5 Parenting Decisions That Could Save Your Child’s Life This Halloween

Transcript of “How to Help a Choking Child or Adult (Everyone Must Know!)” by BRIGHT SIDE, based on YouTube’s automatic captions and edited only for punctuation and readability.

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All right, listen up: what to do if you or someone starts choking. Now, I want you to pay close attention to everything we’re about to show you, so that you’ll know exactly what to do in all kinds of choking emergencies. And you’re going to want to share this with your friends, so they might be able to help you in case you’re choking. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and turn on post notifications to keep up with all our important updates. All right.

Number one: assess the situation. First of all, determine if the airway obstruction is partial or total. This will allow you to figure out what you should do to help. If the choking person can still speak, cough or cry out, it means the airway obstruction is partial. The person can still breathe, but might get pale because breathing is obviously restricted. When the airway obstruction is total, the person won’t be able to respond to you, cough or breathe. The victim will also likely grab at their throat, and their fingernails and lips might start turning blue. This is all caused by the complete lack of oxygen.

Number two: encourage them to cough. The right thing to do: if the blockage is partial, tell the person to cough. Coughing is the most effective way to clear the airways and push the stuck piece of food out of the trachea. The best thing you can do in this situation is to calm the person down, reassure them that everything’s going to be okay, and encourage them to cough. The wrong thing to do: when some people are choking, they try to suppress a cough, straighten out their back and breathe through their nose. This is the worst thing you can do in this situation. Drinking something while choking isn’t the best idea. Give the victim a glass of water once the throat is clear again.

Number three: if the person can’t cough, slap their back. The right thing to do: if the victim can’t cough, the first thing to do is stand behind them and lean them forward. You can use your knee or the back of a chair for support. Deliver up to five strong blows between the shoulder blades using the heel of your hand. Be sure to direct the blows upwards, toward the victim’s mouth, instead of doing regular horizontal claps. Pause after each blow to see if it worked. This should help kick the lodged object out of the airway. The wrong thing to do: never administer blows to a person who’s standing straight up, and don’t use your fists. This will only cause the piece of food to fall deeper down and block the airways tightly. If they start to cough, stop slapping their back.

Number four: if the person can’t breathe, perform the Heimlich maneuver. The purpose of the Heimlich maneuver is to push out the air in the lungs that’s not being used in breathing; it effectively drives out the stuck object. The right thing to do: stand behind the victim and put your arms around their torso. Clench one hand into a fist and place it on their stomach, between the belly button and the lower ribs. Then cup your other hand over your fist. Now quickly thrust your fist up toward the victim’s diaphragm several times. Keep doing this until you’ve cleared the airway. The wrong thing to do: don’t slap the victim on the back; it can only make things worse. And make sure your arms aren’t around the person’s ribs, or else you risk breaking them. Your arms should be below the ribs instead.

Number five: helping an unconscious person. The right thing to do: if the victim has passed out, lay them down on their back, sit on their hips and face them. Put one of your hands on top of the other and place the base of your palm between their belly button and lower ribs. Vigorously push the abdomen toward the diaphragm. Repeat this several times until the airway is clear again. If the person doesn’t start breathing once the object has been removed, it’s time for CPR. The wrong thing to do: do not keep the victim in an upright position. It’s also a terrible idea to start doing CPR before you remove the blockage from the trachea.

Number six: helping yourself. Now, if you’re choking and starting to suffocate, but there’s no one around to help, you can save your own life. The right thing to do: start coughing, and if it doesn’t help, perform the Heimlich maneuver on yourself. To do this, make a fist and hit yourself in the area between your belly button and lower ribs. Drive your fist up and down in J-shaped motions. If that doesn’t help either, bend over a chair, the corner of a table or any other solid object at waist level and push against it as hard as you can, keeping your arms stretched out in front of you. Do this until the object becomes dislodged. Wrong: as impossible as it might seem, try not to panic. The more you panic, the more air you let in through your mouth, and incoming air will only push the stuck piece of food further in. Do not stand straight up or hit yourself on the chest or back.

Number seven: helping pregnant women and obese people. To help people who have a bigger belly, like pregnant women or obese individuals, you have to slightly modify the Heimlich maneuver. Place your hands as close to the abdomen as possible, higher than you normally would. Your hand should be right above the victim’s lower ribs. You won’t be able to do the regular upward thrusts, so press the chest really hard with quick thrusts instead. Repeat this procedure until the person stops choking, but don’t continue if they become unconscious.

Number eight: saving a choking infant. If the victim is less than a year old, lay them face down on your forearm. Make sure the head and neck are lower than the torso, and support the chin in your hand. Make five quick blows right between the infant’s shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. If that doesn’t help get the stuck object out, turn the baby on its back. Use your hand to support the head and neck, which again should be lower than the torso. Use two fingers to make five quick thrusts right on the breastbone. If the baby starts coughing, stop and let it cough up the object.

Number nine: saving a choking child. If the victim is older than one year, you have to follow different rules to save them. Stand behind the child, or if they’re really small, get on your knees. Put your arms around the child’s waist. Clench one hand into a fist and place it between the ribs and belly button, with your thumb upwards. Grasp your fist with your other hand, move your elbows to the sides, and press the child’s stomach with quick inward and upward thrusts.

Number ten: saving an unconscious child. If the infant or child is unconscious, try laying them on their back first. Tilt the head back by lifting the chin up. Now, if you see the object stuck in the back of the throat, use your fingers to remove it. If you’ve successfully removed the object, cover the child’s mouth and nose with your mouth and push air into their lungs. Feel if the chest has started moving and listen for breathing. If the child still isn’t breathing, or if you were unable to dislodge the object from the start, begin chest compressions. Remember, for small children it’ll be two fingers pressed over the breastbone. Start doing cycles of five compressions and one breath. Call 911, and keep doing CPR until they arrive.

Number eleven: saving a choking dog. To help a dog in trouble, first make sure it’s really choking and not suffering from kennel cough or heart disease. If the dog is unable to swallow, drooling excessively, coughing forcefully and acting weirdly agitated, it clearly means the animal is actually choking. If it’s still breathing all right but clearly has an obstruction in its airway, give it a few minutes to try and cough it out. If that doesn’t help, open the dog’s mouth with one hand on the upper jaw and the other on the lower. To avoid serious injury to you, cover the dog’s teeth with its lips while you grasp the jaws. Take a flashlight and look as deep down its throat as you can. If you see something blocking the airway, carefully remove it with a set of pliers. If that doesn’t work, try using back blows. The same thrusts between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand work for both humans and dogs. About four to five sharp blows should be enough. If, and only if, nothing else helps, administer the Heimlich maneuver. Hold the dog around its waist with its head pointed down. Make a fist with one hand, place it under the dog’s rib cage and cup it with your other hand. If your dog is small or medium-sized, use two fingers instead of a fist. Repeat sets of three to five inward and upward thrusts. Be careful not to crack its ribs. Take your dog to the vet for a health check straight away, even if you manage to remove the blockage yourself.

So, have you ever helped someone who is choking? Was it hard? Share with us in the comment section. Like this video, send it to your friends and help spread the word. Subscribe to our channel to not miss any of our updates. Stay with us on the Bright Side of life!

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