09/04/2019 Category: Pregnancy in goodness
What to do if you swallow a plum pit?
- A swallowed plum pit is fraught with considerable danger, especially if it enters a child’s body. The sharp edges of the bone can cause internal damage to the gastric mucosa and intestines. Therefore, it is advisable to take your child to the doctor immediately. You should not self-medicate; you should not give laxatives, food or drink.
If it is not possible to get to the clinic, then you need to monitor the condition of the victim; if your stomach hurts, you feel sick, or there is blood in your stool, you must immediately call an ambulance.
If the bone did not have sharp edges and the child does not experience discomfort, then the problem will be solved by itself, in a completely natural way.
You don’t need to do anything, just continue to eat plums calmly.
Nature has taken such care that many seeds do not stay in our body and come out along with feces, especially since plums weaken.
It’s just that some people are afraid of the poison that is supposedly contained in plum pits. So only the kernel contains this poison, and you need at least half a kilo of these kernels to feel nauseated. But the bone itself will not open in the body, so it will come out intact.
Pits from plums, cherries and other fruits are accidentally swallowed by many children and even adults. Nothing wrong with that. It will calmly pass through the digestive tract and will be released naturally in a few hours. There is nothing poisonous in the seeds or sharp, cutting edges and therefore cannot seriously damage anything.
If a person is able to eat or drink anything without difficulty and there are no special symptoms associated with his breathing, then the bone should come out normally.
But if a person feels that breathing is difficult while standing or lying down, then, of course, you need to call an ambulance and get advice. Often a person is given some bread and water to help the bone pass further.
You don’t need to do anything; almost any seeds from edible berries come out of the body without difficulty. You can, of course, wash down the bone with enveloping jelly, or eat stewed carrots with sour cream, which quickly gives volume and softly weakens.
But you don’t have to do anything, that’s what everyone usually does.
If you or your child swallowed a plum pit, then there is no need to worry about anything. The bone will come out naturally on its own, and you do not need to take any additional actions for this.
If a plum pit gets into the human body (the person swallowed it), then you need to try to calm down and everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
The bone will not get stuck in the human body, but will quietly come out with the feces.
It all depends on which path this bone has taken. For example, if a plum pit is stuck in your respiratory tract and you cannot breathe, then the person nearby must pull it out so that you do not get hurt. In this case, tweezers will help.
If you have already swallowed a bone and see this answer, then it is advisable to immediately take an additional amount of enzymes that will help digest it better. You can use ordinary pancreatin or festal. Or buy a blister of Wobenzin - this is the best way to digest the bone as much as possible. Take enzymes 30 minutes before meals and drink plenty of water. Try to avoid going to the toilet for as long as possible.
If you accidentally swallow a plum pit
, the main thing is not to worry and not take any action. In a day or two, the bone will leave your body naturally along with other remnants of your food (what is left of them).
If a very small child swallows a plum pit, you need to make sure that the pit comes out. If it does not come out and the child has a stomach ache, you need to go to the hospital.
For young children, all fruits are given peeled and pitted. But what to do if the parents didn’t keep track and the child swallowed a pit from a plum (apricot, cherry)? First of all, don't panic. Calm, confident actions will help you cope with the situation without danger to your baby. Let's find out how much harm a bone can cause and in what cases you need to see a doctor.
Why are bones dangerous?
The harm that a swallowed object can cause depends on its size and sharpness of the edge.
- Small bones are not dangerous even for small children. Cherries usually pass easily into the stomach and further into the intestines. They have a smooth surface, so they do not damage the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract. But if the baby has eaten a lot of cherry pits, then obstruction or an inflammatory disease such as appendicitis may occur.
- Plum and apricot pits are larger. Plum ones have the most threatening size, and sharp edges make such an object dangerous for injury. If a child under 6-7 years of age swallows a plum pit, this is a cause for concern.
- Small fish bones are dangerous because they have sharp edges and can become firmly stuck in the throat or esophagus. If a small fish bone gets into the stomach, it dissolves under the action of hydrochloric acid and becomes harmless. Large bones can severely damage the lining of the esophagus and stomach. Small children should not be given fish in its natural form, but it is better to offer them fish fillets or cutlets.
The main danger is from foreign objects entering the larynx and trachea. In this case, the airways are blocked - completely or partially - and the child can die from suffocation in a matter of minutes.
What is most commonly swallowed?
Ingestion of foreign objects by adults most often occurs due to negligence - I was eating a cherry pie and accidentally swallowed a pit. Or another common situation - I decided to hang a picture, picked up a hammer, and put the nails in my mouth. Suddenly the phone rang, the shout of a person entering the room, loss of balance - and now the carnation ends up being swallowed. As for children, swallowing objects occurs due to their curiosity and habit of tasting everything. And if adults do not keep an eye on their child, the object of interest may no longer be in the mouth, but ends up in the esophagus or stomach.
