Baby choking - bit freaked out

[Lottie]

Hi hope you are all well, Neve (my 7 month old daughter) choked on a rice cracker in the supermarket earlier, her eyes went bright red and I had to put her over my knee and whack her on the back until she was sick.

Its really frightened me - she is nearly 8 months and has always struggled a bit with finger food but I have been advised to keep on trying - am not sure if I should carry on giving it to her or hold off for a while. She is always supervised when she has any but I can''t stop thinking about what happened today, its happened before but never this badly and I have never given her anything that isn''t for babies that are weaning. Am enrolled to start a baby first aid course very shortly so I guess I am just wondering if this has ever happened to any of you that have children and what you did re finger foods?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I would talk to your doctor. Maybe there is a reason your baby chokes easily. My daughter never has but I am sure it is VERY scary.

 

[Cleo]

Lottie, that must have been terrifying for you.. *hugs*

7/8 months is very early in terms of weaning, as a milk-only diet is advised for the first 6 months. I wouldn''t give finger foods at all when she''s that young, especially is she''s struggling with them - it may well be just too early for her. (No criticism of you here, some babies might be able to cope but they''re all different).

For now I would stick to purees and lumpy mashed food (if she can deal with the lumps).

When you want to try again with finger food, I would suggest using something that will be difficult to choke on, like a Farley''s rusk.

In any case, well done for dealing with the situation so well and for being able to help your baby - you did a great job!

x x x

 

[Maisie]

I agree with Cleo. I think your little one is a bit young. I started James on rusks at around 9 months and he coped well with those as they seem to dissolve better. He was eating pureed food from around 7/8 months and was breast fed also.

Well done on handling a very distressing situation. I am usually useless in a crisis!

 

[innerkitten]

It used to happen to my daughter when she was about that age and even a little older. She''s two now and still has her moments. But I think that the issue with my daughter and possibly yours is that she wasn'' really ready for things like crackers yet. Maybe just give her very soft foods and only a little bit at a time until she gets used to chewing and swallowing.

 

[Miranda]

Oh how scary for you! I''d wait a bit on the crunchy hard foods. If she loves finger foods you can soak Cheerios in water and give them to her. I know it sounds gross, but, babies seem to love these tasty morsels.

 

[Kaleigh]

That is scary. So glad she''s ok. Definitely check with your pediatrician, but am thinking a rice cake is a bit much for her age?? I love Miranda''s idea... Let us know what you find out.

 

[diamondfan]

I would check it out though I doubt it is anything serious. Some babies have a bit of trouble getting chunks down and Miranda''s idea is not bad, if you soften it up at first she can get used to the textures and stuff!

 

[LaraOnline]

Cheerios in water sounds interesting! Miranda, when you say ''Cheerios'' do you mean the little red children''s hot dog sausages... or do you mean cheezel-like crisps?

Back to the topic, I had a friend whose child (aged three) was eating a piece of apple on the lounge and, unsupervised, lay down while eating it. Her father walked into the room and saw the child with her eyes rolled back in her head, turning blue!!!!!
He couldn''t reach the apple morsel with his fingers, so turned her upside down and hit her back several times - as hard as he could.

The apple came out, and Snow White was saved.

I don''t think you can totally prevent your child from being a choke risk... but you can reduce the risk, by supervising at all times.

My second child has always been chokey, but also very fussy with food. I found at his age seven months old, that he preferred a particular type of adult nut muesli bar over almost any other food. Now THAT is chokey... so don''t tell the child health nurse on me!
I just wanted him to eat anything, and it sure is a change from processed white bread.

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 8/23/2008 10:46:39 PM
Author: LaraOnline
Cheerios in water sounds interesting! Miranda, when you say ''Cheerios'' do you mean the little red children''s hot dog sausages... or do you mean cheezel-like crisps?

I''m pretty sure she means the cereal. No cheerios where you are? That''s sad. They''re so yummy!

 

[LaraOnline]

Oh, I get you. The teensy cereal circles, in the white-and-colour box in the breakfast aisle! cheers.

 

[Kaleigh]

You must be in the UK??

 

[swingirl]

Sorry for your scare. If you try finger food only do it when you are at home, she is sitting straight up in a highchair and you can watch. I can''t remember any more but I don''t think I was feeding finger food at that age. It''s a little young. Also it''s recommended that you don''t feed a baby dry foods like bread that need a lot of saliva to moisten. It can get wadded up in their mouth and they try to swallow it before it''s chewed up enough.

 

[LuckyTexan]

I didn''t give either of my boys anything that they controlled until they were both 12 months old!
I am sure I''m extreme, but 8 months sounds pretty young to me!

How many teeth does she have?

How scary that must have been for you! GOSH! I would have cried!

