Healthy Colorado: Health experts warn about small toys this holiday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Doctors recommend that parents stick to buying age-appropriate toys this holiday. Additionally, be mindful of purchasing ones that contain small pieces, which can pose choking hazards for babies and toddlers.

Doctors say anyone giving a gift and worried about toy safety can use a simple test: Consider whether the toy or its parts can fit through a toilet paper roll. If it can, then it's a choking hazard.

The same advice applies to toys with magnets and batteries. The batteries should be hard to access and include a cover that's screwed shut.

"Button batteries, bouncy balls, those water beads," says Savannah Bernal, trauma and injury prevention coordinator at HCA HealthOne Swedish. "Anything like that are time-sensitive things, where as soon as you know that they've been ingested, they've been swallowed, you need to take them to the E.R. right away." 

Some of these tips may seem obvious, but doctors say they could save you a trip to the hospital.

Another thing to consider when gifting a scooter, skateboard or bike-- really, anything that involves speed and wheels-- is to ensure it comes with all the safety items. That should include a helmet as well as arm and leg pads.

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