A mother from New Zealand has warned other parents about the dangers that come from even the most ordinary of household items after her baby daughter almost choked during naptime.
Thankfully, Rebecca Fitzgerald was near her baby monitor when she heard her baby daughter, Charli choking in her sleep. She realised that she had one of her plastic hair-clips stuck in the back of her throat.
Rebecca spoke to News One Now about the incident:
"We were out for the morning and drove home. She fell asleep so I transferred her straight into her cot. And she woke up and I could hear her on the monitor. And then she just went quiet. She just stared at me just vacant and just trying to gasp for air. And she was just really floppy, no noise, just every now and then you would hear this gurgle which meant then there was a tiny bit of air getting in, but obviously just not enough."
She immediately called an ambulance and when the emergency services arrived they suctioned the plastic clip out of the back of her daughter's throat. Now Rebecca is warning other parents to remove anything with buttons or fastenings and all hair accessories before putting their child in another room to sleep.
She says she had a close call and now wants to use this experience to ensure other parents know how dangerous these little accessories can be - especially to toddlers.
If a small child is choking you should pick them up and make sure their heads are dipped forward facing downwards. Pat their backs strongly between the shoulder blades to get rid of anything that is lodged in their windpipes.
There is some more important information here on what to do if your child is having difficulty breathing.
