Common causes but many mothers are subjective

The Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynecology of Quang Ngai province has just received and successfully treated a boy named PTK (9 months old) who was hospitalized in a state of cyanosis and stopped breathing due to choking on milk. According to the family’s share, before the incident, K was taken to child care by his family. Here, after being given milk to drink as usual, when he finished drinking milk and laid it down on the bed, the child had a cough and purple face, and immediately the teacher took him to the hospital for emergency treatment.

K’s mother shared that because there was no one at home to take care of her, she sent her child to child care early, she often had a habit of eating, before going to bed, she had to take a bottle of milk, still doing the same every day, unexpectedly choking on milk.

Doctor Ho Kim Duc – Head of the Intensive Care Unit against Poisons, Provincial Hospital of Obstetrics and Pediatrics, said that K was admitted to the hospital in a very critical condition, pale, stopped breathing after choking on milk. At the time of admission, milk spilled into the airways, causing milk to enter the lungs, causing pneumonia and sepsis. In my case, if I was too late, I could die.

At the hospital, the doctors quickly performed intensive care and the child was out of danger. However, he had to undergo long-term treatment because his lungs became severely inflamed after choking on milk.

The case of child K choking on milk is very serious, only a few seconds later, he will die.

From the above case, the German doctor recommends, when the child is nursing or after feeding, suddenly coughs strongly, spits milk through the nose, mouth, chokes, turns pale, screams, the body may be soft or stiff. think that the baby is choking on milk.

In order to prevent choking on milk in children, caregivers should pay attention not to let the child sleep while nursing, and not play with the child while nursing, making the child laugh and choke easily. When breastfeeding, the baby should be held with his head high, in a comfortable position, and should be fed slowly, without haste, especially for weak and premature babies. When the baby coughs or cries, stop feeding immediately, do not let milk continue to flow down the mouth.

For children who are not breastfed, must be bottle-fed, it is important to pay attention to the appropriate feeding bottle for the child. When breastfeeding, tilt the bottle about 45 degrees. When using a spoon to feed milk into the child’s mouth, it should be poured slowly, the child swallows it all before applying another spoon. In particular, after the baby is full, the child should not be placed directly on the bed or cradle, but should be picked up, to avoid choking on milk and reflux after feeding.

According to doctors, when a child begins to show signs of choking on milk such as coughing, choking, etc., parents or caregivers should immediately handle the following:

– Back patting, chest compression: Use the palm of your other hand to tap the child’s back 5 times (between the shoulder blades) to increase the pressure in the chest to expel the foreign body. If the child is still having difficulty breathing, cyanosis, then place the child on his or her back on a hard surface, use two index and middle fingers to suddenly press firmly on the lower half of the sternum. Repeat up to 10 times until the child shows signs of recovery.

– Open the airways: Use your mouth to suck strongly into the nose and mouth of the child, carefully suck the milk that remains in the throat and nose as quickly as possible. Suction mouth first, nose behind. If left too late, milk will enter the trachea, causing airway obstruction.

– For children with symptoms of apnea, the above measures can be combined with rescue breathing: Close the child’s nose and mouth until the chest is slightly raised. Then immediately take to the nearest hospital for timely emergency.