Boy undergoes surgery after swallowing 22 tiny magnetic balls

A New South Wales mother has issued a chilling warning about the dangers of colourful tiny magnetic ball toys after her two-year-old son swallowed 22 of them, sparking a "hell week" that saw him undergo surgery.

Frankie Davis' older brothers bought the magnet toys from the park, and his mother, Bree, thought nothing of it.

The popular magnetic balls stick together to create shapes and patterns.

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"They were very small, so I didn't see them as a choking hazard, and they looked like pretty fun toys," she said.

But she soon discovered the tiny toys could do a huge amount of damage.

She said the first sign something was wrong was when Frankie complained of his stomach being sore and then started vomiting.

Over the next week, it took four trips to hospital before doctors figured out what was going on inside Frankie's body.

"They decided to go in for surgery with a camera, to see what they could find, she said.

Too small to show up in an ultrasound, medics discovered the high-powered magnets had dug into the two-year-old's organs and torn a hole in his digestive system.

"They managed to find 22 in total, around his bowel and small intestine," she said.

He was in surgery for three hours at Sydney's Randwick Children's Hospital, and has made a full recovery.

The couple wants to warn other families of the dangers of the toys.

The magnets have been banned in Australia for 10 years but they can still be bought online and at market stalls.

The ACCC is urging anyone who spots them to get in touch so they can be taken off the shelves.

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