Boy, 7, Got AirPods For His Christmas Gift… And He Swallowed Them

Christmas is the perfect time for Kiara Stroud to get his 7-year-old boy AirPods. The Atlanta-based mother got him one and was shocked when she got an emergency call saying her son, QJ, had swallowed his AirPod accidentally and is rushed to the hospital.

She shared her story to remind parents of the choking hazards of small things. In her Facebook post containing her son’s X-Ray result, she added the caption, “I can’t make this up. My child, my child. Thanks for all of the prayers. We’re home. No more AirPods for this kid.”

It’s really tempting for parents to get mad at kids for doing something they shouldn’t be doing. But as a mother, she made a follow-up post that also helps other parents be the people their kids need the most at that time. QJ was panicking and was scared of the fact that he swallowed inanimate objects.

Kiara wrote, “We let him know that everything was going to be okay, stayed calm, and it helped him to relax so that the doctors could do their jobs.” And fortunately, the family has a big chance to tell a hilarious story about QJ much later in the future.

QJ was holding on his mouth the long part of the earbuds before he accidentally choked and then swallowed them. His mom told a local media, “He’s like, ‘I don’t want to be near my phone. I don’t want it to connect to my phone and start playing music’.”

Doctors reassured that the AirPod will pass by his digestion system and out of it in a few days. Dr. Sean McGann, an emergency physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, shared that foreign body ingestion is common, although he hasn’t heard one swallowing an AirPod.

His only concern is the button battery that is encased in the AirPod, which can react with saliva and can actually burn a hole through the esophagus. But as long as it’s being protected by the AirPod’s plastic case, it shall pass with no issue.

McGann alerts parents to always be aware of their children, especially about their earbuds based on this case.

Let’s hope for QJ to get well soon!