Choking babies: know the causes, how to help and how to prevent them

Choking occurs when a foreign object becomes lodged in the throat or esophagus and blocks the flow of air. Babies and toddlers often choke from swallowing small objects while playing or while eating and drinking.

This situation requires help as soon as possible because it can endanger lives. Here's how to help babies and children who choke along with a complete explanation of the situation.

Why do babies choke?

Citing the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the most common cause of choking incidents is food that goes into the mouth. Generally, choking is most commonly caused by nuts, sausages, and pieces of fruit or vegetables.

Most choking deaths in children aged 3 years and infants are caused by toys and children's products. At least in the United States, one child dies every 5 days from choking.

However, choking is also very common in babies because they swallow their own saliva while sleeping. This is because the baby's saliva is thick, due to a lack of fluids.

If the baby's saliva is a little runny, then choking is less likely. Your baby will also choke if forced to breastfeed during the baby's bedtime because he is too sleepy.

In general, several conditions that make babies prone to choking include:

• The baby is still unable to control the food in his mouth.
• Babies do not have wisdom teeth that can help destroy food.
• The size of the baby's airway is still limited.
• High curiosity so he often put anything in his mouth.

You need to get help immediately when the baby is choking and do not leave him alone for too long.

How to help babies and children when choking

Choking is a situation that is very quick and requires immediate help and cannot be resolved by simply doing baby massage.

How to help a choking baby is different from older children. The following is the full explanation.

First aid babies choke less than one year old

If your baby cries, coughs, or can still make sounds, let him cough to try to get the object out on his own. However, keep an eye on them.

If you can see the object, try to slowly remove it. Do not poke aimlessly or repeatedly with your fingers.

Doing so will only make the situation worse by pushing the object further down the throat. As a result, objects are increasingly difficult to remove.

If the baby is unable to make a sound, coughs or cries, here's what you should do:

1. Sit on a chair, then lay the baby on his stomach, leaning forward in your arms so that it is over your thighs. That way the position of his head will be lower than his chest.
2. Hold the baby from the front firmly using the palm of your hand, trying to prevent the position of the head from wilting against the thigh.
3. Use the heel of your hand to strike between the shoulder blades of the child's shoulder five times.

Help babies choke (1-3) source: www.webmd.com

4. If the foreign object does not come out, support the baby's head and turn it over to face you while keeping the head lower than his chest. This position is similar to burping a baby.

5. Place 2-3 fingers under the nipple line and just above the sternum, then give a quick five chest jolt.

Steps to help babies who are choking (4-5) source: www.webmd.com

6. Continue to repeat the back clapping and chest jerking movements, each 5 times and alternating. Do this until the foreign object is completely removed or until the baby passes out.

If the victim's airway is still blocked after performing the above technique, or experiences loss of consciousness, seek medical help immediately and contact the hospital.

The Heimlich maneuver to help choking children and adults

This technique is only performed for children over 1 year old and adults. There are several things to consider in the Heimlich technique:

1. Stand behind the person who is choking

First, you need to stand behind the person and position yourself on one side of the person.

If the person is in a standing position, place one of your feet between them so that you can support the person if they pass out.

2. Hug around the waist

Wrap your arms around his waist in a hugging position, clenching one fist.

Position the outer side of the thumb facing the person's stomach, above the navel but not near the sternum. See the image below:

Source: WebMD

3. Give it a jolt

Give a hard and fast upward jolt into the stomach. This movement can cause the stuck foreign object to jump out.

You may need to use more energy for people who are large in build, and less energy for small adults or children (over one year of age).

Source: WebMD

Repeat jerking until the foreign object is completely removed or until the person passes out.

However, the method above is slightly different if the person choking is pregnant or has a large posture (overweight or obese).

The trick, position your fist right at the end of the sternum, then do a jerk pointing in and up several times until they can vomit the object.

Items and food that often make babies choke

When choking, the reflex that often occurs is coughing and vomiting objects or food that enter the mouth.

This reflex protects the baby from choking. However, because your little one's throat is very narrow compared to adults, choking can be a serious problem.

There are several types of food and objects that can cause choking on your little one.

Foods that can cause the baby to choke

The types of food below can trigger choking in your little one, quoted from Kids Health:

• Round foods such as grapes or candy
• Whole sausages
• Sticky foods such as candy, marshmallows, or those containing caramel
• Diced or round cheese
• Chips
• Small cakes or cookies
• Peanut butter
• Fruits that can be eaten with the skin (apples)
• Popcorn

Avoid the above foods so that your little one doesn't choke. But if you want to give fruit, adjust it to the size and soft texture so that the baby is easy to chew and swallow.

Toys and small objects can cause choking for children

Children's toys are a source of choking for babies and toddlers. Generally, toys made from latex or rubber can cause babies and toddlers to choke when played.

Sometimes rubber material also damages the baby's skin so it requires a way to care for the baby's skin.

The following is a list of items that pose a choking hazard to children and should be placed out of reach of children.

• Small balloon, battery or bolt
• Bottle caps and coins
• Doll accessories
• Eraser
• Jewelry (earrings or rings)
• Toys with small parts

Make sure to keep above items out of reach of babies and children as this is dangerous.

Tips to prevent babies from choking on food and toys

To reduce the risk of a baby choking, there are several ways parents can take preventative measures. Here are some things you can do, quoting from the Mayo Clinic:

Introduce solid foods

Introduce your baby to solid food, at least when he is 4 months old according to the doctor's recommendation or when complementary foods. Do not give him solid food until he has the motor skills to swallow it.

Avoid foods that have the risk of choking on your baby

Avoid offering foods that have a high risk of choking on your baby, such as cheese, wine, and vegetables that are still large in size. Unless the food has been cut into small pieces.

Also be careful with foods such as grains, nuts, candy, gum, marshmallows, and other foods as previously mentioned.

Be there when the baby is eating

As the baby gets older, accompany him during meal times. Don't allow him to eat while walking, running, playing. Remind him to swallow his food first before speaking.

Do not allow him to play throwing food into the air and catch it with his mouth and other activities that have the potential to make him choke.

Remove bones and spines from food

When serving food to your little one, always remove bones or thorns from the diet. Both have the potential to make the baby choke while chewing and swallowing.

Give a guide for chewing

Teach your baby how to chew and swallow food the right way. Teach him to take small pieces, chew them, and eat slowly.

Make sure the baby is fully conscious while eating

Parents need to make sure the baby is not sleepy while eating because of the potential for choking. Even though it looks cute, it is dangerous to keep feeding it when it is sleepy.

Keep toys and small objects away

Toys and small objects have the potential to get into the baby's mouth and choke him.

It is important to keep small objects out of the reach of the baby as they can be played with them without the parents knowing. It is important to make a safe house for children so they can play without worry.

Teach babies not to put toys in their mouth

The oral phase is included in baby development, but you still teach your little one not to put toys in the mouth.

Tell him slowly what kind of toys to put in the mouth, such as teether and do not include small hard toys such as marbles.

Teether including newborn equipment included in to train your little one's oral abilities.

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