First aider shows parents the ‘finger sweep’ to prevent kids from choking

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IF YOUR little one has a toy in their mouth or taken too large a bite, your first instinct might be to poke your finger in their mouths to fish it out.

But blindly rummaging with your fingers could in fact make matters worse, an ex-paramedic has warned.

InstagramBlindly sticking your finger in your child’s mouth may push the food further back, Nikki Jurcutz warned[/caption]

InstagramShe demonstrated the “finger sweep” method to safely extract food or objects[/caption]

Nikki Jurcutz – the first aider behind Tiny Hearts Education – says this may distress your tot or push the food or object down further.

This could obstruct their airway and cause them to choke, which may be deadly.

Instead, she demonstrated a safer method of removing a choking hazard from a child’s mouth, dubbed the “finger sweep”.

“Please try to avoid sticking your fingers in your little one’s mouth,” Nikki pleaded in a video posted to Tiny Hearts‘ Instagram page.

“When you do this to clear out a toy or some food, it can stress them out and as a reflex they might inhale and actually cause severe airway obstruction.”

A distressed child may gasp or cry, causing them to breathe in and suck the object down their airway, the ex-paramedic explained.

Alternatively, “your fingers might push the food down, causing that airway obstruction”, Nikki went on.

Instead, Nikki broke down exactly what you should do step-by-step if your tot has too much food or a toy in their mouth.

“The first thing you need to do is stay calm, we don’t to alarm,” the ex-paramedic advised.

Next, you need to get your little one’s attention.

Once they’re focused on you, start to “mimic the behaviour [you] want to see”, Nikki said.

In this instance, you want your child to stick our their tongue so you can get a look at what’s in their mouth without sticking your fingers inside.

So, Nikki showed how to stick your your tongue out and make a “euhhh” noise in order to get your baby to follow along.

If this method fails to work, you could try giving your child something else to distract them.

“Often when they’re given something else, they might spit out what’s in their mouth,” she explained, brandishing a piece of banana as an option.

If this doesn’t work, it’s time to move on to the finger sweep.

Using your fingers to manually extract the food or object is an “absolute last resort”, Nikki stressed.

“You need to do this really carefully,” she cautioned.

The first aider showed how to make a hook with your finger on one side and slowly draw it through your little one’s mouth to pull the food or toy out.

“You need to go from the side of their cheek, you need to very carefully push the food out from the front, without going too far back or distressing your child,” she explained.

This should prevent poking and prodding the food further down the throat.

Nikki has previously urged parents to not forget a vital first aid step that could be vital for saving a child’s life if their choking.

If it comes to the point where you need to give your little one back blows, the first aider also warned that many parents don’t do it hard enough to dislodge an object blocking the airway.

It comes after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency recently warned parents not to buy fake anti-choking devices that could make life-threatening incidents worse.

Counterfeit devices can be almost indistinguishable from genuine ones but they could put put people’s safety “at significant risk”, the health watchdog said.

Instagramno-poke-first-aider-shows-891035357[/caption]

InstagramShe also suggested you get your baby to mimic you so they spit out the food[/caption]

InstagramAnother method is to distract them with a different object[/caption]

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