The child ate a seed from a Komarovsky plum. What is contraindicated to do? How to help an older child

Small children are not only a great joy for parents, but also a lot of troubles. Anyone who has at least once had to spend at least a few hours with a baby understands perfectly what we are talking about. Keeping track of your baby can be very difficult. Children are restless and inquisitive, but they still have practically no instinct of self-preservation.

It's no secret that young children love to taste everything they can get their hands on. And this can be very dangerous. Small objects swallowed by a baby can sometimes cause irreparable harm to his body. But how to assess the severity of the threat? For example, if a child swallows a plum or apricot pit, is it dangerous or not? What should parents do in such a situation? How to help the baby? Should I leave everything as is or try to remove the foreign object?

Summer is a time of danger

In the warm season, it is even more difficult to monitor a small child. Children are freed from excess clothing and are more likely to leave indoor spaces at home.

During the summer, caring parents try to improve their child’s health as much as possible. All available methods are used: trips to the sea, forays into nature, increased doses of fruits and berries. This is where the main danger lies. Even the most attentive and caring parents cannot always ensure that the child eats fruits correctly and does not forget to spit out the hard cores. So it’s not surprising that the child swallowed a plum pit. This does not mean at all that you are a bad mother or an inattentive grandmother. You shouldn't scold your child either. In such a situation, you need to concentrate and understand what to do next.

How can a plum pit be dangerous?

If your baby swallows a small object like a bead, there is no need to worry. But this does not apply to plum pits. The fact is that the core of this fruit has rather sharp edges. This can pose a serious danger. And her sizes are not the smallest. So if your 2-year-old child swallows a plum pit, this can have a rather negative impact on his health. A foreign body can be located across the esophagus and damage its walls. Intestinal bleeding is also quite possible.

But the danger lies not only in this. The cores of many fruits, including plums, contain a substance called amygdalin. In itself, it is completely harmless, but when it enters the stomach, amygdalin, under the influence of acids, begins to disintegrate and release a very dangerous substance - hydrocyanic acid.

How to identify danger

Unfortunately, parents do not always find out in time that their child has swallowed a pit from a plum or other fruit. If one-year-old children are supervised almost continuously, then an older baby can be left alone for a while. At this moment, trouble most often occurs.

If the child can already speak, then he can tell you that he has eaten the whole fruit. But sometimes it happens that children do not attach importance to this fact. Some kids may be afraid that they have done something bad and their parents will scold them. Then the child will consciously try to hide what happened from you.

How can you tell if your baby has eaten the whole plum? If nothing bothers the child, then nothing. You can find out about the incident after a couple of days, getting rid of the contents of the chamber pot. But if something went wrong, the signs may be:

If an object gets into the trachea, it can block the airway. Outwardly, this is manifested by a strong cough, the inability to breathe or speak freely.
When the bone becomes stuck in the esophagus, the child will experience pain when swallowing. Increased salivation is also possible. The baby may have cramps, a strong urge to vomit, and chest pain.
If the nucleolus reaches the intestine safely, there may be no symptoms. There are practically no nerve endings there, so pain will be minimal. Intestinal damage can be detected by the presence of droplets of blood in waste products. If you suspect that your one-year-old child has swallowed a plum pit, carefully inspect his potty over the next few days.

How to behave correctly

In the process of providing assistance, many parents commit a large number of stupid actions that not only do not help, but can also seriously harm.

Of course, there is nothing good about a child swallowing a plum pit. What to do in such a situation? How to help the baby and not harm?

First you need to stop panicking and calm down. Then carefully examine the child and ask him about how he feels. If the baby is not in pain and his behavior remains normal, parents can only observe the development of the situation.

Now remember the list of actions that can cause harm:

Do not try to induce vomiting under any circumstances. Sharp spasms of the esophagus can drive the bone even further, or it can be positioned in such a way that it injures the mucous membrane.
There is no need to give a lot of liquid or food. Anything that speeds up the natural digestion process can be harmful to the baby.
Don't feed your child bread. Plum pits are not fish pits. Crusts will not help in this case.
Do not give your baby any laxatives. Firstly, calculating the dose for a small child is quite difficult. Secondly, the accelerated passage of the bone through the intestines can lead to injury to its walls.

If nothing bothers your baby, but you still can’t do nothing, try giving him some oatmeal. This viscous product, when it enters the stomach and intestines, envelops its walls, naturally facilitating the passage of food.

