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Parent Education - Caring for Kids

What To Do With Choking Child

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Caring for Kids Article Archive

Most parents know what to do to prevent their child from choking, but many don't know what to do once they are choking.

Every year more than 3,000 people, including some children, choke to death, according to the American Red Cross. In 2000, 634 children under the age of 14 died from choking on both food items, like hot dogs, grapes, nuts and raisins, and non-food objects, such as toys, balloons and coins.

Thousands more go to the emergency room after choking-related incidents. In fact, in 2001, 17,500 children were treated in hospitals after some kind of choking event.

"Airway obstruction is the leading cause of unintentional injury in children under the age of one," says Karen Hardingham, a coordinator of SAFE KIDS Baltimore at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children.

Here are the steps recommended by the American Heart Association to prevent airway obstruction in an infant:

  1. Hold the infant face down on your forearm, with the infant's head in your hand (rest your arm on leg or lap for support).
  2. Deliver up to 5 back blows with the heel of your free hand.
  3. Turn the infant over and give up to 5 chest thrusts (on the lower half of the breastbone).
  4. Alternate 5 back blows and 5 chest thrusts until the object is expelled or the infant becomes unresponsive.
  5. If the infant becomes unresponsive, begin CPR. Each time you open the airway, look for a foreign object (remove it if seen). Continue rescue breaths and chest compressions.
  6. Phone 911 after about 1 minute of rescue support.

Here are the American Heart Association's steps for clearing an airway in an older child:

  1. Ask "Are you choking?" If yes, ask: "Can you speak?" If no, tell the child you are going to help.
  2. Kneel or stoop to stand behind the child, wrapping your arms around the child.
  3. Make a fist with one hand; hold it with the other hand against the center of the child's abdomen, between the navel and ribs.
  4. Provide abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuver) until the object is expelled or the child becomes unresponsive.
  5. If the child becomes unresponsive, begin CPR. Each time you open the airway, look for a foreign object (remove it if seen). Continue rescue breaths and chest compressions.
  6. Phone 911 after about 1 minute of rescue support.

Parents may want to take a CPR class to learn more about these skills and basic life support.


This page was last updated on: May 15, 2007.

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