Summer: Beware of Food Inhalation in Children

During the hot summer season, there is a wide variety of foods such as jelly, nuts, raisins, cornflakes, grapes, peanuts, hot dogs and sausages. Unbeknownst to children, food inhalation is an emergency that can occur at any time while they are eating these foods, threatening the lives and health of children. Food inhalation can be seen at all ages, but is more common in children under 5 years of age, with children younger than 3 years of age accounting for 73% of food inhalation cases. 90% of deaths from food inhalation are in children younger than 5 years of age, and 65% are in infants. This shows that the vast majority of food aspiration occurs in infants and young children, and that the mortality rate is quite high when food aspiration occurs. Pediatric food aspiration is the main cause of foreign body inhalation in children, which mainly causes airway obstruction, choking, and in severe cases, death. Parents or kindergarten teachers or babysitters should pay special attention to the following risk factors for food inhalation when bringing up children: ① children who cry easily; ② children who like to put things into their mouths; ③ children who like to talk, laugh or even run when chewing; ④ parents sometimes give children food they do not expect to be able to chew; ⑤ young children who have no molars and have poorer chewing ability. Less than 50% of children with food inhalation have a witnessed or suspected history of food inhalation or choking. Therefore, the following conditions usually suggest the possibility of food aspiration in children: a sudden cough or choking while the child is eating, followed by wheezing, choking, and stridor. Sudden onset of respiratory distress (i.e., dyspnea) with coughing, choking, choking and wheezing in a previously healthy child with no fever. Parents or babysitters or kindergarten teachers should immediately send children to a hospital for resuscitation and treatment if the above symptoms are detected. Once found food misinhalation or suspected food misinhalation, those who have the conditions should be sent to the hospital immediately for resuscitation. Then, what should be noted in the first aid at the scene? If a solid substance is directly visualized, you can make it open its mouth and wear gloves to remove the foreign body. Never use your fingers to remove a foreign body when it is not directly visible. If inhalation of a foreign body is suspected but the foreign body is not visible, remove the foreign body and relieve the obstruction by pounding the abdomen 5 times (for children 1 year of age or older) and the chest or back 5 times each (for children under 1 year of age). However, when a child becomes confused or cyanotic, he or she should be taken to the hospital as soon as possible for emergency care.