Kids are always putting things in their mouths. Sometimes those things inadvertently go 'down the hatch.' It's actually become a more common occurrence. According to the data from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the rates of kids swallowing foreign objects skyrocketed from 1995-2015. If it's your kid, you immediately have questions. What did they swallow? Is it dangerous? Do I need to go to the emergency room? Will it simply... pass?
Some pediatricians in Australia had an interesting way to answer some of those questions. Six of them willingly swallowed LEGO heads to see what effect it would have on the digestive system and how long it would take them to 'reappear.'
The doctors' main goal of the study was to raise awareness about a few types of objects that are, in fact, hazardous to kids if swallowed. An important one is button batteries often found in electronic toys. Those can actually burn through your esophagus in just a couple of hours. But this test was safe as it only involved a small plastic LEGO head...and a good sense of humor.
The physicians recorded a a pre-ingestion Stool Hardness and Transit score. (We'll let you work out that acronym.) Then after ingesting the LEGO head they recorded how long it took to pass. This was known as the Found and Retrieved Time or F.A.R.T. score.
The results? 1.71 Days was the average time it took for the LEGO heads to pass through their collective guts. No complications were reported on health or consistency of stool. So, if you're a parent living that situation, remain calm. This too, shall pass. It appears that women were faster at it, passing the LEGO head on their second bowel movement as opposed to the men taking three tries at it.
The intriguing part? They only recovered five of the six LEGO heads. One male doctor checked his stool for two weeks after ingesting it and it was never found.
For more information on what to do if someone swallows a foreign object, check out the American Academy of Pediatrics information page.
