Monday, January 09, 2006

Sticker Shock!

I try my best keeping small parts away from my son. He is still at that stage when everything goes right into his mouth. It never occurred to me to be cautious of stickers. My daughter had a book which contained a few pages of stickers. I had no idea the stickers were in this book which I kept in her book basket in the kids' room. My daughter was playing with several books and must have come across the stickers. She stuck them all over her chair. My son managed to pull one of the stickers off of the chair and put it in his mouth. When I checked on the kids, my son was gagging. I thought I might have to perform CPR so I brought my son into the kitchen where the CPR poster is hanging-I wanted to make sure I remembered the proper steps & technique for infants. My son continued to gag and eventually vomited. I noticed a sticker stuck to his shirt sleeve. I assumed he'd swallowed a sticker. I couldn't figure out how CPR was going to dislodge something literally "stuck" in his mouth. Luckily, he never turned blue and continued crying and making noise. I knew he was still getting air. I didn't want to put my finger in his mouth and push the sticker further into his throat, but I just knew it was the only way I was getting this thing out. Slowly and carefully, I grabbed a sticker edge with my fingernail and dragged the sticker from my son's mouth.
I did some research on the internet this morning and found very little info about stickers and choking hazards, but I did find a few warnings posted in sticker books. I am so glad that I know about this now-although I wish I had known earlier. It does remind me that I need to get re-certified in child/infant CPR. Contact your local Red Cross chapter for classes.
I also own a simple cup device that allows you to test objects for choking hazards:

2 comments:

Kami said...

YIKES! Why do they do that stuff to us??

Kelley said...

Hey fellow Pisces-my coworker is from Gloucester, Mass and absolutely raves about the town all of the time. BTW-I enjoyed "101 things about me."