Choked on calpol

[Stephanie2018]

Beware and be careful of calpol syringes. They are so stiff it's ridiculous and as a result when baby flailed I accidentally shot about a quarter of a syringe down her throat!! She proceeded to cough and splutter, looked so frightened and her eyes were shut tight and watering!!!

I'm so shaken up I ran into my bedroom to wake my partner up after his night shift. She kept coughing for what felt like a long time but realistically was a good few minutes. Very scary. She seems fine now, she is asleep on me and has stopped coughing. Her breathing looks normal too. Phew.

That's so scary! I've just come on here to look up about administering Calpol as felt my 2 month old baby could have choked too - even though we did it slowly. Don't know if it's the texture that is too hard to swallow.

We never used the syringes to administer, just to measure. We just put it into a bowl and spoon fed it. Seemed nicer for a child then squirting medicine into their mouth (which I would hate!).

Unless the baby is happy to suckle on the syringe (some are), squirt it into their cheek rather than into the centre of their mouth. Inset the syringe between gum and cheek.

In the end a friend suggested using a syringe for colostrum harvesting - much smaller and worked well. I found the Calpol one too big and stiff - I had used in the cheek.

Thanks everyone for your replies :)

You do it into their cheek not the back of their throat!

Yes in the cheek is what I did from the first time but I think my baby was still struggling to swallow, too claggy. Has been easier to do in smaller amounts with the little syringe.

To reassure you, if they are coughing then they are not choking they are just gagging. The time to worry is when they are silent and struggling. If you can hear any noise then it is gagging and not choking, a true choking situation is very rare.