Quick Guide: How to Help a Child When Choking?

Choking can cause serious injury to your baby. Below are some guidelines on what you are supposed to do if choking occurs.

Choking is the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury. It is estimated that it kills over 5,000 people in a year. In such a situation, having a quick response is so important since it is the only way that you will save the life of the individual. Since air will not be able to get into the lungs, there will be brain damage that can cause various health complications or even death in some cases. How you are supposed to respond to a choking situation depends on the age of the victim. For the caregivers who are taking care of the children and the adults, it is essential to know how they are supposed to react in such situations. As a parent, you can also get the skills by making sure you get online CPR first aid certification. The purpose of this article is to give you the necessary skills you need to handle a choking situation in your child.

What You Are Supposed to Do in the Case of Choking

The windpipe of a baby is in the size of a drinking straw. This means that if choking occurs, it can become a very dangerous hazard to the child.

It is essential for you to monitor how your child is feeding. Always make sure they remain in an upright position at all times when they are eating. The food should also be cut into small pieces to make sure that the swallowing is more comfortable. Also, make sure you are feeding the baby in small amounts and avoid rushing when you are feeding the child as this can cause choking.

The baby will put anything they will find around the house into their mouth. This includes the pens, shoes, clips and other everyday items they come across. Therefore, it is essential for you to make sure you have cleaned the floor at all times and get rid of any potential risk hazards.

The Procedure for Helping a Choking Baby:

Make Sure you Let the Baby Cough- Coughing is the only way that can help the kid to clear the airways.

Have a Close Look at the Choking Signs-When the baby is choking, they will be unable to cough or cry. In most cases, they will open the eyes and the skin will slowly turn red. If the kid does not show these signs, they may be as well suffering from something else.

Contact 911- It is essential for you to ask someone to call 911 or you can as well do it if you are not helping the kid. You should make sure you call 911 after about two minutes of administering treatment to the victim.

Carry Out Back Blows- You can carry it out by placing the baby to face down with your forearm at their chest. Use the other hand to hit the child gently in between the shoulder blades.

Carry Out Chest Thrusts- To carry out this, you can place the baby on your thigh while their face is still facing down. Place two or three fingers between their nipples and thrust by pushing the chest of the baby down in a smooth motion. You can carry out this for about five times.

Carry out 5 and 5- Carry out five back blows and five chest thrusts. It is also essential to check out the throat of the baby after carrying out each of the cycles.

Carry out CPR-If the kid becomes unconscious, you can place them on the ground and begin carrying out CPR to restore them.

Carrying out the Chest Compressions- When carrying out this, you need only to make sure you have placed the child on the ground and put two or three fingers near the nipples of the child. Carry out the compressions at the rate of two per second.

Give them Rescue Breaths- You can restore the breathing ability of the child by giving them your breath. You only need to seal the mouth of the baby and inhale air into their mouth. When carrying out this, make sure the chest of the child is rising to indicate they are in the right health condition.

Taking care of the baby when choking occurs is easier when you get online CPR first aid certification.