When to sound the alarm

There are situations when doing nothing is simply dangerous. You should immediately consult a doctor if one of the following situations occurs:

the child feels unwell and complains of nausea;
there is difficulty breathing or the baby complains of a sore throat;
The baby has a stomach ache and the pain only intensifies over time;
there is frequent vomiting (more than 2 times);
the child does not complain about anything, but there are droplets of blood in the stool.

Symptoms that require immediate medical attention

If an adult or child swallows a plum pit, the symptoms indicating an urgent call to specialists are similar:

the person feels bad and complains of nausea;
pain may occur in the abdominal area, which does not go away for a long time, but only intensifies;
if vomiting occurs more than 2-3 times, it is considered multiple, and this is a direct indication for medical intervention;
If blood appears in the stool, you should also not delay visiting a doctor, but rather prevent possible complications.

First aid for children under one year old

If a 1-year-old child swallows a plum pit and chokes, he definitely needs help. You just need to do it correctly.

First, ask someone nearby to call an ambulance.
Place the baby face down on your forearm. His head should be lower than his legs.
Hold the child with one hand, and with the edge of your other hand, lightly hit him several times between the shoulder blades. Note! Strikes should not be struck from top to bottom, but forward from yourself. It should look like you want to throw the crumbs off your hand.

If nothing works and the item does not come out, proceed differently.

Sit on a chair and place your baby face up on your lap.
The baby's legs should be in the area of your stomach, and the head should be on your knees, slightly lower in level.
Using confident but not forceful movements, press on the baby's sternum slightly above the solar plexus. The movements should be as if you want to squeeze the bone back into your mouth.

First aid for a baby under 1 year old if he chokes on such a bone

Unfortunately, young children often harm themselves. The same is true with ingestion of foreign objects. If a one-year-old child swallows a plum pit, there is a high probability that he will choke on it. In this case, you should immediately call an ambulance. But before her arrival, parents can help their baby themselves:

lay the baby on your forearm so that the face is directed downward;
support your back and chin;
with the edge of your palm, make several medium-force blows between the shoulder blades; with such manipulations, the bone should come out if it has not managed to travel far into the body;
if it does not come out, you need to turn the baby on his back, lay him face down on your lap, then slowly push with your fingers just below the baby’s chest.

How to help an older child

If a plum pit is swallowed by a child 5 years old or older, you need to act a little differently:

Stand behind the child and wrap your arms around him.
Make a fist with one hand and place it on the baby's stomach between the navel and sternum.
With your other hand, clasp your fist and press sharply on the baby's stomach several times.
Movements should be directed from bottom to top. You don't need to press too hard, but your thrusts should be firm.

And remember! Even if everything worked out for you, the bone has moved from its place and the pain has disappeared, this does not cancel the call to the emergency room.

How to detect a bone in the esophagus

In some cases, the child may not experience any negative feelings at all. But worried parents simply cannot leave the baby alone and consider it simply necessary to do something. What procedures will help assess the scale of the disaster?

If your child has swallowed a pit from a plum or other fruit and you are very concerned about his health, then you need to visit a pediatrician. He will examine the condition of the child’s pharynx, assess the situation as a whole and, if necessary, give a referral to a gastroenterologist.

To determine the presence of a bone in the esophagus and its location, radiography is most often used. The picture must be taken in two projections: straight and sideways. After all, an object can be positioned in such a way that it will not be visible in one picture.

The most modern and accurate diagnostic method in this case is esophagoscopy. This not very pleasant procedure is popularly known as “gut swallowing.” The doctor, under local anesthesia, inserts a special tube (esophagoscope) into the esophagus and examines it. The procedure allows you to most accurately determine where exactly a plum pit or other object is stuck. You can also carefully examine the walls of the esophagus for damage and decide whether surgical intervention is necessary.

Children by nature are almost always inquisitive. They try to study all found objects not only by touch, but also by taste. Therefore, the situation when a 1.5 year old child swallows a plum pit is, unfortunately, quite common. At first glance, it may seem that there is nothing dangerous in this - all the baby needs to do is go to the toilet and the foreign object will immediately come out. But parents should be on guard, because the child can not only swallow, but also choke on a bone, and then the situation will only get worse. The baby may need emergency help. We will talk about all this in our article.

What to do if a child swallows something inedible?

Children do not know the word “danger”, but some pranks can endanger their life and health. Children's curiosity knows no bounds, and often getting to know new objects can result in a foreign body getting into the gastrointestinal tract. As a rule, this happens as a result of careless handling of small “toys” and, of course, due to the neglect of parents. How not to get confused in such a situation and what should be done? Let's talk about all this in order.

