Nanny Diaries: lessons in how to prevent a child from choking and saving them if they do

I had a scary incident last week.

One of my little ones was eating an apple, (chopped up) and suddenly began to choke.

There’s nothing prepares you for it, no amount of experience, but with training, you can act on pure instinct. (I’m paediatric first aid-trained)

Luckily I was sitting next to her. I’ve always sat next to children when they’re eating. For this purpose!

So I jumped up and banged on her back, hard, four times. The apple came flying out. In a million little pieces, looking innocent and harmless.

So why did she choke? Well we have two theories, one: the skin.

Apple skin can stick to the roof of a mouth or the inside of a throat.

Two: the amount of food in the mouth. Little cherub has always put too much food in her mouth at mealtimes, It’s a common toddler trait!

But it highlighted to me just how quickly it can happen.

The choking statistics are tragic.

A child dies from choking every year in the UK, it’s the leading cause of accidental death in under fives.

Food, especially round, solid items like grapes, sweets, pieces of sausage etc. is one of the most common things young children choke on.

So why?

Well, there’s a few reasons, Young children have smaller airways; even a tiny piece of food or an object can completely block a young child’s throat.

Young children also have an immature swallow and are still learning how to co-ordinate chewing, swallowing and breathing all together. (sometimes also playing a game at the same time!)skills only really developed much later.

They also have fewermolar teeth – not being able to properly grind food, - so they’re more likely to swallow pieces whole.

They’re often still learning pacing and patience, eating too fast and too much in a rush to go back and play! and they learn with their mouths.

Discovering new things via the sensory experience.

It's definitely a fact that being first aid trained is a bonus, but prevention is always better than cure, so chop food up, model safe eating habits like sitting down still to eat, chewing THEN swallowing.

Follow age recommendations for foods, toys etc and keep small objects out of reach.

Always stay close to your child when they eat and avoid balloons: one of the most dangerous things there is!