When it comes to feeding babies and young children, parents must exercise extreme caution. If parents do not administer treatment to clear the blockage, even a small grape can easily choke a child to death in minutes.
Simple things like cutting the children’s food into small pieces and supervising them at meal times. If they choke on a small piece of food, they should encourage the child to cough; they can usually dislodge it on their own.
A simple backslap is often enough to dislodge it, and it usually works very well.
Not long ago, our MD was in a coffee shop with a friend when a child began to choke on a piece of muffin cake.
He noticed that everyone was watching this child go blue and doing absolutely nothing to help this child in distress.
Our MD went over to the child’s mother and explained that he was a first responder and needed her consent to administer the child’s choking treatment.
The child received treatment after obtaining permission.
Here is the blog on what happened that day.
Did you know our NHS has a helpful guide on what to do when a small child chokes? It doesn’t replace actual first-aid training, but it may be a helpful guide.
Giving backslaps to a choking child won’t harm them, but if you don’t have any first aid training, giving abdominal or chest thrusts to a baby or small child can cause serious harm. Always ensure the child or adult receives medical attention.
