All children are interested in small objects. Of particular interest to the crumbs are various beads, buttons, glass balls and toy parts. Often, babies stuff them into their mouths, ears, nose or eyes when their mother is away for a second.
But the ingress of foreign bodies into the body of a little man carries a serious danger. At best, they can cause an inflammatory process inside the body, and at worst – fatal outcome. Therefore, it is necessary to act immediately.
About how to provide first aid to your baby, inside of which there is a foreign object, the editors of the Internet publication estet-portal.com will tell you.
1. The ingress of foreign bodies into the body of a child: the main signs
2. First aid for suffocation
3. What to do if a child swallows a foreign object
4. How to remove a foreign body from the nose and ear
5. We provide assistance when a foreign object gets into the eye
Ingress of foreign bodies into the body of a child: main signs
Before we tell you how to provide first aid to your child, let's take a look at the main signs of foreign bodies entering the body. After all, further actions will depend on this.
If a foreign object gets into the child's larynx, trachea or bronchi, the baby has an asthma attack.
It is characterized by the following symptoms:
• the face first turns red and then turns blue. The lips also acquire a bluish color;
• the child begins to cough convulsively;
• the baby can't make a single sound.
When a foreign body remains in the airways, bronchial obstruction, loss of consciousness, and even respiratory arrest can occur.
If the baby accidentally swallowed a foreign object, it often gets stuck in the esophagus. This is expressed by difficulty in eating. And if it is not removed from there, a purulent process may develop in nearby tissues.
When a foreign body enters the nose, it becomes difficult for the child to breathe, and he often sneezes. And in especially difficult cases, mucous discharge mixed with pus and blood flows out of the nose.
If you notice that your child has become worse to hear, picks in the ear and hears an incomprehensible noise, then something has got into the organ of hearing. An insect could fly in here, or during the game, the child put a pea or something in there.
And if a foreign object gets into the baby's eye, the latter begins to burn and watery. When looking at the light, unpleasant sensations appear. And in advanced cases, the conjunctiva and cornea may become inflamed.
When you have located the foreign object, begin to act.
First aid for choking
If the foreign object is tiny, it is usually thrown out with the cough.
But if it is large, then help in this case is as follows:
1. Sitting in a chair, get down on one knee. Take the baby and put him on your outstretched arm so that his tummy and chest rest on it, and his head is down.
2. Slap the baby between the shoulder blades 4 times. Strikes should not be either too strong or too weak.
3. When the stuck object begins to come out, remove it from the mouth. Just be very careful not to push it backwards.
If you have done all this, but the stuck object is still inside, you need to do the following manipulations:
• put the baby on his back, preferably on a hard surface. Then tilt his head back, and his chin – raise;
• Put 2 fingers of the left or right hand on the baby's upper abdomen, or rather, where the ribs meet. At the same time, you need to quickly push inward and upward. Do it hard so that the foreign object comes out;
• if the stuck body does not come out, perform such manipulations up to 4 times.
If a foreign body has entered the body in an older child, then it is necessary to act somewhat differently here:
1. Sitting on a chair or armchair, you need to put the child on your knees and lower his head down.
2. With one hand you need to hold the baby under the breast, and the second – hit between the shoulder blades 4 times.
If the child is unconscious, call an ambulance or take him to the hospital. And if at the same time he is still not breathing, give the baby mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration.
3. If, after the above actions, the object did not come out, one of your hands must be placed on the child’s stomach, gathered into a fist and strongly pressed on the middle of the abdomen a little up and as deep as possible. Repeat this 4 times until the stuck object comes out.
What to do if a child swallows a foreign object
If your baby has accidentally swallowed a bead, a piece of paper from a candy or something else inedible, you should definitely consult a doctor, especially if the swallowed object is sharp.
If the object is stuck in the esophagus, do not give the baby bread crusts to force it into the stomach. This can only exacerbate the situation. And if a foreign body from the esophagus still gets into the stomach, then after a couple of days it will come out naturally.
During this period, do not starve the child and do not stuff him with laxatives. In the first case, intestinal peristalsis decreases, and the exit of the foreign body is delayed. And in the case of laxatives, the opposite situation is observed: the intestinal walls contract more actively, which is fraught with damage to them by a foreign object.
Better give your child porridge, jelly and soft bread. Such food gently envelops the foreign body, thus protecting the stomach and intestines from damage and further inflammation.
How to remove a foreign body from the nose and ear
A paper ball, bead, button, or other foreign object can be pulled out of a child's nose with fine tweezers. You can also touch the mucous membranes of his nostrils with a feather or a piece of paper, thus causing a sneeze reflex.
If the child is old enough to understand everything, ask him to exhale sharply through his nose. Or let him close his healthy nostril with his hand and blow his nose.
To remove a foreign object from the ear, pour 0.5 teaspoon of heated vegetable oil or glycerin into it, then place the baby with the affected ear down. After 5-10 minutes, the foreign body will be removed along with the liquid.
If all of the above items fail, visit an otolaryngologist, as in the case of an object stuck in the nose.
We provide assistance when a foreign object gets into the eye
If a grain of sand, a bead, a midge or a fallen eyelash has got into the child's eye, and it is clearly visible to the naked eye, try to remove it with gauze. Cut a small piece from the gauze cut and soak it in a 1% boric acid solution. You can also try rinsing the affected eye with water using an eyedropper.
If all else fails, contact an ophthalmologist immediately before the inflammatory process begins, leading to deterioration of vision, the development of serious diseases, and in some cases even blindness.
Ingress of foreign bodies into the body of a child – the situation is dangerous. After all, it often leads to inflammatory processes and even death.
Therefore, as soon as you notice that your child swallowed a small object, choked on it, put it in his nose or ear, act immediately.
But it is better to avoid getting foreign objects into the baby's body: make sure that there are no small objects near the child and do not give him candy, seeds, nuts and other food until he is 7 years old. Only in this case you will protect your child from an accident and its consequences.
Injuries in children: face and head – 6 most dangerous places
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