Balloons!

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