Aspirating food or a foreign object into the trachea is life-threatening. A swallowed foreign object (non-sharp, non-corrosive) will come out on the other end, eventually.
A child who presents with a breathing problem should always be evaluated for a foreign body. A mother once took a child to hospital because the child was having trouble breathing. As usual, child was put on medication and oxygen, but the breathing was still noisy (wheeze). A chest xray was done and there was a COIN lodged in the throat! The mother almost fainted because she had not, at any one instance, seen the child swallow the coin!
KNH and the other big hospitals are the only places where bronchoscopy can be done to remove a foreign body in the trachea/larynx.
It takes less that 4 minutes for a child to asphyxiate and die from aspirating food or objects into the trachea.Culprits: Food, toys, coins, nuts, seeds, buttons, sweets, chewing gum, plastics, peanuts, screws, lollipops, carrots, etc.
LEARN FIRST AID FOR CHOCKING:1. Give 5 blows to the back. Firmly. Between the shoulder blades. Be gentle, young children are delicate.
2. (If 1 does not work) Hold the child around the waist, fists locked, from the back and push up and in 5 times. (The Heimlich Manoeuvre)
3. You could hold the child upside down by the ankles and lightly tap on the back. Usually, 1 and 2 would have already worked.
4. Repeat 1, 2 and 3 as you wait for help to come or to rush the child to major hospital.
I think first aid should be a COMPULSORY subject taught in all schools.Set out to correct the world's wrongs and you will most certainly wind up adding to them.