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Original poster

OMG - choking baby

20 replies

basketcase · 15/04/2005 13:56

About half an hour my baby was choking on bread - she went red then purply and blue, retching and choking, eyes bulging - just horrendous.
We were sitting down to lunch (DD1 and 2 and me) eating wholemeal bread cheese sarnies and DD2 (only 16 months) started coughing and making retching noises, ran round to pat her on the back, realised it was more serious, turned her over and gave firm pats on back, no good, checked her mouth, nothing obvious, still choking (felt like an hour by now) and turned her over on my knee, face down and belted her hard, finally dislodged some bread and she recovered quickly. She is now watching Cbeebies happily with her sister while I recover in the corner with a coffee.
I am still shaking - I have never felt so helpless and so surreal watching her choking and failing to help her. I can?t believe how long it went on for before she stopped

OP posts:

Evesmama · 15/04/2005 13:58

hope you are both ok?

MrsDoolittle · 15/04/2005 13:59

OMG basketcase! Same thing happened to dm when we were tiny. It has made her really paranoid. If dd even so much as coughs at the table she is a wreck!

sweetmonkey · 15/04/2005 13:59

you poor thing. at least she is ok now . sit down and have a coffee and relax knowing that everything is alright now

laneydaye · 15/04/2005 13:59

hope you and dd are both ok.....xxxxx

FairyMum · 15/04/2005 14:00

Oh God, how awful My greatest fear. Poor you!!!!!!!!!!! Glad all ok now!

Gumdrop · 15/04/2005 14:01

But you didn't fail to help her! Well done you for having the presence of mind to do all that - I think I'd have just started screaming for help.

The adrenaline will wear off in a bit, and I'm pleased to hear she's no worse for it all.

basketcase = supermum!

PrettyCandles · 15/04/2005 14:05

Well done, Baskecase! You kept your cool when it mattered and did exactly the right thing.

It happens so quickly, but oh it does feel like it's lasting forever...and it's amazing how you cope when you have to. The same thing happened to ds when he was about 8-9m old. Afterwards he wanted to continue eating, I wash shaking like a leaf!

Original poster

basketcase · 15/04/2005 14:09

thanks guys. I have just had a coffee and am feeling calmer. Gumdrop, you are very sweet but I feel anything but a supermum! The panic and helplessness of those few minutes felt like an hour. I have an appt. for jabs for DD1 with helath visitor next week and will ask her about local first aid courses aimed at small children as I was no where near up to scratch. I have done courses n the past but none aimed at really small children and not for a while.
I have phoned my mum and she is coming round to come with us all to the swings for a bit of company and backup - I am still shaking.

OP posts:

GeorginaA · 15/04/2005 14:10

It's horrible basketcase, isn't it? My ds1 choked on a boiled sweet about six months ago and I was shaken up about it for days. Couldn't stop thinking that I'd almost lost him because I'd been so utterly stupid giving him that damn sweet (he'd been given it in a party bag).

It all went in slow motion and felt like for ever as I had him over my knee but eventually he coughed then retched and lost the sweet. Boiled sweets are now banned - harder to ban bread though, isn't it

You did the right thing, she's safe. Crack open a large bottle of wine tonight, you deserve it.

SkiBunnyFlummy · 15/04/2005 14:12

ooh same thing happened with dd - not as bad as yours though - didn't go blue. also dp there to help

we not sure what to do, thumped on back - nothing!!!

shook upside downm shye not like but stopped choking. !!

Lonelymum · 15/04/2005 14:15

I wasn't there to see how long it took you to do all that you describe, but your post reads like a textbook example of how to respond to a choking baby so well done you!

It must have been horrible for you, but look at it this way: now you know what to do and you know that you can do it, which is great. If your dd "recovered quickly", you must have responded quickly and effectively. I admire you!

Original poster

basketcase · 15/04/2005 14:16

You are so right about the slow motion bit Georgina. I am sure I will feel a bit more raional about it all in a while but right now I feel like I have just been standing on the edge of a cliff and seen an alternative nightmarish future as all of those horrendous unthinkable consequences of losing a child floods into your mind. I think it is made worse by the fact that I was so unprepared for it happening. We were all sitting down talking about our trip to the swings in the afternoon and whether or not we would do some painting first and then slam it happened right out of the blue.
Ok, big deep breaths, gonna put my brave cope-with-anything mumface back on and play with my children. Thanks for reading and sympathising - it has helped calm me down. I love mumsnet

OP posts:

Lonelymum · 15/04/2005 14:19

That is the whole point Basketcase: she isn't dead, thank God, and the reason she isn't is because you did exactly the right thing.

GeorginaA · 15/04/2005 14:21

I vividly remember leaving ds1 in front of the telly once I knew he was okay again, running upstairs and calling NomDePlume on my mobile and sobbing down the phone to her that I'd almost killed my baby. Horribly confused the poor woman because she thought I meant that I'd dropped ds2 or something, lol.

Can laugh about it now, but still sometimes sends shivers down my spine about what might have happened.

Hope your afternoon is a lovely one

morningpaper · 15/04/2005 14:25

Wow well done Basketcase, you're a bloody hero!

HappyDaddy · 15/04/2005 14:39

Well done basketcase.
My dd, 11 months, choked on some paper a little while ago. I did same as you and she recovered quickly. She now makes little choking sounds to get our attention and laughs when we look at her. Little darling.

highlander · 15/04/2005 17:41

well done basketcase

one of the mums gave us a quick 'what to do' session on choking a few months back (at a mums group) and I followed it up with a revision session from a book. Apparently it happens a lot once the munchkins are on food. My DS has just started solids and I watch him like a hawk!

You saved your DD's life - what a star you are!!

Kidstrack2 · 15/04/2005 18:10

OMG same thing happened to my dd when she was 18months. My ds aged 5, had left a chewit behind on the floor still in wrapper and my dd had got hold of it and put in her mouth. I was in kitchen making lunch when I heard these horrible noises not like a choking noise but gasping. She was on her knees and her face was blue/purple I grabbed her, put her over my forearm and patted her back but nothing happend, so I did it again and again still nothing by this time her lips were blue and I started screaming and DP came running down the stairs and he shouted at me to turn her slightly upside down and slap her hard between the shoulder blades, I sort of half clenched my hand and hit her as hard as I could and out came a chewit still in its wrapper, she was screaming and arching her back and shaking, I thought I had damaged her spine and I started panicking again but DP reassured me it was just her reaction because I had hit her back hard to dislodge it. It felt like forever and I still think about it with knots in my stomach what if? what if? She is now a very happy cheeky little monkey!

Fran81 · 16/04/2005 00:12

god forbid anything like that ever happens to my dd, I hope I react as quickly and well as you did...well done!!

jabberwocky · 16/04/2005 02:09

Ds has choked on a cookie and a penny. The penny episode was particularly bad. I have to keep my CPR card renewed each year for work but even so I was quite panicked about the whole thing. It took two rounds of back slapping to get it out.

I keep a fold-out card of what to do on the refrigerator and have made dh and the babysitter go over it. I just found out that the Red Cross will do a class at your home in our area (we are in the states) and am thinking of hosting one. It's just good for everyone to know.

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