A Queensland toddler has had a lucky escape after swallowing 20 button batteries at her home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

Saphira Harwood, 2, found and tore open a packet of the batteries on Saturday evening and proceeded to eat them over a 20-minute sitting.

Mother Hope Summers discovered the open packet and realised what had happened, dialling triple-0 immediately.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 2 minutes 38 seconds 2 m 38 s Hear the triple-0 call Ms Summers made to the Queensland Ambulance Service. ( Supplied: QAS ) Download 2.4 MB

"I couldn't believe how quickly it had happened," she said.

"The fact that she told me they were 'yummy' is the scariest part of it."

When the ambulance arrived, Saphira was still her normal happy self.

"She was not showing any signs whatsoever of consuming these batteries," Ms Summers said.

Saphira Harwood and mother Hope were flown to Brisbane, where the little girl underwent surgery. ( Supplied: QAS )

Saphira was rushed to the Toowoomba hospital but when she started feeling pain was flown to Brisbane, where she underwent surgery to have the batteries removed.

The toddler sustained superficial burns to her stomach — Ms Summers said she came close to suffering permanent damage.

At that point, the batteries would have started leaking.

"She was already in that danger zone," Ms Summers said.

"I've been told repeatedly, if we waited until that stage, it would have been too late.

"They did not stuff around. The second we were in Brisbane, it was surgery."

Mr Hucker with mum Hope Summers and Saphira Harwood, 2, who is recovering after the ordeal on Saturday night. ( ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz )

Saphira is expected to pass up to three batteries that may still be in her bowel.

She will have another X-ray this week to make sure the batteries are gone.

"[It was a ] very scary time and I am just grateful she's come out the other end with only minor damage," Ms Summers said.

Queensland Ambulance Service clinical director Tony Hucker said if it was not for the quick thinking of Ms Summers, the situation could have been a lot worse.

Saphira was rushed to a local hospital but had to be airlifted to Brisbane when she started experiencing pain. ( ABC News: Louisa Rebgetz )

"She's really lucky," he said.

"She's lucky she's got a great mum. Hope recognised the problem really quickly and acted really quickly.

"Button batteries are silent killers."

Mr Hucker said if the battery gets stuck in the oesophagus, it starts burning straight away and can be fatal.

Signs of ingestion can be subtle, from a cough, chest pain, or a child being off their food.

"We should try to avoid products with button batteries if we can," he said.

"If you have button batteries in devices — and there is a range of devices from Christmas cards through to thermometers, to little pen lights and so on — they need to be child proof."

Nationally 20 children end up in emergency departments every week and about one child every month had a severe injury from an ingestion.

Ms Summers said she had the batteries in the house for one of Saphira's toys, but she had now thrown them all out.

"They've all disappeared from my house now, never again," she said.