Don't eat pebbles

A child was rushed into triage yesterday by her parents. They had been gardening and the child was playing happily nearby. Suddenly they heard the child gagging and chocking, and looking round saw that she had put something in her mouth and was swallowing it with some difficulty. She had been playing near a garden bed full of smooth washed river pebbles. On presentation to the department the child was not in distress, but the parents were. We reassured them and sent the child to X-Ray. The pebble can be clearly seen in the child's gut on the X-Ray (left). The usual intervention in these cases is conservative...wait for nature to take its course.