A couple whose young son died in a choking incident have urged other to learn CPR and other first aid skills.
Emma Carver and Mohammad Umar’s two-year-old son Ayyan died after choking on two grapes while at the supermarket.
Emma was shopping and turned her back to pick something up when the toddler took two grapes from their trolley and put them into his mouth.
She spotted that he was choking straight away but was unable to dislodge the grapes.
“His lips tuned blue, his fingers all turned blue,” Emma told local news station WXYZ.
She tried to save Ayyan with the help of other shoppers, one of whom called the emergency services.
Help came but it was two late – a paramedic removed the first grape but the little boy had already lost too much air.
“I was feeling like maybe it was a bad dream, like maybe someone’s going to wake me up,” said Mohammed.
The couple have now signed up for first aid classes and are urging other parents to do the same.
The HSE has these guidelines for treating a children over the age of one who is choking.
- If the child cannot breathe, talk or cough, stand behind the child.
- Give up to 5 slaps to the back between the shoulder blades.
- If this does not dislodge the object, stand or kneel behind the child.
- Start the Heimlich manoeuvre by placing the flat thumb side of your fist between the child’s navel and breastbone.
- Be sure to keep well off the breastbone.
- Wrap your other hand around your fist and press upwards towards their stomach.
- Keep doing this until the object pops out and the child begins to breathe again.
- If the child becomes unresponsive, gently lower the child to the floor and dial 999 or 112.
The technique is slightly different for babies under the age of one, as demonstrated in this video from St John’s ambulance.
