stickers choking hazard

I hope I'm not being a fearmonger, but I just wanted to share something
that was news to me. An old schoolmate's baby girl, about 7 months old,
had a choking incident last week. Apparently the baby swallowed one of
her older sister's stickers. She's fine, but they had to go to
emergency. The ER doctor told them that stickers are a leading cause of
choking incidents in babies and toddlers, and that he had recently done
a tracheotomy on a baby who was choking on a sticker. I was surprised
to hear this, since when we think of choking hazards, it's usually
something small and round that might get stuck in the airway, not
something flat like a sticker.

As someone with a sticker-obsessed preschooler and a nearly-crawling
baby in the house, I am definitely going to be more careful with where
stickers end up.

Melania

"Melania" wrote and I snipped:
I hope I'm not being a fearmonger, but I just wanted to share something
that was news to me. An old schoolmate's baby girl, about 7 months old,
had a choking incident last week. Apparently the baby swallowed one of
her older sister's stickers. She's fine, but they had to go to
emergency. The ER doctor told them that stickers are a leading cause of
choking incidents in babies and toddlers, and that he had recently done
a tracheotomy on a baby who was choking on a sticker. I was surprised
to hear this, since when we think of choking hazards, it's usually
something small and round that might get stuck in the airway, not
something flat like a sticker.

As someone with a sticker-obsessed preschooler and a nearly-crawling
baby in the house, I am definitely going to be more careful with where
stickers end up.

We experienced this as well. DD was about 9-10 months old when she
swallowed a sticker off SD's toy castle. It wasn't flat but kind of curled
up with age. She was choking horribly, but DH managed to get it out of her
throat.

(CTTD: When we calmed down DD and came out of the bathroom, we found SD, age
8, taking all the stickers off her castle and throwing them in the trash.
It was so sweet to see her quietly helping baby-proof for her little sister
by 'ruining' her own toy!)

Thanks for the reminder,
-Patty, mom of 1+2

In article . com,
"Melania" wrote:

I hope I'm not being a fearmonger, but I just wanted to share something
that was news to me. An old schoolmate's baby girl, about 7 months old,
had a choking incident last week. Apparently the baby swallowed one of
her older sister's stickers. She's fine, but they had to go to
emergency. The ER doctor told them that stickers are a leading cause of
choking incidents in babies and toddlers, and that he had recently done
a tracheotomy on a baby who was choking on a sticker. I was surprised
to hear this, since when we think of choking hazards, it's usually
something small and round that might get stuck in the airway, not
something flat like a sticker.

I'd guess it was large enough to lodge *across* the airway.

I found one of those little "Made in China" stickers in a nappy last week :-)

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

PattyMomVA wrote:
"Melania" wrote and I snipped:
I hope I'm not being a fearmonger, but I just wanted to share something
that was news to me. An old schoolmate's baby girl, about 7 months old,
had a choking incident last week. Apparently the baby swallowed one of
her older sister's stickers. She's fine, but they had to go to
emergency. The ER doctor told them that stickers are a leading cause of
choking incidents in babies and toddlers, and that he had recently done
a tracheotomy on a baby who was choking on a sticker. I was surprised
to hear this, since when we think of choking hazards, it's usually
something small and round that might get stuck in the airway, not
something flat like a sticker.

As someone with a sticker-obsessed preschooler and a nearly-crawling
baby in the house, I am definitely going to be more careful with where
stickers end up.

We experienced this as well. DD was about 9-10 months old when she
swallowed a sticker off SD's toy castle. It wasn't flat but kind of curled
up with age. She was choking horribly, but DH managed to get it out of her
throat.

You know, we found one when DS#1 was about 11 mo, too, but he wasn't
choking exactly. He was coughing, and then he vomited, and we spotted
it stuck to one side of the back of his mouth. It was tough to peel
out. Strangely, I had forgotten all about the incident until my Mom
told me about my friend's baby.


(CTTD: When we calmed down DD and came out of the bathroom, we found SD, age
8, taking all the stickers off her castle and throwing them in the trash.
It was so sweet to see her quietly helping baby-proof for her little sister
by 'ruining' her own toy!)

Awwww! That is so sweet!

Melania

Chookie wrote:
In article . com,
"Melania" wrote:

I hope I'm not being a fearmonger, but I just wanted to share something
that was news to me. An old schoolmate's baby girl, about 7 months old,
had a choking incident last week. Apparently the baby swallowed one of
her older sister's stickers. She's fine, but they had to go to
emergency. The ER doctor told them that stickers are a leading cause of
choking incidents in babies and toddlers, and that he had recently done
a tracheotomy on a baby who was choking on a sticker. I was surprised
to hear this, since when we think of choking hazards, it's usually
something small and round that might get stuck in the airway, not
something flat like a sticker.

I'd guess it was large enough to lodge *across* the airway.

I guess - I don't imagine it has to be that big to do it, though.


I found one of those little "Made in China" stickers in a nappy last week :-)

Ha! Speaking of finding things in strange places, I found dried mashed
banana stuck in the back of DS#2's hair on the weekend, after DH had
been feeding him. DH couldn't figure out how it got there . . .

Melania