Choking in children is a frequent accident that can lead to death. For this reason, the best alternative is to prevent this type of accident, mainly through the supervision of food and play, as well as leaving small solids out of reach of children.
According to available data, it is estimated that choking in children is one of the most common accidents and the third cause of unnatural death, both in childhood and in old age. For this reason, it is necessary to act on two fronts: prevention and approach.
Choking prevention in children is the best alternative . Since it is a situation that can lead to death, it is best to eliminate the risks of this happening. Mainly after four months of age, when it becomes a latent danger. Just try to keep your children busy in arts that will help them.
If it is still not possible to avoid choking in children, it is important to know what to do to prevent the consequences from being serious . There are simple first aid measures that can save the little one's life and, therefore, we must know.
Most of these cases of obstruction occur in children under 3 years . The highest peak appears in children between 6 and 12 months . Almost always the foreign object that chokes is a food, which very often corresponds to a dried fruit or a hard candy.
Other dangerous foods are meat and sausages , as well as bones and bones. Because of their texture and shape, sausages also carry a lot of risk. In general, any solid object that fits in the child's mouth is also dangerous.
If a choking occurs in a child despite preventive measures, the first thing to do is keep calm. This allows a quick assessment of the situation to know what to do . When the child is choked, the first thing he can do is cough, talk or cry.
If the child coughs, it is best to let him do it and encourage him to continue. Sometimes an inappropriate intervention makes the foreign object move and is more difficult to extract. Avoid hitting his back, pressing his abdomen or giving him something to drink. When the child coughs inefficiently, it is appropriate to call emergencies and while they go, do the following:
Thinking that one of our children is suffocating is scary. That is why it is very important that we take some simple steps to reduce the risk of this happening.
The most important thing is that we keep out of reach of small children objects that by their dimensions can get stuck in their throat . Among these objects are coins , small toys and game pieces , peanuts , non-inflated balloons and grains ; A good parameter is that if an object fits inside the roll of the toilet paper, it is small enough to cause suffocation.
Among the recommendations that the American Academy of Pediatrics to prevent asphyxiation in children under three years of age is that adults should avoid giving them:
Another good idea is not to allow children to eat away from the table. Many cases of suffocation occur because children are feeding and playing at the same time. It is always very useful to learn with specialists and practice the Himlich maneuver (emergency technique to prevent suffocation when a person's airway is blocked) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) .
Choking, a situation in which pulmonary breathing is affected, is explained by a lack of oxygen in the air or by the inability of it to reach the lungs.
Air oxygen cannot reach the lungs when the airways are clogged, both by external and internal situations.
External causes: It is called suffocation and consists of plugging the nose and mouth, or the inability to move the rib cage. (for example: strangulation or hanging)
Internal causes: It can be due to solid objects or liquids.
Solids: They come from the outside accidentally or by choking food.
Liquids: Vomiting; or, if the liquid comes from the outside, by immersion of the head in the water (suffocation by drowning).
Children killed in Chile by asphyxiation by immersion represent the first cause of death due to accidents.
The places of occurrence vary according to age, among those under 2 years of age the accident originates inside the house or in its immediate vicinity such as in the bathtub or in buckets or containers of liquids available in homes. In preschoolers drowning occurs in swimming pools or water courses near the home (ditches, canals).
Among adolescents and older children, this circumstance occurs in rivers, lakes, at sea, during recreational or sporting activities, and often under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and preferably affecting male children.
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| Choking In Children: What To Do And How To Prevent It? |
According to available data, it is estimated that choking in children is one of the most common accidents and the third cause of unnatural death, both in childhood and in old age. For this reason, it is necessary to act on two fronts: prevention and approach.
Choking prevention in children is the best alternative . Since it is a situation that can lead to death, it is best to eliminate the risks of this happening. Mainly after four months of age, when it becomes a latent danger. Just try to keep your children busy in arts that will help them.
If it is still not possible to avoid choking in children, it is important to know what to do to prevent the consequences from being serious . There are simple first aid measures that can save the little one's life and, therefore, we must know.
Choking in children
More precisely, choking in children is the obstruction of the airway due to a foreign body . In the worst case, the airways are completely obstructed, which stops air from reaching the lungs and death ensues. Parents should keep an eye on their kids.Most of these cases of obstruction occur in children under 3 years . The highest peak appears in children between 6 and 12 months . Almost always the foreign object that chokes is a food, which very often corresponds to a dried fruit or a hard candy.
Other dangerous foods are meat and sausages , as well as bones and bones. Because of their texture and shape, sausages also carry a lot of risk. In general, any solid object that fits in the child's mouth is also dangerous.
Prevention measures
Choking in children has an unpredictable outcome, and that is why it is best to prevent it. The first thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of these cases occur at the time of eating, or when children are playing . So it is essential to supervise the little ones in these activities.Other prevention measures are as follows:
- Take care of complementary food and avoid some foods: nuts and those with bone, such as cherries or plums, should not be made available to children before they turn 5, or we are sure they know how to eat them.
