Toddler rushed to hospital after swallowing magnets from building-block toy, mother warns

A UK mother has warned other parents after her 3-year-old son was rushed to accident and emergency with a suspected perforated intestine after swallowing two small magnets that came with a set of building blocks.

Blossom posted a TikTok video recounting the incident and urging other families to check toys and small parts. The clip, in which she described the moment she heard her son gag and then learned he had "accidentally swallowed something," has been viewed more than 130,000 times. She said the blocks were inspired by the video game Minecraft and had been bought on the online marketplace Temu.

At the emergency department, doctors told Blossom that swallowing multiple magnets carries risks beyond those of ingesting a single small object. Once inside the digestive tract, magnets can attract to each other from different parts of the bowel, pinching internal tissue, cutting off blood supply and, in severe cases, causing perforations that may require surgery, she said.

An X-ray in the hospital showed the two magnets remained attached and had moved beyond the stomach, Blossom said, meaning the child was out of the most dangerous zone and could be observed until the items passed naturally. Blossom said she considered the outcome fortunate and that the magnets caused no lasting damage.

In her TikTok post, Blossom urged parents to treat the incident as a public safety video and to be aware that older toddlers are still at risk from small parts. "We are so lucky that our little boy didn't have any lasting damage to his insides," she said. "If they hadn't been attached, this could have ended very differently."

Commenters on the post thanked her for raising awareness and urged action such as filing complaints with toy sellers so products can be reviewed or removed. Blossom told one commenter she had not checked the toy's safety rating before buying and called it "a big lesson learned."

Health and safety organisations warn that certain small items pose particular hazards. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and government guidance highlight the danger presented by button batteries and small magnets. Officials advise that if a child is suspected of swallowing a button battery, caregivers should go to A&E immediately, inform clinicians that a battery may have been ingested, and avoid allowing the child to eat or drink until imaging can determine the battery's location. They also advise against inducing vomiting.

RoSPA recommends that products using button batteries have locked battery compartments and that parents be cautious with items such as musical greeting cards, flameless candles and some small electronic toys that may not have secure compartments. Spare batteries should be kept out of reach and used batteries disposed of safely.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Temu for comment on the specific toy cited by Blossom. The episode adds to ongoing concerns about small, detachable parts in toys and affordable imports sold online, and underscores advice from clinicians and safety organisations to check age recommendations, secure battery compartments and supervise young children around toys with detachable pieces.

Blossom said the incident serves as a reminder that accidents can happen even when parents believe a child's greatest risks have passed. She encouraged others to learn from her experience and to act quickly if ingestion of a hazardous object is suspected.