What should I do if my child chokes while drinking water?

Many parents will encounter situations where their children choke on water. For this problem, the best way is to take preventive measures. Be sure to feed your baby slowly. At this time, parents must be patient and never be anxious. Do not let the child drink water in large gulps. Also, pay attention to the posture of drinking water, such as not drinking water while lying down. So if the child accidentally chokes on water, how should you deal with it?

What should I do if my baby chokes on water?

If a baby chokes while drinking water, he should be laid prone on an adult's lap or on the bed, and his back should be patted hard to make him cough out the water. If your baby vomits due to coughing, you should quickly turn his face to one side to prevent the vomit from flowing back into the throat and trachea. Then wrap a handkerchief around your finger and put it into the baby's mouth to quickly clean out the vomited, spilled milk and food to keep the baby's respiratory tract unobstructed. Then use a small cotton swab to clean the baby's nostrils to avoid respiratory blockage.

2. Touch your chest

After the baby's breathing is unobstructed, the adult should sit down and place the baby on his or her lap in a more comfortable position. Then, the adult can use the palm of his hand to gently touch or pat the baby's chest and esophagus from bottom to top. Use the external force of the adult's palm to help the baby relieve the discomfort of choking.

3. Seek medical attention immediately if you have difficulty breathing

If the baby is choking severely, has difficulty breathing, has a purple face, and is not even crying, it means the baby is lacking oxygen and a large amount of water has entered the trachea. At this time, immediately stimulate, pat, or pinch the soles of the baby's feet to make the baby cry because of pain, increase the baby's breathing, or perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and rush to the hospital.

Why is the baby drooling?

1. Normal physiological phenomenon

When the baby is 3-4 months old, the central nervous system and salivary glands gradually develop and mature, and the amount of saliva secretion begins to increase, reaching 200 ml per day. After 5-6 months, due to the addition of complementary foods, the eruption of deciduous teeth causes mechanical stimulation of the gingival nerves, which causes a significant increase in the amount of saliva. However, during this period, the volume of the baby's oral cavity is relatively small, the swallowing function has not yet matured, the oral cavity is shallow, and the lip closure and swallowing movements are not coordinated. The saliva cannot be swallowed in time, so drooling is easy to occur. This is a normal physiological phenomenon and does not require treatment. As the deciduous teeth come out, the oral cavity tends to become larger and the swallowing function improves. Generally, the drooling phenomenon will disappear naturally after 2-3 years old.

2. Caused by oral diseases

It is abnormal for a small number of babies to drool. It is most commonly caused by stomatitis due to various reasons, such as ulcerative stomatitis, thrush, acute tonsillitis, acute pharyngitis, herpetic pharyngitis, etc. Due to the stimulation of oral inflammation, saliva secretion increases reflexively, and it is painful to swallow, but the child is unwilling to swallow. This often manifests as more saliva than usual, accompanied by crying, refusing to eat, and even fever. Symptomatic treatment should be given in time, and oral inflammation will return to normal once it is cured.

3. Caused by swallowing dysfunction

The baby usually appears weak and powerless, has poor sucking ability when drinking water or feeding, and is prone to choking and coughing; the saliva seems to flow continuously and uninterruptedly; and motor development is slower than other babies. At this time, you should suspect whether the baby has congenital brain dysplasia, intellectual disability, or secondary brain injury, such as cerebral palsy, encephalitis or neonatal asphyxia, etc., which causes the function of swallowing saliva to be impaired; you should take the child to the hospital for examination and diagnosis in time.

4. Other factors

In addition, when children have a cold, a stuffy nose, or difficulty breathing, they often breathe through their mouths, and saliva will flow out from the corners of their mouths. Some people like to pinch their baby's cheeks. This intimate action will increase the stimulation to the salivary glands because the baby's facial skin is relatively thin and tender, and the parotid gland tissue in the mouth is underdeveloped, fragile, and easily harmed. If you knead frequently or with too much force, it may cause slight damage to the gland and the amount of saliva secretion will be much greater than that of a normal child. It is recommended not to knead frequently or with too much force.