Often, due to an oversight by adults, small children swallow small objects, coins, and parts of toys.
Swallowing food-related objects
This situation is more typical for adults and older children, because when feeding babies, conscientious parents usually monitor the contents of the plate and do not allow bones or eggshells to enter the baby’s body. The danger of foreign objects eaten with food directly depends on their shape and size, and especially on the sharpness of the edges. Thus, an accidentally swallowed cherry pit has a round shape and small size, so it usually does not cause any harm and after a while comes out with feces. Apricot or peach pits are larger in size, so if swallowed, they can get stuck in the esophagus. If you swallow a plum pit, which has rather sharp edges, then in this situation mechanical damage to the wall of the esophagus or stomach is possible. The same applies to fish or chicken bones - the danger is precisely the sharp edges, which can not only scratch the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, but also cause their perforation - a violation of the integrity of the walls, which can lead to the development of an inflammatory process in the abdominal cavity. The bone can simply get stuck in the wall of the esophagus and cause local inflammation. If a person swallows a bone that is not stuck anywhere and does not damage the wall, then it will soon dissolve under the influence of hydrochloric acid and enzymes.
The same can be said for chewing gum. Contrary to popular belief that once swallowed, gum can cause the intestinal walls to stick together and cause intestinal obstruction, once swallowed it usually dissolves quite quickly under the influence of the acidic environment of the stomach and pancreatic enzymes. There is no great danger in accidentally ingesting particles of eggshells or bay leaves with food - they can also be digested quite quickly.
The danger comes from swallowing seeds that have sharp edges in food.
Ingestion of plastic and rubber products
If you swallow small rubber products, as well as plastic objects (for example, beads or small buttons) with non-sharp edges, you should not worry too much - in most cases, these products will leave the body along with waste products in two to three days, without causing any particular harm. harm. However, it may happen that the size of the swallowed object will be larger than the pylorus - the opening through which food enters the intestines, and then the object will remain at the bottom of the stomach. The difficulty is that these objects, unlike metal ones, cannot be seen on an x-ray, so the doctor will have to resort to the help of an endoscope, which is used both for diagnosis and for removing a foreign body.
Signs
Parents do not always see that a child has swallowed a foreign object. Children under the age of 1.5-2 years are usually strictly monitored, but an older child may be left unattended when this unpleasant event occurs. Sometimes the child himself tells his parents that he swallowed a bone. But it happens that children do not pay attention or are afraid to tell adults about it.
How do you know if your child has swallowed a bone? The following signs are possible.
- If an object enters the trachea, it blocks the airway. Characterized by a severe cough and inability to speak; breathing is difficult or the ability to inhale is completely absent.
- There may be no symptoms when the object passes into the intestines. In this case, you need to examine the feces to make sure that the bone has left the body.
- If the bone is stuck in the esophagus, the child will have difficulty swallowing. The more tightly the object is stuck, the more saliva will be released. The child experiences anxiety and pain in the chest.
- Painful urge to vomit.
- Severe abdominal pain.
- Blood in stool.
Symptoms and signs of foreign object ingestion
According to statistics, in approximately 70% of cases foreign bodies get stuck in the esophagus, in 20% of cases they end up in the stomach, and only in 10% they end up in the intestines. The symptoms of the process depend on its location, the structure and size of the stuck object, as well as the duration of its stay in the gastrointestinal tract. Signs of ingestion of foreign objects are divided into local, depending on the location of the stuck object, and general - increased salivation, nausea and vomiting, dull pain at the location of the foreign body, pain during palpation, with prolonged exposure - general weakness, lack of appetite, possible development obstructive jaundice.
Depending on where the object is stuck, the following symptoms characteristic of the localization of the process are distinguished:
- when located in the upper parts of the esophagus, swallowing disorders and sore throat are noted; when the lumen of the esophagus is blocked, regurgitation and return of undigested food are possible;
- in case of compression of the trachea and larynx, breathing disorders, shortness of breath, hoarseness of voice are noted, patients take a forced position;
- when a foreign body is in the stomach, heaviness and bursting pain are noted, which intensifies after eating, and a metallic taste may appear in the mouth;
- when a foreign object is located in the area of the pylorus - the narrow junction of the stomach into the duodenum - a clinical picture of intestinal obstruction is noted (vomiting of gastric contents, cramping pain, yellowness of the skin);
- with perforation of internal organs with sharp edges, bloody vomiting may occur; with heavy bleeding, pallor of the skin, tachycardia, decreased blood pressure up to loss of consciousness are noted;
- a foreign object swallowed, if it passes safely through the esophagus and stomach, usually does not pose a danger to the intestines; in very rare cases, a picture of intestinal obstruction may develop (cramping pain, nausea and vomiting, stool retention and lack of gas discharge).
