaply-made gadgets from overseas will not be labelled with all the proper Australian Standards warnings. We must continue to keep an eye on our children and remember to always remind them not to put things in their mouths.

This can happen to anyone; we’re none of us perfect. My own children pulled their spinners apart immediately, popping off the centre discs and removing the outer bearings. It’s in their nature to explore and see how things work. It only takes a second for an accident like this to happen, and judgement from strangers is not only unhelpful but entirely unwelcome.

So if your child’s spinners haven’t been lost, confiscated or broken yet, keep an eye on them. As with most things in life, they aren’t without danger.

Source: Kelly Rose Joniec