Typically, babies swallow small things - parts from toys, coins, buttons, fruit seeds. After this, the child, as a rule, does not experience any unpleasant sensations, since in most cases small objects come out on their own within 2 - 3 days. The situation is different with foreign bodies that are large or have sharp edges (needle, pin, badge), which can get stuck in various parts of the gastrointestinal tract and cause serious complications, including perforation of its wall and bleeding. Of particular danger are disk batteries, which emit aggressive chemicals and very quickly cause a burn to the esophagus, the consequences of which are very dramatic for a small patient.

The baby's behavior and symptoms will depend on the size, shape and material of the object that the child swallowed. An object of considerable size (for a child’s body) can easily block the lumen of the esophagus, which will quickly manifest itself as choking, profuse salivation, and in some cases, hiccups, nausea and vomiting. It becomes impossible to take any food or liquid. The diagnosis is to a certain extent based on medical history, which, however, must be subject to reasonable criticism. If the child was not in your field of vision when everything happened, it is quite difficult to suspect the presence of a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, often children, fearing punishment, hide this fact from their parents. Therefore, even at the slightest suspicion of the presence of a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract, the small patient must be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. At home, parents should not try to pull out, shake out, or “push” a foreign body further into the stomach, for example, using bread crumbs - such actions can only cause harm!

Already in the emergency room of the hospital, the child will be examined by a surgeon and, if necessary, will prescribe additional examinations: X-ray, endoscopic or ultrasound. The results of these diagnostic tests most often help refute or confirm parents’ fears. It must be remembered that only metallic foreign bodies, stones and some types of glass can be seen on an x-ray. Otherwise, endoscopy can provide invaluable help, which, having a high diagnostic value, also allows you to remove a foreign body from the upper parts of the gastrointestinal tract - the esophagus, stomach or duodenum. In particularly difficult situations, which, fortunately, are rare, doctors have to resort to surgery - abdominal or laparoscopic. The choice of surgical intervention method is determined by the doctor depending on where the foreign body is located, what its shape and size are, taking into account the child’s condition.

It is worth recalling once again the simple but very effective methods of preventing foreign bodies from entering the child’s body:

do not leave the baby alone unattended, be sure to put small objects out of reach of the baby;
be extremely careful when choosing toys: they must be appropriate for the child’s age and not have small or easily breakable parts;
Don't let children talk while eating and don't feed them food that contains bones or seeds.

Be carefull! Keep your kids healthy.

Vladimir KHRYSCHANOVICH, Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Soviet Belarus No. 158 (25040). Thursday, August 18, 2016

Date of publication: 22:50:39 08/17/2016

What is the danger of swallowing a plum pit?

Before talking about the danger, it should be noted that not all bones can harm a child. Of course, this is an isolated case, and excessive swallowing of foreign objects is strictly prohibited.

Cherry pits pose the least danger to a child. They are small in size, round in shape and have a smooth surface. If a child swallows such a bone, it will most likely come out very quickly. The harm from such a foreign body will be minimal for the baby.

If a child swallows a plum pit, then the likelihood of damaging the mucous membrane or the walls of the esophagus increases several times. The fact is that its size is much larger than cherry, the edges are quite sharp, and the surface is rough. But don't panic in advance. Usually, such bones leave the body quite easily. However, parents should monitor their child's behavior. If he complains of abdominal pain and malaise, you should immediately call a doctor at home.

What are the dangers of swallowing plum pits?

It seems to many that a bone eaten by a child can leave the body naturally. Do not forget that in children the gastrointestinal tract is quite small, so the bone can simply get stuck.

But parents don’t have to worry too much when their child swallows a cherry bone, since it is not dangerous. Although this does not mean that the baby has the right to eat berries with seeds all the time.

When the baby begins to complain of pain in the tummy, or the appearance of some other incomprehensible signs, you need to contact a pediatrician.

You should be more concerned when your baby has swallowed a plum pit, since it is quite impressive in size, and the edge of the pit is sharp and uneven. Therefore, the risk that it will get stuck and harm the child’s body increases significantly.

Parents in such a situation need to closely monitor the child’s behavior, pay attention to how the baby goes to the toilet, and listen to his complaints. Once again, we should not panic. It is necessary to develop an action plan for such a situation, although the best option is to call a doctor.

