Product warning: Baby girl hospitalized after swallowing magnetic balls

A toddler’s playtime ended in the ER after he swallowed one of the toys.

Four-year-old Chloe Ngyuen was playing with her older sister’s magnetic balls at her family’s home in Cabramatta West, Sydney, when her parents heard her crying.

“I looked at her hand and she was holding a bunch of magnetic balls and I said, Chloe, did you swallow that?” his father, Bill Nguyen said 9News.

Once Chloe calmed down, she told her father that she had swallowed a rainbow ball.

His parents were alarmed because the balls are individual solid colors.

Chloe was taken to Westmead Children’s Hospital where an x-ray confirmed the little girl had swallowed a block of eight magnets – or a ‘rainbow’ ball.

“We were like, oh my god, eight of them, how did she swallow eight of them?” Chloe’s mother, Amy Ngyuen, said.

Chloe was taken to Westmead Children’s Hospital where an X-ray confirmed the little girl had swallowed a block of eight magnets – or a ‘rainbow’ ball

Fortunately, the magnetic balls were still in Chloe’s stomach and could be removed using a camera inserted into her throat.

Fortunately, the magnetic balls were still in Chloe’s stomach and could be removed using a camera inserted into her throat.

Although the procedure wouldn’t have been much fun for the four-year-old, the result was much better than what might have happened had she been treated later.

Dr Michael Storman, head of gastroenterology at Westmead Children’s Hospital, said if the magnetic beads had traveled further into Chloe’s system they could have done much more damage.

“If they separate or a loop of intestine gets stuck between them, you could end up with an intestinal perforation and it can be a life-threatening emergency,” he said.