Foreign body aspiration occurs most frequently between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. It reaches its statistical peak between the second and third year of your child's life.
Typical things that your little one can swallow are small toy parts such as marbles, beads or small blocks of wood, but also food such as popcorn, grapes or nuts. Coins, buttons and fruit pits can also be swallowed quickly.
The main symptom of a swallowed object is a persistent cough, which can be accompanied by wheezing and shortness of breath. If your child doesn't get enough oxygen, their little face may turn blue. Then it is time to act fast!
You can recognise an ineffective cough - if your child no longer takes enough air to cough, their cough becomes quieter and their consciousness deteriorates or their skin turns blue.
Alert the emergency services immediately and then bring your child into a stable head-down position. To do this, lay them face down on your lap or forearm and stabilise their little head with your hand. Then you should hit their back between the shoulder blades with the flat of your hand in a strong manner. You should repeat this a maximum of five times.
If the foreign body has not been loosened by the blows, the next step is to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre up to five times. With this, you increase the pressure on the lungs with several jerky compressions on your child's upper abdomen, which is intended to force the object out. You then switch back to the head-down position.
If your child is under a year old, you should alternate chest compressions with back punches instead. You should definitely practice these measures under professional guidance so that you can master them in an emergency and help your child quickly. There are special first aid courses for this, in which you can try out what you need to do on an emergency mannequin.
In less acute cases, such as when your child talks to you normally and only coughs occasionally, looking in their mouth for the object is sufficient. Be patient and watch your child closely. Encourage them to continue coughing to allow the foreign object to move out of their lungs. If you can't cough it up easily, you can have an X-ray taken at the hospital. This allows doctors to see how the swallowed object is in your child's lungs and make an informed decision on how to remove it. This is usually done using a bronchoscopy, which involves inserting a tube with a small camera through your child's mouth under anaesthetic.
Try to prevent foreign body aspiration as much as possible so as not to endanger your child. Store small-piece toys and small craft supplies where your child cannot reach them alone. You should also store unsuitable food out of the reach of your child. Stay with your toddler when they eat something so that you can act quickly in an emergency.