Diagnostics
The main diagnostic methods are a thorough history taking, examination of the patient, as well as fluoroscopic and endoscopic examinations. Fluoroscopy may detect metal objects, as well as large swallowed meat and fish bones. In case of ingestion of non-radiopaque objects, an X-ray examination with barium sulfate is indicated - in this case, the foreign body will be visualized as a filling defect.
What to do?
What to do if your baby swallows a cherry pit? Most likely it will come out naturally. In young children, stool should be examined. If the foreign object does not leave the intestines within several days, contact your local doctor.
- If your child has eaten a plum or apricot pit, call an ambulance or take the child to the clinic yourself
Attention!
If vomiting, severe abdominal pain, or blood in the stool occurs, it is necessary in any case to immediately take the child to the hospital.
- If there are signs that an object has entered the respiratory tract and is preventing breathing, then you will need to provide first aid to the child yourself. We'll tell you how to do this below.
You should not try to feed a child in order to push an object stuck in the esophagus.
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.
What not to do?
- give laxatives;
- induce vomiting;
- water or feed the child;
- push the fish bone through the bread crust.
If there is a threat to life due to difficulty breathing, first aid must be provided to the child. Intervention should be carried out if the following signs are observed:
- the baby wraps his hands around his throat;
- the skin turns blue;
- the child is choking;
- the mouth is open, saliva flows from it;
- the baby suddenly fell and lost consciousness.
If the ability to breathe is preserved, then there is no need to carry out any manipulations - this can push the bone further into the trachea and aggravate the situation. Take your baby to the emergency room, they will provide competent medical care.
If intervention is necessary to save a life, a series of actions are carried out aimed at removing the object from the respiratory tract. They do it as follows.
- They stand behind the person and clasp their arms around his waist.
- One palm is clenched into a fist and placed on the stomach in the area between the ribs and the navel.
- With the other palm, clasp your fist and press on the victim’s stomach four times. The direction of movement is from bottom to top, with the elbows spread to the sides.
- Repeat until the object leaves the respiratory tract.
This technique is used only if the child is over one year old and conscious.
In case of loss of consciousness, another method is used.
- The victim is placed on his side, his head is slightly pulled back, holding his chin.
- If there is no breathing, begin artificial ventilation.
- Take a deep breath.
- Press your mouth firmly against your baby's nose and mouth and exhale.
- Repeat five times.
- Check for breathing.
- If breathing has not been restored, you need to make 30 pressures with two fingers on the chest in its lower part.
- After this, take two more breaths and again press on the chest.
Artificial respiration continues until the victim breathes on his own, or until an ambulance arrives.
Cases of foreign objects getting into the windpipe in children are not uncommon, so every parent should know and be able to put these techniques into practice.
Let's summarize. Small fruit seeds with a smooth surface do not pose a threat to children. If the baby swallows such an object, it will be passed out in the feces in one or two days. During this time, you need to examine the stool, and if there is no bone in it, contact your local pediatrician.
It’s another matter if the baby swallows a large pit with sharp edges - from a plum or cherry plum. It can get stuck in the esophagus or damage the lining of the stomach. The baby must be taken to the hospital, where he will be given an x-ray to determine the location of the foreign object, and then the bone will be expertly removed.
Alas, even the most attentive parent is sometimes unable to keep track of everything that a small child does. A frequent cause for concern is a child swallowing a bone or other object. Closer to summer, this fear increases, since the time comes for the ripening of fruits, which the child will definitely want to try, and, perhaps, swallow a bone and, God forbid, choke on it.
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.
What to do if you swallow a plum pit?
- A swallowed plum pit is fraught with considerable danger, especially if it enters a child’s body. The sharp edges of the bone can cause internal damage to the gastric mucosa and intestines. Therefore, it is advisable to take your child to the doctor immediately. You should not self-medicate; you should not give laxatives, food or drink.
If it is not possible to get to the clinic, then you need to monitor the condition of the victim; if your stomach hurts, you feel sick, or there is blood in your stool, you must immediately call an ambulance.
If the bone did not have sharp edges and the child does not experience discomfort, then the problem will be solved by itself, in a completely natural way.
You don’t need to do anything, just continue to eat plums calmly.
Nature has taken such care that many seeds do not stay in our body and come out along with feces, especially since plums weaken.
It’s just that some people are afraid of the poison that is supposedly contained in plum pits. So only the kernel contains this poison, and you need at least half a kilo of these kernels to feel nauseated. But the bone itself will not open in the body, so it will come out intact.
