What to do when choking in children
There is nothing that gives more fear to a father than the child can choke. There are many cases of choking in children and many of them with a happy ending. The choking of the children is something that can be de solved in an effective way by the parents whenever it is known to do correctly. Here I
There is nothing that gives more fear to a father than the child can choke. There are many cases of choking in children and many of them with a happy ending.
The choking of the children is something that can be de solved in an effective way by the parents whenever it is known to do correctly. Here I leave some
tips to prevent the child from choking , and the guidelines to follow when a child chokes.How to act when choking in children
The best way to help our children is to prevent choking from occurring.
Tips to avoid choking
- Do not cut the sausages in a circular way, as they may get stuck in the child's trachea.
- Avoid playing with
toys with small pieces .- Avoid making children laugh while eating.
- When they are very small we should not give them
caramels .- Do not play with plastic bags
.- Do not let them suck or bite the
inflatable balloons .What to do when choking in children
Common choking
is called Ovace in medical jargon, which stands for: obstruction of the airway by a foreign body, and can be triggered by a complete or partial obstruction of the airway by foreign bodies that normally are usually food. By performing the appropriate maneuvers, an accidental death can be avoided.
The most important thing is
to act fast , as soon as we hear the child cough, and he is still conscious.How can we know if he is drowning? A very characteristic choking gesture is when the child squeezes or holds his hands to his throat in a choking sensation.
As previously mentioned, we can find
2 types of obstruction: complete or partial. 1- When it presents an effective
cough : this means that the child still coughs and can breathe, even if he is distressed, so it is a partial or light obstruction of the airway.2- When you have an ineffective: cough:
means that you can cough but can not catch air, which means there is a complete or severe obstruction of the airway. In this case the child will not be able to speak or breathe , and if it is not solved quickly it can reach the loss of consciousness in a short time. How should we act before choking?The maneuvers that we are going to carry out will always be carried out on
children older than one year
, since babies can not obey the instructions we give them in this situation. Will act in different ways depending on how the child is:A) If the child
is conscious
and able to cough: 1. Encourage coughing, the more the better. 2.
Never hit him on the back.
B) If you do not react but are still conscious, but weakening or stop coughing :
1. Apply 5 blows to the back, between the child's scapulae, with the heel of the hand, and tilting the body of the child. child forward at the same time, and checking, after each stroke, whether this has been effective or not.
2. If the blows on the back were not effective, we will start with the Heimlich maneuver.
How to make the Heimlich maneuver in children It will be done in those childrenolder than one year
and that they can stand up on their own.
Keep in mind that the objective is to solve the obstruction with each clap or compression, it is not necessary to give 5 strokes if it has already been solved. The procedure is very similar in adults but with some differences: - We will place ourselves at a
proportional height of the child.
- We will surround the child with arms from behind and place our hands between the end of the thorax and the navel, in the area of the
mouth of the stomach - We will place the fist, with the thumb hacia inwards
, and holding it firmly with the other hand. - For the maneuver to be effective you should tilt the child slightly forward and apply
5 quick compressions inward and upward with the fist in a dry manner.- The procedure of 5 strokes on the back / 5 abdominal compressions may have to be repeated several times.
C) If it does not turn out to be effective and the child loses consciousness: 1. The first thing is to call the emergency services
. 2. We will place the child carefully on the floor. 3. We will revise the
inside the mouth
, in case the object could be removed. Only if it can be reached easily with a finger, we will insert the finger in the mouth of the child in the form of a hook, and we will drag outwards. If we see the object inside the mouth we will never try to put the fingerdown the throat, since we could introduce more the object and obstruct the airway more.
4. We will start CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuver as soon as possible (30 compressions / 2 ventilations).