Signs that a child has swallowed or choked on a bone

If parents or someone else notices that the baby has swallowed a foreign object, it is too early to take a wait-and-see approach. The plum pit is large, and in this case there is a high risk of choking on it. The type of first aid will depend on this.

If a child chokes on a bone:

if a foreign object gets stuck in the esophagus, he will not be able to swallow;
if the bone gets into the trachea, he will choke, clutch his neck, and cough;
the skin will take on a bluish tint;
the mouth will stop closing;
There may be copious amounts of saliva;
the baby will lose consciousness.

If a child swallows a plum pit, the following complications are possible:

he has a constant urge to vomit;
acute abdominal pain;
blood in stool.

Regardless of whether the child swallowed a bone or choked on it, parents need to know what to do and how to behave in each possible case.

What absolutely should not be done

Let's consider what actions are strictly prohibited if a child swallows a bone. Often parents try to remove a foreign object from the body as quickly as possible - this is not the best thing to do.

The baby’s body is still quite weak, so every external influence is fraught with unforeseen consequences.

For this reason, experts advise parents to do the following if their child swallows a bone:

Do not give your baby laxatives.
Do not trigger the gag reflex.
Do not feed or give your child anything to drink.
Do not resort to alternative medicine.

Remember that such actions are fraught with negative consequences for a child’s body. If your baby swallows a foreign object, you should not rush to use all your existing skills. In such a situation, the best way to help is to calm down and do nothing at least until the baby feels normal and makes no complaints.

If everything is normal with the baby, he continues to run and jump, just wait for the bone to come out of the body naturally.

Surprisingly, in such a situation, many parents try to give their child a laxative. This should not be done. Such drugs are intended to solve completely different problems.

It should be remembered that a laxative in a small dosage is harmless for an adult, but in a child such a remedy can provoke intoxication of the body.

Many parents have to deal with such a difficulty as a baby swallowing a foreign object (in this case a bone). Most often, the problem is solved without any complications or injuries.

But in some cases, the outcome may be different - the baby begins to cough, severe salivation appears, the skin becomes bluish, and the child involuntarily puts his hands on his throat. This indicates that the bone is stuck rather than passed into the digestive tract. It is important to know how to behave in this case.

A child swallowed a plum pit - when will it come out?

If the parents find out that the baby still ate the plum along with the pit and is not bothered by acute pain, they need to wait a little. After 12-48 hours, the foreign object will most likely be passed in the stool.

In most cases, if a child at 3 years old swallows a plum pit and it does not get stuck in the esophagus, he behaves as if nothing happened. Therefore, the best way to help a baby who runs, jumps, and does not complain of pain and malaise is not to interfere with a foreign object leaving the body naturally. You just need to be a little patient and wait.

Methods for diagnosing a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract

If a person swallows a plum pit, you need to listen to your feelings. This is easy for an adult to do. In addition, the risk of complications is reduced, because the esophagus and other organs of the gastrointestinal tract are comparatively larger than children’s.

In order to determine exactly where the bone is located and whether it is there at all, modern diagnostic methods are used:

It is important to have a specialist examine the pharynx and larynx and evaluate clinical manifestations. He must look to see if the walls of the esophagus are intact. In case of damage, it is necessary to determine the depth of the scratch in order to subsequently decide on the use of surgical intervention.
X-ray of the esophagus when swallowing a bone is performed in two projections: straight and lateral. This is important because it may not be visible in one photo. After all, it may be turned edgewise or located unclearly. Therefore, specialists always try to be confident in their diagnosis.
In some cases, esophagoscopy is also performed. This is not a very popular procedure; some people don’t even know about its existence. But if a person has swallowed a plum pit or some other object, esophagoscopy is a good diagnostic method or way to solve this problem. The procedure consists of inserting a rigid esophagoscope or a fiberscope, which is softer, into the esophagus, and then its inner surface can be examined. With this manipulation, you can not only detect where the bone is stuck, but also remove it. It is also possible to see if there are wounds on the walls of the esophagus. Esophagoscopy is used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

What should parents not do if their child swallows a plum pit?

There is a list of actions that mothers and fathers are strictly not recommended to perform if their baby swallows a plum kernel. They are as follows:

give your child laxatives;
cause a gag reflex;
feed and water;
use physical methods of influence on the baby’s body.

If you do not adhere to these restrictions, then your actions can only cause harm. Most often, parents give laxatives to a child who has swallowed a plum pit. But in this case, they are completely unnecessary and can only harm the baby.