- Small objects and toys: small solid objects should not be left within the reach of children, such as batteries or marbles. Special care must be taken with balloons and similar toys, because of their material they are easily fixed and obstruct the airway .
- Rules during the meal: children should eat sitting at the table and not lying down. Nor while running and playing. You have to teach them to chew properly.
- Avoid necklaces: children should never wear necklaces, much less if they are small balls or objects.
What to do in case of choking in children?
If a choking occurs in a child despite preventive measures, the first thing to do is keep calm. This allows a quick assessment of the situation to know what to do . When the child is choked, the first thing he can do is cough, talk or cry.
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| Choking In Children: What To Do And How To Prevent It? |
If the child coughs, it is best to let him do it and encourage him to continue. Sometimes an inappropriate intervention makes the foreign object move and is more difficult to extract. Avoid hitting his back, pressing his abdomen or giving him something to drink. When the child coughs inefficiently, it is appropriate to call emergencies and while they go, do the following:
- Stand it up and make it tilt your head .
- Pass one arm below the child's armpit and hold the chest with the hand .
- With the other hand hit the upper part of the child's back between the shoulder blades . You should use the bottom of the palm and do not give more than five strokes.
Heimlich maneuver
If the child does not eject the choked object, what follows is to perform the Heimlich maneuver up to five times in a row . This is done as follows:- You must stand behind the child and surround the waist with your arms .
- Close one of the hands, in the form of a fist, putting the knuckle of the thumb on the navel , at the level of the mouth of the stomach .
- With the other hand you must cover the fist and make a strong pressure in and up .
- If the child is unconscious, 30 chest pressures are appropriate, followed by two air insufflations in the child's mouth, keeping his nose covered. This, until help arrives.
Thinking that one of our children is suffocating is scary. That is why it is very important that we take some simple steps to reduce the risk of this happening.
The most important thing is that we keep out of reach of small children objects that by their dimensions can get stuck in their throat . Among these objects are coins , small toys and game pieces , peanuts , non-inflated balloons and grains ; A good parameter is that if an object fits inside the roll of the toilet paper, it is small enough to cause suffocation.
Among the recommendations that the American Academy of Pediatrics to prevent asphyxiation in children under three years of age is that adults should avoid giving them:
- Sausages and hot dogs whole. If they are going to give a child they must be cut.
- Rubber candies and other hard candies such as nuts, seeds and popcorn.
- Thick pieces of peanut butter.
- Raw crispy vegetables, like carrots or celery.
- Cherry tomatoes or whole grapes. The correct way to serve them to a small child is room matches.
- In general, large pieces of meat, fruits, raw vegetables or potatoes.
Another good idea is not to allow children to eat away from the table. Many cases of suffocation occur because children are feeding and playing at the same time. It is always very useful to learn with specialists and practice the Himlich maneuver (emergency technique to prevent suffocation when a person's airway is blocked) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) .
Choking, a situation in which pulmonary breathing is affected, is explained by a lack of oxygen in the air or by the inability of it to reach the lungs.
Air oxygen cannot reach the lungs when the airways are clogged, both by external and internal situations.
 |
| Choking In Children: What To Do And How To Prevent It? |
External causes: It is called suffocation and consists of plugging the nose and mouth, or the inability to move the rib cage. (for example: strangulation or hanging)
Internal causes: It can be due to solid objects or liquids.
Solids: They come from the outside accidentally or by choking food.
Liquids: Vomiting; or, if the liquid comes from the outside, by immersion of the head in the water (suffocation by drowning).
Children killed in Chile by asphyxiation by immersion represent the first cause of death due to accidents.
The places of occurrence vary according to age, among those under 2 years of age the accident originates inside the house or in its immediate vicinity such as in the bathtub or in buckets or containers of liquids available in homes. In preschoolers drowning occurs in swimming pools or water courses near the home (ditches, canals).
Among adolescents and older children, this circumstance occurs in rivers, lakes, at sea, during recreational or sporting activities, and often under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and preferably affecting male children.
In general, in the case of children, the main causes of suffocation are:
- Introduction by mouth and nose of objects with a diameter greater than that of the airways (buttons, balls, pins, stuffed eyes, small car wheels, etc.).
- External clogging of the airways by clothing or crib clothes.
- Suffocation by another human body (adult) during sleep.
- Wear on the neck ties or chains that hold pacifier and medals.
- Inappropriate clothes (long scarves)
- Use of plastic bags such as hoods or masks.
- Bath tubs and other containers with water.
- Recommendations to avoid choking and choking:
Inside the house:
- Do not sleep in the same bed adults and infants.
- Do not use bedding that makes throttling possible (eg, sheets that are too long, nightgowns, clothes with narrow necks, etc.).
- Do not lay a small child on a soft cushion or pillow-like surface as it can suffocate, or lie on a surface wrapped in plastic because if you put your mouth on it you could choke.
- Do not let long telephone wires hang to the floor.
- Tie all the drawstrings of the curtains and roller blinds, or cut the ends of these and secure them on the wall with special fasteners, out of the reach of children.
- Install stops for the laces of the roller blinds.
