What To Do If Your Child Is Choking

Who hasn’t glanced away for a second only to look back and find your child popping a small chokeable item into their mouth?

Our child choking is one of our greatest fears but how many of us can say we would know what to do if the situation arrived? From small toys to food, batteries and buttons, it can seem like everything is a potential threat to our children. But as they say knowledge is power and in the case of a child choking, knowing what to do really can make the difference between life and death.

To arm you have the power of knowledge we asked Jenni Dunman, founder of Daisy First Aid, who offer fun and fear-free first aid courses designed specifically for parents, to provide her tips on what to do if your child starts to choke.

• Babies love to explore new objects with their mouths. Whether it is to examine new tastes or textures, or to help little teeth emerge, mouthing is a great experience for your baby, so ensure that any play objects are safe, unbreakable and are too big to fit inside the mouth. If you are weaning, you may find that your baby occasionally gags on even the most pureed food. The sensitive gag reflex allows the food to move forward into the mouth and its quite normal.

• If an object or food does get stuck in the throat and your baby is coughing, it is called ‘partial blockage’. Remember, if your baby can cough then they can continue to cough until the blockage clears.

• You will know if your baby is choking if they are unable to cough, cry or breathe. In this case, you should quickly take the following steps.: sit down and lay baby face down along your thigh supporting their head. Give up to five sharp blows between their shoulder blades with the heel of your hand.

• Check the mouth for the object. If you can confidently pick it out with your fingertips then do so, but take great care not to push it in further.

Baby Back Blows

Baby Chest Thrusts

• If the back blows do not clear the blockage, give up to five chest thrusts: with your baby laid face up along the length of your thigh, put two fingers just below the centre of the chest and push inwards up to five times. Check their mouth regularly and remove the object if possible. If choking persist, repeat back blows and chest thrusts until you dislodge the object and they can breathe. Call for help as soon as possible.

Classes with Daisy First Aid are £25.00 per attendee and further information can be found at daisyfirstaid.com.