However, there are situations when, when swallowing a bone, a child begins to cough with copious amounts of saliva, his skin turns blue, and it is not possible to take a deep breath. This means that the baby choked on a bone, and it did not go down into the esophagus, but got stuck in the respiratory tract.

What is strictly forbidden to do?

Now let's look at what doctors categorically forbid you to do. Most often, parents attempt to quickly remove the nucleus from the body - this is extremely undesirable. The child’s body is not strong and any outside intervention can lead to unforeseen consequences. Therefore, it is not advisable to use the following actions:

give the child a laxative;
cause gag reflexes;
give food or liquid;
use traditional methods.

Providing first aid to a child

If you observe the symptoms described above in your baby, with shortness of breath and bluish skin, it is recommended to immediately call emergency help. But at this time there is no need to sit still and wait until the baby gets worse. It is necessary to be able to provide first aid to your child. This could save his life.

First of all, you should look into the baby's mouth. You may see a bone and be able to pull it out yourself. If it is not visible, then you should not put your fingers in the mouth, since this can only scare the child.

Next, the baby is placed on his arm on his stomach so that his head is lower than his body. Now, with an open palm, you need to make five strong pressures between the shoulder blades. After this, the oral cavity is checked. If the steps described above did not help, then the child should be turned onto his back and with two fingers a sharp pressure should be applied to the sternum, and then again (when the chest has restored its volume). If the bone still does not appear in the mouth, then you can once again make five pressures between the shoulder blades, turning the child back onto his stomach.

A famous doctor gives his recommendations on what to do if a child swallows a bone. First of all, he urges parents not to panic, as this may cause fear in the child, which in this case will be inappropriate. Next, you need to turn the baby upside down and shake it a little. It is possible that a foreign object that has entered the respiratory tract will fall out on its own.

After this, parents are required to take the actions described above, that is, perform patting movements on the back and press the chest with their fingers several times. If this does not help, then the child will have to undergo mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration. To do this, tilt your head back and forcefully inhale air through your mouth several times. In this case, the chest should rise slightly. This means that the action was successful and air entered the lungs. Now all that remains is to wait for the ambulance to arrive.

If a child swallows a fruit seed, this causes concern for parents. The damage of an engulfed bone is determined by its size. Cherry pits are not scary even for small toddlers, because they have a round shape and a smooth surface. But apricot and plum pits can greatly harm the baby’s body, because they have an oval shape and sharp edges, which, moving along the esophagus, can damage the walls of the intestines and stomach. Therefore, you should not hesitate to visit a doctor if you swallow large seeds. What to do if the baby swallows or chokes on a bone, what parents should not do in these situations, we will tell you in the article.

Advice from Dr. Komarovsky

How can you tell if a child has swallowed a plum pit?

A mother may not always notice that her child has swallowed a foreign object. Parents keep an eye on children 1.5-2 years old, so older children are more likely to encounter this problem, although this is not an obvious pattern.

What signs may indicate that a baby has swallowed a fruit seed?

The most obvious sign is lack of air. If this phenomenon may be different. One of them is a bone stuck in the trachea.
Bloody stool may indicate a bone has been swallowed.
Urges to vomit.
Intense pain in the abdomen (not cramps, but a engulfing pain that gradually intensifies).
If the bone is stuck in the esophagus, the baby may complain of pain in the chest area.
It is difficult and painful for the child to swallow. He constantly feels discomfort.

Don't be alarmed if your baby swallows cherry or cherry pits. They will leave the baby's body naturally. You should be wary of large apricot or plum seeds and even cherry plums.

A child swallowed a plum pit: what should not be done?

When this kind of incident happens to the baby, many parents panic and begin to carry out manipulations that should never be done.

What should you not do if your child swallows a fruit seed?

Never try to push through a stuck bone with a crust of bread.
Do not let your baby drink water from the stuck object.
Do not artificially induce vomiting under any circumstances.
If the bone has already entered the esophagus, you should not use laxatives.

A child ate a pit from a plum, cherry plum or apricot: what to do?

Many children swallow fruit pits, but only a small percentage of them seek professional help. If your baby swallows an apricot or cherry pit, but feels fine within 24 hours, there is no reason to worry. The main thing is to monitor the baby’s bowel movements and make sure that the bone is out of the body. Plum pit is a more dangerous “product”. If it does not leave the body within two days, then you should contact a specialist, since the plum pit, when decomposed, releases hydrocyanic acid (a toxic substance), which can have a detrimental effect on the child’s health.

