Do you know what to do if your baby or toddler is choking?

This past Saturday I had a scary, but eye opening experience. With our new baby being less than a week old, I was hesitant to go and watch the rugby at some friends (Lions vs Stormers). My wife convinced me to go (didn't take much convincing haha), and off me and my father in law go. We had scarcely got there and a lady that lives in the granny flat called out to the lady of the house. As soon as she called, I knew that something was wrong, I immediately also assumed that it was her 11 month old baby, and because I choked, and nearly died as a little boy, and because it is like one of my biggest fears for my children, I immediately assumed that the baby was choking. Well she came in with the baby boy and he was hardly breathing. Unresponsive and having convulsions. My father in law was a paramedic and a firefighter in his earlier life, so he immediately knew what to do. I had also experienced some trauma in my life, and we were able to assist. What we did for the baby seemed to help a bit until the paramedics came about 30 minutes later (typical), but the lady was really helpful though. Slowly but surely the baby regained consciousness, and the mom and the baby were taken in the ambulance to the hospital, and latest that I heard was that he was ok. Turns out that he wasn't choking, but we couldn't take a chance. We are still waiting for the latest, but it is probably something like epilepsy. Why am I writing this? Well, even though the baby did not choke, we followed a procedure that most likely could have assisted in saving the child's life. Choking had to be ruled out. I just thought for all those with kids, doesn't matter how old they are (I choked at age 9), do you know what to do in a situation like that?

I am going to share 3 possible helpful tips, this is not intended as professional medical advice, and if you are faced with an emergency, get help immediately. I cannot be held responsible for the use or the misuse of the info provided in this blog post. Researching this has also been a learning experience for me. I recommend you go for first aid training to be prepared for situations like this.

1 First thing that you should do, or well, shouldn't do is panic. Assess the situation quickly before or during acting on the situation. Time is precious, seek help immediately, however, there is some time, so don't do something impulsive that could endanger the child's life even further. The mother of the child literally froze up, she couldn't remember her son's name when the incident happened. This is a very difficult thing to do, but you have to, for the sake of your child, try to think soberly. After the heart stops, the brain can survive for approximately 6 minutes without oxygen. If cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) started within six minutes of cardiac arrest, the brain may survive the lack of oxygen. After about six minutes without CPR, however, the brain begins to die. Read more here. How long should cpr continue? Well, according to a new study cpr should continue up to 38 minutes after the heart has stopped. CPR allows for oxygen to circulate through the body and if the person regains consciousness within that time period, the person can survive without brain damage.

2 If the child is choking, you will pick it up by hearing a difference in breathing. You will also see the child's face turn red or blue. If the airway is completely blocked, act immediately by doing chest thrusts (seen below), while allowing for the airway to be open. The baby's body should be facing down at a slanted angle, with the throat opened. Do not hit the baby too hard so that the baby's lungs or bones are injured. The most primary object is to try to get the object out, and not pushed deeper down. If the baby is gagging, or coughing, let it continue as coughing is a very good way to expel obstructions to the airway. Some people have stated that using their fingers to dislodge an object may assist in the process. This is a controversial subject, and I feel like it should be a last resort. If you have to do it, make sure that you do not push the object further down, or that you damage the child's throat. The link in the next section can provide more useful info. Like I said, this is not intended as medical advice, but is a combination of some reading and research I have done as a non medical professional.

3 Monitor the pulse, if the pulse stop, start cpr, as stated above, start as soon as possible after the heart stopped to prevent brain damage. With a baby, place your two fingers on it's chest close to the heart area. Be gentle, but firm. You should give 30 chest compressions and 2 rescue breaths. This should continue until you see obvious signs of life. For more on this read here.

I hope none of you reading this will ever have to experience something like this, but if you do, make sure that you do not panic.

Image credit
https://www.babycenter.com/0_infant-first-aid-for-choking-and-cpr-an-illustrated-guide_9298.bc

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=first+aid&safe=active&rlz=1C1GGGE___ZA741ZA741&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjy67S9_bfaAhXCVhQKHXWOCOwQ_AUICigB&biw=1422&bih=631