Boy, 10, eats icecream money

X-rays shows the $2 coin stuck in the boy's throat. Doctors anaethetised him and used tongs to retrieve it. Photo / Supplied

A 10-year-old boy's trip to the shop ended with a visit to hospital after he swallowed a $2 coin meant to buy icecreams.

The Tauranga boy and his brother and sister were on their way to buy an icecream on Sunday afternoon when he put the coin in his mouth.

The boy's father, Grayson Ottaway, said his son remembered swallowing the coin but nothing afterwards.

"It was a bit traumatic for him. We seem to think he was playing around and had it sitting in the side of his mouth. Maybe he was tying his shoelaces or something.

"He seems to remember when he swallowed it, then the instant reaction was that he vomited. It was that gag reflex."

Mr Ottaway, who did not want to name his son, said the boy continued to vomit when he got home.

"He was really violently ill, and of course his mother was wondering what the hell was going on," he said.

"She was thinking maybe it was something he'd eaten. Then he said, 'Mum, what happens if you swallow a bit of metal?"'

He was taken to Tauranga Hospital where an x-ray showed the coin wedged in his oesophagus.

"They looked at the x-ray and saw where it was and said there's no way he's going to be able to cough that up."

The boy was taken to Waikato Hospital where doctors put him under a general anaesthetic and used tongs to retrieve the coin.

"It literally took 15 minutes, if that," Mr Ottaway said.

Yesterday, his son had a bit of a sore throat but was back to normal, and a "chirpy little bugger".

"He's absolutely fine now," his father said.

Waikato Hospital clinical nurse manager Diana Knight said she had seen children who had swallowed pins, coins and keys.

If a child had swallowed something and it was lodged in the throat, provided they were still breathing people should try to keep the child calm, conscious and alert.

"If the child is unconscious, turn them over and give them firm pats on the back, this may dislodge the object enough to allow air in. Take the child to an emergency department."

She said the best advice for parents, particularly of babies who were crawling, was to vacuum regularly and keep things off the floor.

Clinical unit leader John Bonning said the most dangerous thing for any child to swallow was button batteries, which had to be removed surgically.