Baby almost dies after brother, 3, fed him three screws when mum was out

A newborn baby almost died after his older brother fed him three metal screws while the pair were left unattended.

The two boys had been left at home by their mother, who had expected her three-year-old son to look after his younger brother, who was only 37 days old.

But when she returned, she found the baby foaming at the mouth and immediately rushed him to hospital on Tuesday. However, due to the procedure of removing the screws being too risky, the hospital refused to carry it out.

Pic shows: A gastroscopy revealed the three screws inside the boy's body Doctors had to perform a risky endoscopy on a 37-day-old baby???s stomach after his older brother fed him three metal screws. According to the boy???s mother, the infant began foaming at the mouth and his three-year-old brother admitted to feeding his sibling the indigestible objects. Doctor Li Xiaoqin, head of gastroenterology at Zhengzhou Children???s Hospital in Central China???s Henan Province, said the mum first took her baby to a smaller county facility which refused to do the risky procedure. The infant was then transferred to provincial capital Zhengzhou, where a small team of experts were assembled for the job. They used a gastroscope and a magnet to retrieve the three screws, which were still in the boy???s stomach. Doctor Li said: "Even newborns can have endoscopies, but we wouldn???t have been able to retrieve the screws using the thinnest instrument. "We had to use the 7.5-millimetre (0.3-inch) gastroscope, which we feared would be too thick for the baby. "It was of course a risk, but we decided it was better than surgery." The medic said the screws had fortunately not harmed the boy???s digestive tract. The mum revealed to the doctors that her two sons had been left when the accident happened.

Baby almost dies after brother, 3, fed him three screws while they were home alone

So he was transferred to the Zhengzhou Children’s Hospital in Central China’s Henan Province, where a small team of experts were assembled for the job.

Following an X-ray, head of gastroenterology Dr Li Xiaoqin found three large screws stuck in the baby’s stomach and prepared the baby for an endoscopy to remove the objects. They used a gastroscope and a magnet to retrieve the three screws, which were still in the boy’s stomach.

Pic shows: The screws were removed using a magnet Doctors had to perform a risky endoscopy on a 37-day-old baby???s stomach after his older brother fed him three metal screws. According to the boy???s mother, the infant began foaming at the mouth and his three-year-old brother admitted to feeding his sibling the indigestible objects. Doctor Li Xiaoqin, head of gastroenterology at Zhengzhou Children???s Hospital in Central China???s Henan Province, said the mum first took her baby to a smaller county facility which refused to do the risky procedure. The infant was then transferred to provincial capital Zhengzhou, where a small team of experts were assembled for the job. They used a gastroscope and a magnet to retrieve the three screws, which were still in the boy???s stomach. Doctor Li said: "Even newborns can have endoscopies, but we wouldn???t have been able to retrieve the screws using the thinnest instrument. "We had to use the 7.5-millimetre (0.3-inch) gastroscope, which we feared would be too thick for the baby. "It was of course a risk, but we decided it was better than surgery." The medic said the screws had fortunately not harmed the boy???s digestive tract. The mum revealed to the doctors that her two sons had been left when the accident happened.

Doctor Li said: ‘Even newborns can have endoscopies, but we wouldn’t have been able to retrieve the screws using the thinnest instrument.

‘We had to use the 7.5-millimetre (0.3-inch) gastroscope, which we feared would be too thick for the baby. ‘It was of course a risk, but we decided it was better than surgery.’ The medic said the screws had fortunately not harmed the boy’s digestive tract.