to let him try to cough the object out. Coughing helps! But if the child isn’t moving air—he cannot cough, talk, cry, breathe, and looks frightened—he is choking. Coughing is good. Choking is bad. Choking means that the child cannot get rid of the blockage in the airway without your help. You must act quickly because choking is a threat to life!
4. Why do we never pat or slap the infant or child on the back?
Patting or slapping the infant or child on the back can cause the airway to briefly loosen its grip on the object and the object may be loose enough to move in the airway. If the infant or child is sitting or standing up, the object will fall deeper into the airway making the obstruction worse. But that’s why back blows work when the infant’s head is down and why it’s so important to keep the head lower than the chest at all times when doing back blows and chest thrusts.
5. When doing abdominal thrusts, how much difference does it make if I just put my arms around the child?
If you just put your arms around the child, it is more likely that your arms will not be in the right position to do abdominal thrusts correctly. If your arms are not in the right place, abdominal thrusts probably will not work to relieve the airway obstruction and there’s a higher chance of injuring the child. When you put your arms around the child, your arms are usually too high – over the child’s ribs.
If you were doing the abdominal thrusts on someone your own age or an adult, you’d have to put your arms under their arms just to reach around their belly. Even though you may be a lot bigger than a small child, by putting your arms under their arms, you’ll be able to use enough inward and upward force for your thrusts to work.
6. What if the object comes up but is still in the mouth?
It’s important to check to see if there is anything in the mouth. If you see an object, carefully remove it with your fingers. Be sure you can get your fingers around the object to avoid pushing it back down into the airway.
7. How do I know how hard to hit with back blows or push for chest thrusts or abdominal thrusts? Can I hurt them?
It depends on the size of the infant/child. The smaller the child, the gentler you need to be. But you need to be quick and forceful enough to make the back blows and abdominal thrusts work!
Yes, if you were not being forceful enough to do any good (save the child) or if you pushed too hard, you might injure the child. It is more likely you’ll injure the child from being in the
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