Caring for a choking baby is a critical skill that can potentially save a life. For some people witnessing this, it’s their worst nightmare and can be a very confronting experience. It’s important that first-time parents know how to identify a choking situation or emergency in babies and deal with it effectively. Knowing what to do can help you stay focused and less stressed when you need to act.

Children aged 0 to 4 years old have the highest rates of hospitalization because of a choking incident compared to any other age group. This makes perfect sense considering that babies have yet to learn the risks of putting foreign objects in their mouths. Because of this, it’s important for parents to educate themselves and be prepared for choking situations. We will outline how to identify the common causes, signs, and symptoms of choking in a baby, and how to deliver first aid in a choking situation.

Common Choking Hazards for Babies:

Food:

• Transitioning a baby’s diet from liquid to solids is important, but make sure to cut foods such as grapes into quarters to minimize choking risks. Vegetables need to be cooked until soft and then cut into small pieces. Take care when feeding nuts, seeds, popcorn, and chunks of meat and cheese to a baby. Always monitor a baby while they are eating and take care in food preparation to avoid any choking risks.

Household Items:

• Historically, button batteries have been a dangerous choking hazard for babies. Thankfully, these battery types are becoming less common, but you should still be aware of the risk. Button batteries not only can cause choking but also can burn the mouth and throat. It is important to put sticky tape around both sides of a button battery before disposing of it. This will reduce the chance of a baby choking on a button battery and also reduce the risk of the battery catching fire.

• Coins, pen caps and lids, toys with small parts, and jewellery are also common objects that babies are at risk of choking on. As a first-time parent, it’s important to keep your baby’s environment safe from any of these potential choking hazards. Ensure your baby is playing with age-appropriate toys.

Recognising the Signs of Choking in a Baby:

• Inability to cry or make noise.

• Difficulty breathing or noisy breathing.

• Skin, lips, or nails turning blue.

• Weak, ineffective coughing and gagging.

• Loss of consciousness if a blockage is not cleared.

What do do if your Baby is Choking:

1. Call your emergency service number such as ‘000’, ‘112’, or ‘911’. Place your phone on loudspeaker so you can care for your baby while speaking to emergency services.

2. Place the baby in the recovery position and administer 5 back blows while checking the baby’s airways (pictured below) to dislodge the object.

3. If the blockage hasn’t cleared, place the baby on a flat surface and perform chest thrusts using two fingers.

4. Alternate back blows and chest thrusts until the baby stops choking or until emergency services arrive.

It is important to continuously monitor a baby after a choking incident. If your baby becomes unconscious and stops breathing, call emergency services and start performing CPR immediately.

Learning baby first aid is an invaluable skill for first-time parents, as it prepares them for future situations, enabling them to know how to act in an emergency.