A Wisconsin mother says her son is spending the rest of the holidays in the hospital after he swallowed part of his Christmas present.
Jennifer White told WTMJ she suspected her son Beck had the flu when he got very sick around Christmas.
“He started to vomit a very dark color. It looked like coffee grounds. At that point I knew something was very wrong,” White said.
Beck was rushed to a local hospital and underwent surgery.
An X-ray showed he had swallowed more than a dozen magnets from his toy.
“He had swallowed 13 of them. He snapped them right open and started to ingest them. And of course we had no idea,” his mother said.
“When he individually ingested them they were doing what magnets do and trying to get to each other through his intestines. And it created holes in the lining so they had to fix those,” Jennifer added.
He also lost parts of his colon.
Beck has autism, so the family is careful about the toys he plays with, Jennifer said.
“I really thought these were safe. Absolutely thought he would be ok. If I had an inkling that this would have happen I would have just got rid of them.”
Beck will remain in the hospital for a few more days and is expected to make a full recovery.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents to keep high powered magnets away from the home.