The holidays are filled with eggnog, get togethers with friends and family and gifts under the Christmas tree.
And while it is fun to unwrap toy cars, play sets and the latest tech, doctors are warning the most desired gifts could land you, a Secret Santa recipient or child partaking in the Christmas magic in the hospital.
Emergency department (ED) visits tend to surge by 10 percent during the holiday season, with injuries like falls and cuts from sharp objects topping the list, according to the NIH.
While excess food and alcohol may cause increases in heart attacks and food poisoning, experts warned parents should pay careful attention to the gifts their kids ask Santa for.
Doctors recommend parents steer clear of toys that take certain batteries, which can burn holes in the throat, or those that include water beads, as they can get block airways.
And adults aren’t immune to a festive trip to the hospital. Doctors advised steering clear of bikes, kitchen slicers, and even some sex toys due to the risk of head injuries and possible amputations.
Dr Robert Kramer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said: ‘We do see a spike during the holiday season. But it’s something we have to be vigilant for at all times.’
Doctors urge caution when it comes to what gifts to give children this holiday season, as some could cause serious injury
Button batteries are small enough to be swallowed and can cause burns and deadly internal bleeding
BUTTON BATTERIES
One of the most common injuries for kids during the holidays is toys powered by button batteries, which are about the size of a coin.
Found in race cars, dolls, and some play musical instruments, these are especially dangerous because they are made with lithium-ion.
This means if swallowed, saliva triggers an electrical current that leads to chemical reactions, like severe burns in the esophagus.
Dr Kramer said: ‘The danger is that if it burns a hole through the wall of the esophagus into the aorta, it will bleed into the esophagus. It’s almost a universally fatal problem.’
If treated in time, there are still long-term impacts, including inflammation and scarring that make swallowing difficult, leading to malnutrition and dehydration from being unable to eat and drink properly.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia estimates button batteries are swallowed more than 3,500 times a year. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 70 children have died from these injuries since the 1970s.
In a TikTok video earlier this year, Dr Meagan Martin, a pediatric emergency room physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s in Florida, recommended giving children over one year old a spoonful of honey to keep button batteries from getting stuck after they have accidentally been ingested.
She said: ‘The most important thing is getting them to the emergency room so we can get that sucker out.’
MAGNETS
The above image shows small magnets that have stuck together in a patient’s intestine
In the same vein, Dr Michael Flaherty, a pediatric critical care physician at Mass General for Children Hospital in Boston, previously told DailyMail.com to avoid toys with magnets.
Many of these are sold as sets, which makes it more likely for children to swallow more than one.
These magnets are strong and can migrate toward each other in the body, causing them to form blockages and tear through tissue and organs.
Dr Flaherty said: ‘These magnets are so strong that pieces of the intestine can actually stick together and cause perforations or holes in the intestine. These can be surgical emergencies.’
These perforations cause bowel contents to leak into the abdomen, causing inflammation and infections of the intestinal lining.
This could lead to sepsis, the body’s extreme overreaction to an infection that causes the immune system to attack healthy organs.
Perforations require immediate surgery, which can require removing all or part of the bowel.
WATER BEAD TOYS
Experts warned that water beads are particularly dangerous for young children because when swallowed, they can grow to hundreds of times their size and cause intestinal blockages
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Water bead toys, which sent 7,800 kids to the hospital between 2016 and 2022, also made Dr Kramer’s list.
These small gel- or jelly-like beads are typically used for sensory play and developing fine motor skills in children with developmental delays, such as autism spectrum disorder.
The beads are typically the size of a pencil tip, but when they get wet, they can expand up to 400 times their size.
So, if they’re swallowed they can get lodged in a child’s airway causing them to stop breathing or become stuck in the intestine, leading to a life-threatening obstruction.
Dr Kramer said: ‘It’s a traffic jam. If things can’t go forward, they’re going to stack up.’
He noted it’s vital to watch out for signs of a bowel obstruction, which include stomach pain, vomiting, trouble eating, and generally feeling uncomfortable.
Dr Flaherty said kids under three are particularly prone to swallowing these because they are small and colorful and can resemble candy.
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Christmas decorations like ornaments and lights have been shown to cause intestinal injuries and burns
In addition to presents, your festive decorations also pose a health risk.