Pediatrician B. Spock:

If your baby swallows something smooth like a plum pit or a button, you can rest easy and don't give him more bread to push the swallowed object down. Just inspect his stool for a few days to reassure him when the item comes out. Of course, you should see a doctor right away if your child starts vomiting or has stomach pain, or if a swallowed object gets stuck in the esophagus and is causing him pain.

If a child who has eaten a fruit seed feels unwell, then it is not recommended to carry out any manipulations on your own. You should go to the hospital or emergency room immediately. But, if there is a threat to life, then there is no time to hesitate and you need to provide first aid to the child.

When do you need to act immediately?

If the child turns blue and lacks air.
If he wraps his hands around his throat.
If the baby is suffocating.
If he suddenly lost consciousness.

The child swallowed a fish bone

You cannot push a stuck bone with food.

Incidents of children swallowing or choking on plum or apricot pits are alarmingly common, so care should be taken to ensure that the pits are removed from all fruit.

But you should not relax if you are sure that your child only receives fruits that have been pitted. Often, a baby may choke on a fish bone that may get caught in the fillet.

Of course, the first thing to do is call an ambulance. Only specialists will help remove the bone if it is stuck. In addition, a simple examination, which a parent can provide, will not determine whether the bone is in the throat or has passed. The child won’t talk about it either, as he will simply be scared.
The next thing you should do is try not to give your child any pieces of food to push through the bone - this will only make the doctors’ task worse and will have a bad effect on your child’s health. You should also remember that a fish bone is still a sharp object, and if you try to force a child to swallow it, it may happen that the bone simply scratches the mucous membranes of the throat and esophagus, causing harm to the child.

The second half of summer is a paradise for little gourmands. What kind of goodies and benefits does the garden and vegetable garden give us? And it’s generally better not to go to the market with a child. There are mountains of strawberries on every fruit stand. Apples, pears, apricots, peaches, cherries, cherries, cherry plums, plums. And all this glistens with cleanly washed sides and beckons you to take a bite. But if in the store and at the market parents carefully control that their child does not stuff something into his mouth, then at home, and even more so in the garden, it is not always possible to keep an eye on the little one.

And this is where trouble can arise when a child swallows a pit from a plum, apricot, cherry plum or other sweet fruit. Should I be worried in this case? And, most importantly, to what extent is the concern justified and requires immediate action?

“Experienced”, wise grandmothers and the “omniscient” Internet with a reassuring smile and a sly wink will claim that nothing bad happened, the swallowed bone will come out naturally and the most important thing to do is to monitor the change in the child’s stool. They may advise giving the baby something to eat or drink a large amount of water in order to push through the plum or apricot pit. However, doctors strongly recommend not to listen to such advice.

It is worth carefully examining the bone itself and it immediately becomes clear what danger it poses to the still fragile gastrointestinal tract of children.

Firstly, it is quite large and can simply get stuck.
Secondly, the edges of the bone are sharp and can injure the mucous membrane.

These two reasons are enough to make you seriously worried.

However, there is also a third one. If a child swallows an apricot or plum pit and it successfully and painlessly slips into the stomach, which is what happens in most cases, the digestion process will begin. Even the stomach of an adult cannot cope with this, but in a child the bone will only soften a little. And this will be enough for the amygdalin contained in it to begin to decompose and release hydrocyanic acid.

But it’s even worse when the bone gets into the trachea or larynx. She will block your breath and in this case you can no longer hesitate.

What to do if a child chokes on a pit from a plum, apricot, cherry plum: first aid algorithm

What to do if a child over one year old chokes on a fruit seed?

1. Stand behind the child and clasp his torso with your arms. 2. Clench one hand into a fist and place it on the child’s stomach (between the navel and ribs). 3. With the other palm, you should clasp your fist and, using bottom-up movements, press on your stomach 4 times. Elbows should be apart. 4. This procedure should be repeated until the child spits out the stuck bone. This manipulation can only be performed on children over 1 year of age.

If the baby has lost consciousness, then mechanical ventilation should be performed until the ambulance arrives.

(artificial ventilation). How to do this correctly?

The child should be placed on his side with his head up (holding the chin).
If there is no breathing, you need to take air into your lungs.
Place your mouth over your baby's mouth and nose and exhale. This manipulation must be done 5 times. Then check for breathing.
If the baby is not breathing, you need to apply 30 pressures on the lower part of the chest with two fingers, and then take two breaths into the baby and press on the chest again.

You need to apply pressure on the baby's chest carefully so as not to injure the baby's body.