- Do not leave any plastic bags within your child's reach, because if you put it in your mouth, or put it on your head, you could suffocate. It is a good habit to make several knots to plastic bags before throwing them away or storing them, because that way the child cannot put them through his head.
In the bathroom:
- Just a few cubic centimeters of water is enough for a child to drown.
- Keep the toilet covered and keep the bathroom door closed at all times.
- Never leave your child alone in the bathtub because he could drown easily, just lose your balance and soak your head in the water.
- If you had to leave the bathroom to do something else, do not leave your child in the care of another child because it is dangerous, take it out of the bathtub, take it in arms wrapped in a towel and do what you need.
- Do not leave your child alone while preparing the bathroom or any container is filling with water.
- Water safety is important. Children can drown very quickly and in a small amount of water, so full bath tubs, swimming pools and even water containers or laundry rooms can be dangerous.
Outside the house:
- The maximum security is given by the surveillance of your child by a responsible adult during the time he is taking a bath.
- If you have a plastic pool in your yard, always empty it after the bath, if you leave it full and unattended, a child can drown.
- Never let children bathe in a pool without your supervision even if they have a float or "wings." The use of these utensils can produce a sense of false security, as they can deflate, break or break out of the child.
- All public and private pools should have a high fence completely surrounding them, with a security lock that prevents access to all children when there is no adult watching. Make sure there are no nearby objects that can help jump the fence.
- If you have a pool in your garden, install a fence or fence that is a minimum of 1.5 meters high around all sides of the pool, as well as an automatic closing door whose lock is out of reach of the child.
- Remove all toys from the pool area once the children have finished swimming to prevent them from trying to recover them when they are not under supervision.
- Inflatable devices such as lifeguards, floats, boats and float tubes can provide a false sense of flotation and are not effective in protecting a child from drowning. Never use these objects as substitutes for supervision.
- Remove all stairs that are near a pool that is higher than the surface when it is no longer being used.
- Do not lose sight of the child in beaches and swimming pools with abundant crowds.
With the toys :
- Prevent young children from playing and handling small objects or those that can be disassembled into small pieces or are not recommended for their age.
- Be very careful with “button” batteries, because they can suffocate or swallow them, and in this case they could cause burns or poisoning.
- Do not leave without picking up small toys or other small objects that your child can put in his mouth and choke, such as coins.
- Make sure that the toys available to your young children do not have broken pieces and consist of large pieces. When buying toys, look at the appropriate age for use and the manufacturer's recommendations.
- Keep an eye on small or removable toys that the child can put in his mouth. This recommendation is relevant when children of different ages coexist, since older toys can be very dangerous for a baby.
- Choose boxes or trunks without a lid for toys.
With the clothes:
- Children can strangle or get caught in the least expected way; Even the laces of clothing.
- Do not put necklaces or bandages on your baby's head.
- Do not adjust your baby's clothing with laces that can get caught in toys or furniture and can strangle him. Cut all the laces of the hoods (hats), jackets and waistbands on your child's clothes.
- Do not tie a pacifier around the baby's neck. Also, do not attach it to your baby's clothes with a ribbon or cord.
- Remove the baby's bib before napping or bedtime.
With the food:
- Be careful with food, do not let it overfill or accumulate food in your mouth or eat in bed, explain that you should not talk, run, or laugh with your mouth full because you can choke.
- If your young child chokes, turn him face down and hit him hard on the back, between the shoulder blades, until he throws the object that caused the choking.
- It is inconvenient to give nuts (peanuts, almonds, pistachios, etc.) to children under 5 or 6 years, because if you choke on them, you can either suffocate or produce a lung injury due to the oil that these products distil.
- Products that, such as chewing gum or candy, have the shape and size of the child's airway and can cause choking in case of choking are also dangerous.
- Do not give your child food with a texture that is not appropriate for their age.
Alternatives in prevention :
- It is important to know that before a suffocation the time of action is very limited (3 minutes).
- In children between 1 and 9 years old, the main danger comes from swimming pools and water courses near the home, the accident occurs frequently when they play or walk along the edges. Therefore, constant and close supervision by responsible adults is required
- The main prevention measure is the use of bars or meshes that delimit the perimeter of swimming pools or channels, of a height not less than 1.5 meters, of structure that does not allow its scaling or transfer by minors, and that has a door safe.
- Recommend the use of individual life jackets, appropriate to the age and weight of children, in all circumstances, games or water sports, and during recreational activities near rivers, seas or lakes.
- The current recommendation is that swimming education only begin at the age of 5; This practice carried out at earlier ages carries proven risks, such as water poisoning, infections or seizures and gives a false and dangerous sense of security for parents and caregivers
Important, according to age:
- In children, dependent on adults: precautions with food (milk, porridge, chopped food), at the time of bathing, with cribs, mattresses, bedding and toys.
- Children who can move by their own means: precautions with food, at bath time, in the use of toys with small parts, curtain ropes and blinds, ropes, bars, plastic bags and swimming pools.
- Do not leave small or risky items near children, such as buttons, needles, pins, pointed scissors, plastic bags, balls, candies and seeds.
Choking In Children: What To Do And How To Prevent It?
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