It’s only taken me two scares in the past week for me to buckle down and see exactly what I should do if a child is choking. My daughter is so tiny, we often have to force her to eat. This week we told her she couldn’t put her nightgown on until she finished her dinner (yes, she’s totally obsessed with her princess nightgowns), so she stuck a huge portion of a cheese stick into her mouth and started gagging and threw up. Even for that less than a second when I thought she was choking, I was freaking out. I YouTubed choking right away and I came across this video:
http://youtu.be/lehmZgaFMH8
This sums up the video a little of what you should do:
- If child is sitting, make them stand
- Explain to child that you are going to use the Heimlich Maneuver
- Make a fist and put above pelvic line
- Do an upward thrust rapidly and forcefully trying to release what is stuck and to get air
- If this doesn’t work, lay victim over hand
- Deliver back blows with the other hand
- If this doesn’t work and child becomes unconscious, lower victim to ground and straddle victim and place hands on belly and drive up and place hands on belly upward forcefully towards head
Even if you aren’t a parent, you should watch this. Recently, we had friends
watch our kids that don’t have children yet, therefore it would have been
useful for them too!
About Dana Patterson
I'm an energetic SAHM of two fun little girls! It's never a dull moment with kids 21 months apart. I love life and enjoy cooking, working out and just hanging with my family.
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