First aid for a baby under 1 year old

If the baby is still very small, then the manipulations described above can harm him (except for the point about performing mechanical ventilation). If you see that your baby has choked on a bone, then you need to behave as carefully as possible with such a baby.

Hold the baby on your forearm, head down.
Be sure to support your chin and back.
Using the edge of your palm, make several blows between the child’s shoulder blades. The main thing is not to overdo it with the impact force (focus on the baby’s body and use medium impact force, because light claps will also have no effect).
If the bone is stuck directly in the throat, then with such manipulation it will pop out. But if it has already gone down the esophagus, go to the hospital immediately.

On our website, parents can also learn how to provide first aid if, and what to do if.

All little children need fruits and berries. They are the main source of vitamins and microelements necessary for life and normal metabolic processes in a child’s body. Caring parents know that all fruits should be given to young family members peeled and pitted. But what to do if a child swallows a pit from a cherry, cherry or plum? How dangerous is this condition, and how to help a child in such a situation?

How to help a child?

A bone that has passed freely and unhindered into the intestines, and the child feels well for several days, will most likely come out on its own.

If it does not leave the body within 3-4 days, you can safely go to an appointment with a pediatrician at the clinic at your place of residence.

A pit from an apricot, plum, cherry plum, or peach swallowed by a child is always a reason to go to the emergency room. There is no need to wait several days.

The actions of adults should be similar if the bone is stuck in the esophagus.

If symptoms of a foreign object entering the trachea appear, you will have to act independently and quickly.

First, you need to sensibly assess the situation. If the baby has difficulty but can breathe, there is no need to do anything yourself, so that the object does not get further and clog the trachea completely. You should call an ambulance and wait for specialists.

If there is no breathing, the child turns blue, loses consciousness, and urgently needs to save his life:

A child who is already 1 year old is placed vertically, clasped around the waist from behind.
The left hand, clenched into a fist, is placed on the child’s stomach in the middle between the ribs and the navel. With the right hand, clasp the left fist as tightly as possible, spread the elbows in different directions and make four sharp pressures. The direction is from bottom to top.
Take a short pause if breathing has not resumed, and repeat the four movements again. This is done until the first independent breath.

If the child “disconnected”, you should do differently:

He is laid on his side, his head is thrown back, and he is held by the chin. From this moment you can begin artificial ventilation of the lungs, artificial respiration.
The adult takes a deep breath, presses himself as tightly as possible to the baby’s lips and nose and exhales. After five such exhalations, you should use a small mirror to check the presence of spontaneous breathing; if it is not, then a series of exhalations is repeated, after which the adult presses the lower segment of the child’s chest with his palms several times.

The presence of breathing is checked again. If it is absent again, the procedure is repeated, alternating 2 mouth-to-mouth exhalations with a series of 3-4 presses. This is done until breathing appears or until the ambulance arrives.

If the child is under one year old, then he is placed face down on one hand, supporting his chin with it so that the fingers of the hand are on his back. With the second hand, use the heel of the palm to apply careful blows to the area between the shoulder blades.

If the bone does not come out, then the baby is placed on his knees face down and lightly pressed several times on the sternum in its lower part. If nothing helps restore breathing, they begin to carefully carry out the set of artificial respiration measures described above.

Are cherry pits dangerous?

A child swallowed a cherry pit, what should I do? Perhaps every second parent of a tomboy personally faces a similar question when he actively explores the world and gets acquainted with the taste of everything that surrounds him. Indeed, in the summer it is very difficult to keep track of the movements of a child in the first years of life, which is why one has to deal with troubles such as eaten bones. In such cases, the first thing the baby’s parents should do is calm down and think logically.

Cherry pits themselves do not pose a threat to the body of small children, since they do not have sharp edges, are small in size and have a smooth surface.

Therefore, eaten and undigested remains of small cherries will most likely leave the child’s digestive tract naturally within a day, and the problem that the child swallowed a cherry pit will disappear by itself. To make sure that the bone really came out, it is enough to find it in the pot along with the feces.

It’s another matter when the baby ate a large number of cherry pits, or they were in a damaged state, that is, with cracks, sharp, jagged edges, chips. In this case, it is better to show the child to a doctor. It should be understood that such a condition can pose a danger to the child’s body, causing the development of such emergency conditions as acute intestinal obstruction and inflammation of the appendix. Also, uneven edges of the brushes can provoke a violation of the integrity of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract and cause bleeding. In this scenario, the question “The child swallowed a cherry pit, what should I do?” no longer seems so harmless.

