Balloons! Gotta love em. The promise of a balloon is enough to secure at least decent behavior from my children while in a restaurant. I’m not a big fan of the limp balloons that the children are just not ready to let me toss laying around the house, but the real problem is the baby brother. When I was a mom of 1 I was horrified by the relaxed control of choking hazards at the homes of friends with multiple kiddos. Now that I have 3 crazy boys I have to admit my 13 month old has been seen sucking on a Hot Wheel and I don’t even wince. It is just darn near impossible to keep all the “big boy toys” out of his reach. Living up to the AAP recommendations ( http://www.aap.org/publiced/br_choking.htm ) is no doubt the safest option, but if that is not going to happen just don’t lax on the latex balloons. It is tough to find a pediatrician who will let their children near one. Your child should not have latex balloons until you can trust them 100% to keep it out of their mouth. The problem is that unlike other items your child may choke on a balloon seals off the airway and is almost never removed with Heimlich maneuver or other choking first aid techniques. Balloons account for nearly 30% of choking deaths in children and many are in children age 3-6yrs according to a Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh study(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7500505?dopt=Abstract). We can all see our kids doing it. They bite the balloon and gasp because they are frightened of the sound. This or just the force of the popping balloon sends a piece of the latex into their airway where it conforms to the shape of the trachea creating a seal that prevents it from coming up as a result of choking rescue techniques. Even EMTs are unable to remove the blockage as it require a scope and is still tricky at that. By the time they get to the ER where a doc has a prayer of removing the object it is almost always to late. My real parenting advice of the day: Watch the balloons!! You’ve eliminated 30% of the choking deaths us mommies are always worrying about. According to the same study another 20 % is marble as small balls if you want a 50% reduction.Want to read more? Check out these good articles I found:
Journal Watch- Causes of Choking in Children http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/1996/102/1
Dr Greene- Balloons Can Be Hazardous http://www.drgreene.com/21_563.html
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