Dr Kramer warned babies and children may accidentally swallow shards of glass if they chew on ornaments or tree lights.
He said: ‘Any sharp object that’s swallowed can cause a hole in the bowel. When there’s a hole in the intestine, that allows stomach contents to leak into the abdominal cavity.’
Similar to perforations caused by magnets, this can lead to sepsis.
CPSC also cautions against holiday lights, which could lead to fires and electrical shocks.
The agency estimates there were 4,200 holiday-related electrical injuries treated in US emergency rooms last year.
The agency recommends making sure outlets are not overloaded and unplugging lights at night to reduce the risk of fires.
E-BIKES
The use of e-bikes has increased dramatically over the past few years. However, experts warn the number of injuries linked to them has also surged
While children are especially at risk this holiday season, adults aren’t out of the woods completely.
If you’re one of the thousands of people eyeing an electric bike, beware – it could land you in the emergency department.
From 2018 to 2022, sales of e-bikes rose from about 250,000 per year to over 1million, a four-fold increase. Experts have suggested this could be from people wanting to save money on gas and cut down on the environmental impacts that come with cars.
However, doctors at Harvard University warned the ‘rate of accidents involving e-bikes and e-scooters is climbing.’
They pointed to a recent study in JAMA Network Open, which found from 2017 to 2022, e-bike injuries doubled every year. In 2017, just 751 of these injuries were recorded, but this surged to almost 24,000 in 2022.
Neck, head, and other orthopedic injuries were common, sometimes leading to concussions and other neurological issues.
Meanwhile, e-scooter injuries saw a 45 percent rise every year, going from just over 8,500 in 2017 to nearly 57,000 in 2022.
And only 43 percent of e-bike and e-scooter riders wear a helmet, compared to 52 percent using traditional bikes.
Additionally, e-bike batteries can explod, leading to fires and burns.
KITCHEN APPLIANCES
Dr Korin Hudson, an emergency physician at MedStar Health, pointed to kitchen tools like mandolines as dangerous holiday gifts. She told DailyMail.com: ‘When preparing holiday meals it is important to pay close attention and use the safety guide that keeps fingers away from the blade’
For any amateur chefs unwrapping fancy kitchen appliances, experts are warning those new tools could send adults to the hospital.
Mandolines, which are used to thinly slice vegetables, are one of the most common culprits, along with knives and blenders.
Federal figures estimate there are 200,000 kitchen accidents resulting in emergency room visits every year, such as severe cuts and burns.
Dr Korin Hudson, an emergency physician at MedStar Health, told DailyMail.com: ‘Mandoline slicers are frequently the cause of severe finger injuries.
‘When preparing holiday meals it is important to pay close attention and use the safety guide that keeps fingers away from the blade.’
Additionally, the National Fire Protection Association estimates that deep fryers cause 60 injuries per year and five deaths due to burns.
SEX TOYS
Doctors urge people not to use anything that isn’t specifically designed for sex as a sex toy
People who are looking to spice up their holiday season may reach for an unconventional adult kind of toy, but doctors urge people to only use tools specifically designed for intimacy, or risk a major medical emergency.
Dr Adam Friedlander, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, told DailyMail.com any gifts you get to use in the bedroom could be dangerous.
He said: ‘Never use something as a sex toy that isn’t one. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve pulled a Christmas ornament out of someone, I’d have 15 cents, which is more than I should have from that.
‘The two biggest reasons someone comes in to the ER for a toy mishap, is that something that wasn’t designed to be used in the way that it was got lost.
‘So, when using something like that, make sure it’s made of a body-safe material like silicone or stainless steel, and if it’s going somewhere it can get lost, a wide base couldn’t be more important.’
An analysis from researchers at the University of Rochester in New York found nearly 40,000 Americans were hospitalized for getting objects stuck in their rectums between 2012 and 2021, the equivalent of almost 4,000 per year.
Men accounted for nearly eight in 10 cases, with the most common group being males in their 20s and early 30s, who made up a third of all sex toy related ER visits.
Bottles, jars or bottle lids were the most common non-sexual devices found stuck in people’s rectums, they found, accounting for 10 percent of cases.
In one extreme case from 2022, an 88-year-old man in France shut down his local hospital when he came into the emergency room with a World War I-era artillery shell in his anus.
He claimed he slipped and fell on the object.
