A choking infant is a scary sight. Infant choking is the most common cause of death in infants, primarily because their small airways are so easily obstructed.

It takes them years to learn to properly master the ability to chew and swallow food, and an infant’s cough is often not strong enough to expel a rogue object or piece of food.

Babies are notorious for putting things in their mouths; it’s their way of exploring the world. It’s critical to be diligent when baby-proofing your home as best as you can, but accidents do happen. It’s too easy to watch your infant choking and simply panic, not knowing what to do. But this is a critical moment and if you’re aware of what to do, you can save the life of your child

Practicing this technique regularly will get you comfortable doing it, should you ever need to. It may seem awkward or like you’re hurting your baby at first, but any injury done can usually be reversed and the important thing is to remove the blockage from your child’s airway.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure that you only start feeding your infant when she’s ready, this is generally when she has motor skills to swallow and can sit up on her own. Supervise her when she eats and don’t allow running around while eating. High -risk foods like hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, cheese, nuts, seeds, peanut butter, grapes and raw vegetables are all best to be avoided by young babies.