Choking Hazards: What To Do When Your Child Is Choking

Nobody prays to find their child gasping for air, but due to the nature of children, sometimes these things happen. Children are known for exploring and testing their limits just to satisfy their curious little minds.

Prevention is better than cure, so we all know the best way to avoid a choking hazard is to keep small objects out of a child’s reach as much as possible. Accidents do happen, no matter how careful you might be as you may not know when your child swallowed that bottle cover until she starts to choke.

A choking hazard can be life threatening and scary. One important thing to remember is to keep calm and follow these steps:

Step 1. Encourage the child to cough it out

Most children, when they are choking, will start to cough violently, holding there chests or neck. encourage the child to keep on coughing as hard as possible, as this might help to dislocate the object and push it out. If you how ever notice that the child’s coughing is not effective, you can proceed to step two.

 

 

Step 2. Back blows

Bend the child over, try keeping the back or torso a bit elevated and the neck and face towards the ground. Find a spot between the shoulder blades and blow the child forcefully at the spot to dislocate the object. These step is very efficient for children below one and toddlers, but can also be used for older children. If this still doesn’t help, you can proceed to step 3.

 

 

 

Step 3. Abdominal Thrusts

Place your fists at the child’s abdomen, you can use the child’s belly button as a landmark. Hold tightly and start to thrust inwardly, five times, or depending on how distraught the child is.

 

 

If the child has passed out, or is not really fussy you can open the child’s mouth, use your thumb to place the lower jaw down, hold the child’s neck and try to see if the object is visible, then try to pull it out. Be very sure to see the object, as just doing a finger sweep can push the object further down toward the throat. If it is successfully removed, and the child fell unconscious, try to perform CPR to revive the child back.

How To Perform CPR

• Place the baby on the back
• Position the tips of two or three fingers in the center of the baby’s chest while supporting the baby’s neck and head with your other hand.
• Use the thumb and fingers to hold the jaw as you sandwich the baby in between your forearms.
• Push straight down on the chest.
• You do not need to pinch the nose plugged as you would do with an adult. Instead, seal off the baby’s breathing passages by placing your entire mouth over his nose and mouth and blow air into the baby.
• Repeat the process as needed.

If all of this still doesn’t get the object out, proceed hastily to the nearest medial center near you. The closest is advised, because the child’s life is on the line.