BABY AND CHILDHOOD RESPIRATORY DISORDERS: FOREIGN BODIES IN AIRWAYS
Inhalation of a foreign body by a child may produce serious symptoms which may endanger life. Parents should not allow small children access to potentially dangerous foreign objects; this includes peanuts (shelled—one of the worst offenders), small objects such as beads, eyes from dolls and teddy bears, buttons and certain foods which are obviously hazardous. Children should be discouraged from running when eating or at any time they have objects in the mouth. Brothers and sisters should be discouraged from feeding junior when playing. It may all lead to trouble.
Often when the foreign object becomes lodged in the upper airway there is considerable coughing, choking and gagging, and emotional and physical distress. There may be inspiratory stridor, which means a wheezing noise when the child breathes in. If a large airway has been blocked, there may be cyanosis (blueness), indicating the child is not receiving enough oxygen.
Treatment
Keep your head. Do not panic. The risk of the child suffocating to death within minutes is usually not high. But prompt action is necessary. The old idea of tipping the child upside down in the hope of the foreign body dropping out is now not favoured by many doctors. Neither is back-slapping. It appears that this may dislodge the foreign body, but it may become re-lodged in a narrower part of the airways making the condition more acute and hazardous.
If a foreign body is not obviously visible (and chances of it being seen are not high), then get the child to the nearest large hospital as a matter of urgency. Telephone the hospital first to explain your problem so they may be ready to help you on arrival. Talk encouragingly to the child. Usually, after the initial stress the child tends to quieten down and the so-called ’silent period’ ensues.
At the hospital, doctors are equipped with special facilities to both investigate and treat. It is usually fairly straightforward in retrieving a foreign body from the air passages.
An overlooked foreign body may prove serious, and deaths have occurred when they have been left there indefinitely. Local infections which may smoulder on and involve adjoining organs may occur. It is important that if there is any query about the foreign body still being there, full investigation be carried out by doctors expert in this field.
X-rays are available. The doctors also have instruments for peering into throats and air passageways, and these are equipped with devices that can pick up and remove foreign objects.
*73\87\2*
