Lonnie and Michelle Truett's son, Aidan is just one of 3,400 U.S. children who swallowed a small button battery last year.

But, he was also one of 14 children who died because of it.

"It just really changes you. There's no greater loss than the loss of a child," says Lonnie Truett.

Button batteries come in various sizes and can be found in all kinds of products including clocks, remotes and children's toys.

A recent study in pediatrics found more and more children were swallowing the 20-diametre lithium batteries.

Dr. Toby Litovitz of the National Poison Center says, "because they're larger in diameter they're getting stuck in the esophagus of the child, when the child swallows."

The battery carries three volts.

Lodged in the esophagus it can create a current that eats through tissue, causing a serious chemical burn or death.

Dr. Litovitz says, "it would be like little drops of something like a drain cleaner in your child's esophagus. The critical thing is you only have a two-hour window to get that battery out."

This type of injury isn't tracked in our province, doctors at the Children's Hospital in Winnipeg, say they see about six button battery ingestions a year. But, they also think that number is probably a lot higher.

Dr. Lynne Warda works with Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's Injury Prevention Program and is also an emergency room physician at Children's Hospital.

She says, that number is just the tip of the iceberg, since those numbers only reflect the children that come into Children's and they were documented. There may be more.

Warda says another concern is if parents don't see their child swallow the battery.

Symptoms can manifest like a flu, stomach ache, lack of appetite or vomiting.

"Sometimes, the first clue is when an X-ray is done for another reason. So they're vomiting, or some issue we do an x-ray and all of sudden it shows up, but without that X-ray, there are cases that just go undetected," says Dr. Warda.

Not everyone thinks to keep musical greeting cards away from kids.

But those also carry button batteries.

Some have covers on the batteries, but, not all do.

That can be a serious problem or deadly consequence, if your child gets to it.

Experts say people should look for products that need a screwdriver to get at the button batteries. With all other batteries, make sure they are kept out of the reach of children.

In the latest Pediatrics study, children under four accounted for 85 per cent of all cases where button batteries were swallowed.