Nursery - Choking

[SilverElephant3]

DS choked and three back blows were administered eating a snack at nursery
He was very emotional afterwards

I was only told verbally on pick-up - not called immediately
There has been no incident form or further communication on this?

Looking for advice and how to approach and questions to ask around this?
Would you class this as a serious incident?

Thank you so much .

I would ask for an incident report to be written up

If it was serious enough that they had to administer first aid then they should have contacted you. I would ask them what their policy is for such events, the setting I work in have a choking policy.

They should also have a peadiatric trained first aider with them when they are eating. The guidance for this has tightened up this academic year.

I would class this as serious yes. I think there ought to be a written record of the event. To protect themselves as much as possible. Effective back slaps that can be lifesaving leave marks. Marks that happened while your child was in their care. Marks you would expect an explanation for.
Also I would expect a call to say “he’s fine, but just to let you know we did x due to choking today” I would also want to know what it was he choked on. Is it a danger food? Was he siting properly? Could it have been avoided?
Ask for a meeting with the manager to discuss your concerns.

hope you and he are ok.

If they had to administer back blows then you should have been called immediately and possibly need to take him to be checked over medically.

I'd expect an incident report and would want to clarify exactly what happened - was he actually choking and given back blows, or did he gag a bit and they patted his back?

That sounds really poor. Do you know what he was eating ?

Double post

This happened to us. The nursery rang straight away to tell us, everything was fine but they wanted to let us know us know what had happened and also wondered if we wanted to collect DD early which we didn’t as she was fine. At pick up they showed my DP a video of what happened so he could see exactly what had happened. Can’t remember if we got anything in writing but I felt very reassured and involved and happy with how they dealt with it.

There is newly updated statutory guidance around food safety in early years.

Have the nursery contravened the guidance? What does their own food and nutrition policy say, including how they communicate with you? Have they followed this?
Do they keep logs of food related incidents? Do they analyse these and use them in their risk assessment?

Have they risk assessed this incident and made changes to prevent it happening again? How are they checking the changes? How are they sharing this with you?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6839b752210698b3364e86fc/Earlyyearsfoundationstagenutritionguidance.pdf

Adding, if you are not satisfied with how this has been dealt with you have routes to complain.

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-childcare

I would have expected him to be checked over afterwards, if it was a genuine choke (not gagging)

bless him, poor little chap

If they were proper backslaps then they should have called you immediately, asked for you to collect and advised that he needs to be checked over at hospital. That’s the standard of what should happen. A few years ago, the check at hospital wasn’t required after back slaps potentially but they tightened things up. There should also be an accident/incident form that they should have shared with you.

St Johns still says hospital check up after abdominal thrusts, but not after back blows. Where is the new guidance from?

Depending on the answer to that OP, I'd have liked a phone call and would ask them to let me know in future if any first aid procedures beyond cleaning a cut and applying a plaster. Providing it was recorded properly, the incident was not a result of them serving something inappropriate, and DC was their normal happy self when you collected I wouldn't be making an issue of it beyond that. If they have failed to do anything that policy says they should do though, I would escalate.

Edit- I somehow missed there not being an incident form!! I would be asking for one for sure

The NHS says to seek medical help after back blows even if the object has come out

https://www.nhs.uk/baby/first-aid-and-safety/first-aid/how-to-stop-a-child-from-choking

Yes this is horrendous they haven’t told you!!!!

I work in Early Years, our policy is that if any choking first aid is administered, a hospital/Dr's visit is strongly advised. We would absolutely contact parents/carers following such an incident. I would ask for a full incident report.

Thank you so much for your reply.
And you would absolutely class the hitting on the back as choking first aid?

Thank you so much for your reply and the NHS guidance link - I hadn’t realised this!

Thank you so much for your reply - it was pear

Thank you for your reply - yes, this is such a good point that needs clarifying

Yes - pear

Thank you very much for your advice and guidance

Thank you so much - it’s really helpful to hear similar experiences . I’m so grateful of your reply

Thank you so much for your reply and advice

As per my last paediatric first aid training, absolutely. If back slaps are required it would be classed as a choking incident where I work. These things DO happen and it sounds like they acted appropriately in the care they gave in an emergency situation but doesn't sound great in how they have documented/followed up. I hope your LO is doing OK, it must have been very scary for him, for you too.

It happened to a colleagues child and nursery called and asked her to collect immediately and take for a check up.