What should I do if my child chokes? How to provide first aid?

A person can choke or drown almost always and everywhere. This occurs when an alien object enters the larynx, trachea and bronchi, blocking the flow of air and seriously impeding breathing. Such a case can lead to severe brain hypoxia, coma, and in extreme cases - even immediate death.

Few parents know about the consequences of trivial choking, and do not know how to help the health and life of the child. Find out what the first aid is in this dangerous situation.

Your first steps

Do not panic, act! First, always in a situation where the child has choked, you need to seek help - as soon as possible to call the doctors.

Before the professionals arrive, you must first make sure that the child's mouth has no visible foreign objects that can interfere with breathing. If this is the case, try removing the foreign body with one finger. If this is not possible, do not try again and again to remove the object blindly - almost certainly it can push it deeper into the respiratory tract, which will further exacerbate the situation!

instagram viewer

So, if you did not find a foreign object in your mouth or could not get it, listen carefully how the child coughs:

if it is an effective cough - loud, sonorous, and the baby cries and answers your signals, so he can gain air inlungs. Fix the head of the child in your hands, raise it up and ask it to "cough up" the foreign body. In most cases it releases the airways;

if the cough is ineffective - quiet, the baby can not breathe and scream, his skin turns blue - you have to urgently help him.

Helping babies

If your baby is only a few weeks or months old, you need to act quickly. We have compiled a detailed instruction for such cases.

Sit down. Take the child in your arms and place on one forearm on your stomach in such a way that your hand holds his chin. Hold the baby's head with your other hand.

Now you need to hit the child a few times with the inside of the palm in the area between the blades - a foreign object should pop out.

Turn the baby on his back and see if the foreign body has been removed.

If not - 5 times, press two fingers on the baby's chest just above the point where the ribs connect to the sternum. With your other hand, fix the baby's head. In intervals between the pressure, slap the child between the shoulder blades and press on the chest until the foreign body falls out or the child loses consciousness.

Most likely, as a result of all these actions the baby's airways will be released, and the threat of life will disappear. Otherwise, during this time, while you will provide first aid, professional doctors will come.

Helping children aged two years

Children who have emerged from infancy, need assistance in case of asphyxiation in a different way.

Tilt the patient and 5 times with an open palm, strike him strongly between the shoulder blades. If he can not sit, you can put it across his knees.

If this does not help, sit down, spread your knees to the sides. The child should be between your divorced legs in front of you. Put your hands under the baby's arms, grasp it by the torso. One hand squeezes into a fist, the other hand cover this fist. Now push hard 5 times on the upper abdomen - about half the distance between the navel and the end of the sternum. Movements should be directed towards themselves, and be very sharp. Alternately perform 5 strokes between the shoulder blades and 5 compressions of the abdominal cavity. Between each movement, check to see if the foreign body has left the body.

If your child has lost consciousness, and all your actions have not produced results, put the patient on a flat surface. Hold the kid's forehead with one hand and raise the chin with the other hand. This will open the airways and give you the opportunity to check whether there is a foreign body in the visible vicinity. If you find a foreign object, remove it with your finger.

So that your child does not die from lack of oxygen, grasp his mouth with his mouth and blow out the air on exhalation. In this case, pay attention to the child's nose was blocked - to do this, clasp his nostril with his hand. This step prevents the escape of the necessary air. Your breathing should lift the baby's chest and last about 1-1.5 seconds. Perform a series of 5 breaths. If the chest does not rise, check to see if the child's head lies correctly( the chin should be raised).

If the previous 5 attempts at inhaling and exhaling failed, perform 30 chest compressions with one hand. This should be just above the place where the edges meet together. Movement should be very fast - 30 pressure should be done in 20 seconds. Then check whether there is a foreign body in the mouth, and whether it is possible to remove it with your hands. If not - make 2 more artificial breaths and 30 more pressure on the sternum.

If the child is more or less an adult, you can do an indirect heart massage using both hands. Continue these actions until the end. If you manage to remove the foreign body from the respiratory tract, if on any of your attempts to make artificial respiration a small patient lifted his chest or the child began to move and cough - put it on its side and wait for the arrival of an ambulance.

Even if you have been very successful and quick to provide first aid, the child must be examined by a doctor who will determine if any internal injuries have caused choking and whether foreign objects have remained in the respiratory tract.