Mum writes viral post detailing how her toddler almost died and it’s eye-opening

This is terrifying.

Watching your child struggle to breathe is one of the most frightening things as a parent. A couple of months ago I wrote about having to prevent my daughter from choking when she swallowing some plastic confetti that had been in a balloon. Last week one mum took to Facebook to warn other parents about how quickly things can take a turn for the worse and why you should never let your guard down. Mother Alex Skillen wrote about how she almost lost his son Theo after he almost choked on some food right in front of her. The shocked mum said it was just a normal day and that none of the food her son was eating posed a choking hazard. She said her little boy had always been a great eater and the meal he was eating was something he had had many times before.

"The reason I am telling you is because most of you know how Theo is such an incredible eater & I always had the attitude “It will never happen to me because I’m so careful” I Always sit with him when he eats, I always chopped his foods into “non choking small sizes”. I am always so careful, Yet it still happened & We nearly lost our baby."

Alex said she was sat next to her little boy when she accidentally knocked over her coffee and jumped from her seat. Alex believes Theo got a fright when his mum jumped and the food he was chewing became lodged in his throat.

"I heard a muffled sound, I looked over at Theo to find him slumped to the side of his high chair, blue lips and eyes rolled to the back of his head, having a seizure."

The frightened mother said her son's body felt lifeless and for a moment she thought he was dead. Another family member began to perform CPR on the child while the ambulance was called. Luckily the person performing CPR was able to dislodge the food and Theo began to breathe again before being taken to the hospital for further medical checks. The mum finished the post by warning other parents not to become complacent and these kinds of accidents can occur within seconds.

"This isn’t an attention message in any way, because he is absolutely fine now! it’s purely to make people aware of how easily something like this can happen. And please please please do not have that same attitude I did that “it won’t happend to me because I’m so careful” It doesn’t matter how careful you are, accidents still happen & this happened in a matter of seconds!"

Alex's post has now been shared over 12,000 times and will hopefully help save another child's life. Choking can be silent and sudden. For more information on what to look out for you can read our article on what to do if your child is choking here.