Doctors and medical experts are warning parents that kids and young people are at risk from a ‘dangerous toy trend’ that has been sweeping social media of late.

According to the Daily Mail, hundreds of children in the UK have been hospitalised after swallowing tiny magnets over the past couple of years, and experts are now calling for a new crackdown on the online sale of products containing these types of magnets.

Magnets like these are found in a wide range of toys, such as magnetic ball sets, as well as fake piercings and other household objects.

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Terrifyingly, of the children hospitalised from ingesting these magnets, as many as one in ten need life-saving operations to remove the magnets from their bowels.

In a new report that was published last week, experts at the University of Southampton embarked on the first UK study to investigate how many children have swallowed magnets and what the outcomes were.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sam McCarthy, an Essex-based mum, reveals how her young daughter, Rebecca, had to have her intestines temporarily removed to reach the magnets which had attracted together and buried deeply into her tissue.

‘I would hate for any other child to go through what Becca suffered because of buying dangerous toys from sellers on online marketplaces.’

According to the new study, experts argue that children who swallow two or more magnets are at a far higher risk of long-term damage, as the pieces can clamp together in their stomachs, which is exactly what happened to little Rebecca McCarthy, who still, five years later, was struggling with the after-effects of having swallowed the magnets.

The little girl’s mum said the first sign Rebecca was unwell was when she vomited one lunchtime.

Recalling her daughter’s ordeal, McCarthy told how the family initially thought the two-year-old had a gastric bug. But after two days, they went to A&E, and an X-ray revealed 14 magnetic balls inside her daughter’s stomach, and she was rushed into surgery under an anaesthetic.

‘She was taken to the X-ray room, and scans were taken. That’s when my life changed forever in an instant. As the anaesthetic kicked in, I was escorted from the operating room and stepped out into what felt like total darkness. Rebecca was in the hands of the surgeons now. Those two hours felt like a lifetime. So much waiting, not really knowing what was happening.’

Parents warned to be alert

Little Rebecca has since recovered, her mum says, but medics warned her parents to be on alert for potential follow-up symptoms, and they remain concerned five years on.

The magnetic balls had come from three sets bought for her nine-year-old brother for Christmas, and according to McCarthy, there were more than 600 tiny balls spread across their home.

After the surgery, Rebecca’s dad spent weeks going over the house for the tiny balls. But even with a giant magnet to try to attract them, McCarthy says she knew some could escape detection, attaching to screws on the bottom of chairs or down the sides of furniture.

‘When we finally got home, I was so worried about Rebecca, I slept next to her for weeks. Our home felt like a warzone, knowing these horrible little magnets could be anywhere,’ the devastated mum revealed.

According to lead author of the new UK study, Professor Nigel Hall, as many as six per cent of swallowing cases were linked to viral social media trends in which children, mostly girls, try to imitate tongue piercings by placing small magnets in their mouths.

Hall argues that retailers must do more to increase warnings on magnetic toy labels.

‘These magnets have the potential to harm a large number of children and young people, and increase work for the NHS. Yet many magnetic toys provide very little warning for parents and caregivers of the dangers they pose, particularly those purchased from online marketplaces.’

He added:

‘Having an unplanned emergency operation is a traumatic experience for any child and their family – and needing a surgical procedure means time in hospital for days after.’

What is more worrying, Hall argues, is that around one in 10 of these young patients who had surgery ended up with serious problems, like needing part of their bowel removed or requiring a stoma.