 

[miraclesrule]

Oh, my heart goes out to you. It''s so scary when something like this happens with your baby. *HUGS*

I have to admit being in the camp of posters who wouldn''t do crackers at that age. I am a safety manager and I was probably too paranoid, but that is because I see the aftermath of incidents and always wanted to prevent them from happening to us. I was the Mom who actually peeled the skin off of a grape with my teeth before I would squish it and give it to my daughter.

The only thing solid that my daughter received prior to being a year old, were those darn awful biscuits that dissolve and make a wicked mess all over everything. What are those things called?

Anyway, I stuck with very mushy and moist foods. The only finger foods she ate were the little disgusting meat sticks. I think fresh fruits and vegetables are the best thing. I would suggest crackers and even cereal be avoided. I don''t think I ever gave my daughter Cheerios until she was a toddler, if I ever gave them to her at all. I was very anti-processed foods for the most part.

My roommates daughter choked on a nickel when I was in the apt we shared. I had to do the same thing. I stuck my finger down her throat until she vomited the nickel out. A Mom has to do what a Mom has to do. Good job!! Great instinctual effort.

 

[Cleo]

Funny you should mention grapes miraclesrule - I have an absolute paranoia about them too! I have read sooo may horror stories about toddlers choking on grapes that I still cut them into small pieces for my son - and he''ll be 4 in October (although he''s small for his age). Apparently they''re one of the worst choking hazrds for babies and toddlers - so beware of grapes mummies! Oh yes, and until I came to NZ I thought Cheerios were breakfast cereal.. but now I know they are bright red hot dog style sausages too. The things we learn! (Apologies for formatting. FI left laptop at child height. Child dropped laptop to floor height. Return key no longer functional....). x x x

 

[Lottie]

Thanks for your replies and advice, I am in the UK and the advice from my local health visitor has always been to start fairly young with finger foods (on advice of health visitor we weaned at 5 months and she took to it very well) as they adapt to them better but I am definately thinking that she is just not ready yet and will hold off. I have also heard that grapes are a big hazard and that apple story is awful - glad it worked out ok. Will give the cheerios a whirl!

By the way it was a baby rice cake - I didn't give her one of those giant adult ones, just in case you thought thats what I had done lol!

 

[ljmorgan]

Lottie, go with your gut. I would trust your own instincts and observations about your child before some health advisor spewing out generic advice. It''s wonderful that you''re so in tune with your baby and could tell she''s probably not quite ready for finger foods. She''s only 8 months, there''s no rush to feed her all sorts of things. Stick with healthy foods that are easy to get down, it will relieve stress for both you and baby. Good luck!

 

[D2B]

Different countries do things differently, but when my DS was 8 months old, he was still on boiled cooked foods, mashed up with little lumps to get used to the texture. Boiled apples, etc I would also avoid rice crackers etc. for a while longer. Some babies are early others arnt, my theory no harm done in taking it easy and slow for a while.

How terrible scary for you, it really is one of my worst nightmares. well done for keeping calm and knowing what to do .

Oh, the joys of parenting

d2b

 

[somethingshiny]

Lottie~ I know how scary it is for your little one to start choking. It gets your heart racing faster than you though possible!!

My son is 2.5 yrs and chokes often. Ever since he was just a few months old, he would gag really easily and then choke. We''ve had to pull stuff from his throat and do the a lot of the inverted back whacks. Finally, we figured out what the problem is.

His tonsils almost tough at the back of his throat creating a very tiny opening for his food to pass. Any time he doesn''t chew thoroughly, he chokes. He also has sleep apnea and gets tonsillitis all the time. So, his tonsils are getting removed next month and hopefully all this will clear up.

So, my point is, it may be a medical issue, not just a readiness issue.

Hope you figure it out and hugs to you!


btw-although my son was/is chokey, I didn''t keep him on pureed foods. I was certainly doing cereal and teething ers at 8 months old, just keeping a really close eye on him.

 

[miraclesrule]

Babies are still just babies. They usually only have a few front teeth at 8 months, so they can''t really "chew". I would read the packaging carefully on all baby food, because most of them are not for children under 12 months. Some only for toddlers. They can still get finger foods, but mushy ones that are cut up small. I wouldn''t recommend you forego all finger foods. It is really useful for kids in gaining fine motor skills and hand mouth coordination. Just be really prudent. That''s my advice.

I babysit a lot, and I see Mom''s who get a false sense of security with some packaged baby food "snack items". Personally, I just blanch green beens until they are more tender than I would eat them and surprisiingly the kids like those better than the other snacks their Mom''s give them. Little pieces of a banana on their high chair, peas, ripe avacado....those are what I recommend.

I''m was so bad about this that I still used to cut up my daughter''s meat into itsy bitsy pieces when she was a teenager and she would give me this look like "Mom....reallllllly?????"

Then one day she finally grabbed the plate before I could cut it up and said "OMG Stop it! I can cut my own meat!"

Okay, I guess she was right.