What is the age to stop performing HM as you would an infant? I really need to brush up on my CPR/First Aid and take another safety course. My son is 2 1/2 and yesterday we were in church, he was eating yogurt covered fruit snacks and tried to swallow to many at once, they must have gotten stuck in his throat because he started gagging. I started patting his back pretty firmly and was calmly saying spit them out, i didnt want to get him all worked up. I did this for about 10 seconds which seemed like an eternity! They still were not coming out, so then he was trying to breath and i could tell they were still stuck in his throat, I started patting his back a little bit harder and another 10 seconds went by... then i started freaking out, but was trying my hardest to remain calm. I was just about ready to turn him upside down like you would an infant and pat his back that way, but just at that moment, he swallowed them and started crying. I know it scared him, and it scared the **** out of me too! I just kept calmly saying you are ok, your fine... I was proud of myself for not freaking out like i usually do and keeping my child calm. I knew that if another 10 seconds went by i would have to do something else, but wasnt sure if i should perfom the HM with abdomen thrusts or turn him upside down. Does anyone know? I was in a huge church full of people, so i knew that someone else would be there to help if the situation got worse, thank god it didnt! I have never had that happen before, man, that was really scary!
thanks for the responses, so now i have somewhat of an idea what to do next time. And yes, to answer someone's question, you would only perfom the HM if they are getting no air and turning blue, that is why i did not do any of the two motions mentioned above. i knew he was still getting air, because i could hear him try to breathe.. thanks.
As long as you're able to pick up the child to properly perform infant heimlick, continue to do so. Usually around age 3 (large kids) or 4 is when you get on your knees and perform the 'adult' heimlick on a child.
I used to be an EMT, this is how we were trained.
And good for you for staying calm and taking care of it!!
It's been a long time since I have had an infant but my 18 year old daughter just took this course last week. I can't reach her, sorry. How scary!
After I took the class when I gained guardianship of my daughter before adopting, my husband read the book I had and saved my daughter three days later!
If you can pick them up like an infant to do it, that's how you should start. If it isn't successful, then move on to your knees.
I had to do the infant cpr on my first-born when she was 2 1/2. She choked on a summer sausage and I was home alone with her and then again on my niece when she was 1 1/2.
In our class they also mentioned that patting on the back can cause the food or item to become lodged. It is better to encourage your child to keep coughing without patting/banging their back.
Of course if you are flipping the child over for the infant heimlich, you would do the harder, thrusting blows On the back ....but then of course the object should fly out!
Never pat on the back while someone is choking. It can actually cause the item to lodge deeper in the throat. If you can see the itme in the throat you can actually use your finger to try to get it out.
I was told that as long as the person is getting ANY air on their own, NOT to do the Heimlich! ONLY if the airways is 100% blocked. Is this true????
I am so glad your son is alright! I see others have told you what I was going to, as long as he isn't too big for you to do infant CPR/HM you can.
BUT, I wanted to alert you to something based on your comment that you were in a huge church full of people and someone else would be there to help if the situation got worse, please DON'T count on that. My uncle choked to death 12 years ago in a restaurant full of patrons and staff and absolutely no one did anything (OK, they did call 911 when he was blue and on the floor) as he died in front of my aunt. Sorry, realistically people SHOULD help, but sadly they don't always.