When should you not postpone a visit to the doctor?

What to do if a child swallowed a cherry pit, but it was not found in his feces for two days? In this case, a visit to the doctor cannot be postponed. Also, you should not ignore the problem if other signs occur that indicate a foreign body in the baby’s body:

the appearance of blood in the stool or a change in its color to dark (almost black);
development of the urge to vomit, which is accompanied by pain behind the sternum;
persistent pain in the abdominal area;
complication of the process of swallowing food, during which pain and vomiting occur (a similar phenomenon is typical for cases when the bone is stuck at the level of the esophagus);
if the bone gets into the respiratory tract, the child experiences a feeling of severe shortness of breath, intense coughing, and speech impairment.

Features of the child's esophagus. When should you not push an object?

If a child swallows a plum pit, it “travels” through the gastrointestinal tract.
But its first obstacle is three physiological bends of the esophagus. All children and adults have this organ of individual size and diameter. Small children may experience narrowness of any of the bends. Sometimes in such cases the bone becomes across and does not allow either liquid or food to pass through. Is it dangerous to swallow a plum pit? The danger arises when it blocks the windpipe (not being there, the bone compresses it), and breathing immediately becomes difficult, making it impossible to try to push food through it or take a sip of liquid.

Urgent measures

Often emergency dispatchers hear, “A child swallowed a cherry pit, what should I do?” And the reaction to it is sometimes ambiguous. Naturally, in most cases, an ordinary cherry pit is not capable of causing any harm to a child’s body. But this is only at first glance. Sometimes a child may inadvertently inhale a foreign body, causing the child to develop symptoms of acute respiratory failure, a condition that requires immediate attention. What to do if the child did not swallow the cherry pit, but inhaled it through his nose or mouth?

Algorithm for providing first aid aimed at removing a foreign body (cherry pits) from the respiratory tract:

stand behind the child and wrap your arms around him at waist level;
clench your right palm into a fist and place it on your stomach between the costal arches and the navel;
With the left palmar surface of the hand, grasp the right fist and make four pressures on the stomach in the direction from bottom to top;
repeat the steps until the foreign body leaves the victim’s respiratory tract.

When looking for an answer to the question “A child swallowed a cherry pit, what should I do?”, it is important to remember that in severe cases, after successful first aid, the baby should be shown to doctors. To do this, you need to take him to the hospital. It is strictly forbidden to self-medicate a small patient or try to get rid of a bone by using laxatives, inducing a gag reflex, or drinking copious amounts of liquid.

Unfortunately, even the most caring and vigilant parents cannot always protect their children from various kinds of troubles. Objects swallowed by the baby are a very common cause for concern. In summer, the number of these reasons increases many times over, because it’s time for fruit. What to do if a child swallows a plum pit? How dangerous this is and how to help the baby - we will tell you in our article.

The child ate a plum pit

Whatever pit the child swallows: plum, apricot or cherry, the most important task for parents is not to panic. Plum pits are quite large and have sharp edges, so with careless, thoughtless actions you are more likely to harm your child rather than help him. You should not try to remove the swallowed bone yourself; it is best to call an ambulance for this. Many parents are embarrassed to call doctors for such a “minor” reason or take a wait-and-see attitude - they say, it will work itself out. This is also completely wrong. Let us repeat - plum pits are quite large in size and have sharp enough edges to become a source of major health problems for the baby. Therefore, before the doctors arrive, under no circumstances should you:

give the child emetics or laxatives;
push the swallowed bone through the bread crust;
feed or water the baby.

If immediate contact with a doctor is impossible for some reason, parents should carefully monitor the child’s well-being. You can no longer delay visiting a doctor if:

the child complains of pain or discomfort in the abdomen, which gets worse over time;
the child complains of nausea;
the child has repeated vomiting;
The child has blood in his stool.

Child choked on a plum pit

The situation when a child chokes on a plum pit is much more dangerous. You can’t hesitate and watch for a second here, because we are talking about the baby’s life. Therefore, while waiting for an ambulance, it is necessary to provide the child with:

A baby under one year old should be placed face down on the forearm, supporting the chin and back, with the edge of the palm delivering several blows between the shoulder blades. If the bone does not come out, then we turn the child over on his back, place him on his knees with his head down and lightly push him just below the nipples.
For a child over one year old, you need to wrap your arms around the body, pressing on the stomach between the navel and sternum. Then make 4-5 sharp pushes upward, as if squeezing out the stuck bone.