Pits from plums, cherries and other fruits are accidentally swallowed by many children and even adults. Nothing wrong with that. It will calmly pass through the digestive tract and will be released naturally in a few hours. There is nothing poisonous in the seeds or sharp, cutting edges and therefore cannot seriously damage anything.
If a person is able to eat or drink anything without difficulty and there are no special symptoms associated with his breathing, then the bone should come out normally.
But if a person feels that breathing is difficult while standing or lying down, then, of course, you need to call an ambulance and get advice. Often a person is given some bread and water to help the bone pass further.
You don’t need to do anything; almost any seeds from edible berries come out of the body without difficulty. You can, of course, wash down the bone with enveloping jelly, or eat stewed carrots with sour cream, which quickly gives volume and softly weakens.
But you don’t have to do anything, that’s what everyone usually does.
If you or your child swallowed a plum pit, then there is no need to worry about anything. The bone will come out naturally on its own, and you do not need to take any additional actions for this.
If a plum pit gets into the human body (the person swallowed it), then you need to try to calm down and everything will pass like smoke from white apple trees.
The bone will not get stuck in the human body, but will quietly come out with the feces.
It all depends on which path this bone has taken. For example, if a plum pit is stuck in your respiratory tract and you cannot breathe, then the person nearby must pull it out so that you do not get hurt. In this case, tweezers will help.
If you have already swallowed a bone and see this answer, then it is advisable to immediately take an additional amount of enzymes that will help digest it better. You can use ordinary pancreatin or festal. Or buy a blister of Wobenzin - this is the best way to digest the bone as much as possible. Take enzymes 30 minutes before meals and drink plenty of water. Try to avoid going to the toilet for as long as possible.
If you accidentally swallow a plum pit
, the main thing is not to worry and not take any action. In a day or two, the bone will leave your body naturally along with other remnants of your food (what is left of them).
If a very small child swallows a plum pit, you need to make sure that the pit comes out. If it does not come out and the child has a stomach ache, you need to go to the hospital.
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?
Why are bones dangerous?
The harm that a swallowed bone can cause directly depends on its size and how sharp its edges are.
- Small-sized seeds (cherries, cherries, strawberries), usually do not harm even small children, but on the contrary, they will only make things better, since a large number of seeds can cleanse the intestines, which is useful for some children. But you shouldn’t specifically feed your child cherry pits. The child may choke. In addition, the surface of such bones is smooth and if a child swallows it, it will not damage his mucous walls.
But if a child swallows a large number of cherry or other small seeds, then there is a chance of severe inflammation of the appendix or simply intestinal obstruction.
- Plum and apricot pits pose a much more serious danger, since their size is quite large and if a child chokes on such a pit or swallows it, it can harm him by injuring the mucous membrane with sharp edges or causing suffocation. Therefore, you should remove the pit from the fruit in advance, and only then give it to the baby.
- A fish bone, even the smallest one, can cause harm to health if a child swallows it, as its tip is quite sharp and can injure the throat and esophagus.
Apricot has large seeds and 2 sharp edges.
If you swallow a plum or apricot pit
You can often find posts on various forums where young parents talk about how their child swallowed a plum pit and ask for advice. Many begin to simply wait for the pit to come out on its own, but they make a big mistake because the pits from plums and apricots are large and have pointed edges, which is dangerous, so a child can easily choke or get damaged mucous membranes. If a child under six years of age manages to choke on or swallow a plum pit, parents should take immediate action rather than wait for the bone to come out naturally.
First of all, parents must approach the situation calmly, without panic, otherwise it will take away precious minutes to save lives.
Signs that a child has choked or swallowed a bone
If a child is choking - there is a bone in the trachea, call an ambulance immediately!
If your baby chokes on a bone:
- He grabs his neck with his hands because he cannot breathe, and he begins to cough;
- The skin begins to acquire a bluish tint;
- The mouth does not close;
- Possible flow of saliva;
- Loss of consciousness.
If the baby swallows a bone:
- Urge to vomit;
- Acute abdominal pain;
- Bloody feces.
A bone lodged in the esophagus can cause a child difficulty swallowing even simple saliva. The farther the object is, the more saliva is released. In addition, the child will begin to experience anxiety and pain in the chest area, he will want to empty his stomach, that is, there will be vomiting and it will be very painful. Also, all these symptoms will be accompanied by prolonged and unpleasant sensations of abdominal pain and, possibly, bloody stool.
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.
First aid
Next we will describe in detail what to do and how to help a child who has choked on an apricot or plum pit. This should be taken very seriously, without panic and carefully, so that there are no dire consequences.
And remember, if the child cannot breathe, you should have already called an ambulance and called someone for help.
If the child is over one year old and has not yet lost consciousness, then the following steps should be taken:
- Stand behind the baby and grab him around the waist;
- Clench your palm into a fist and place it in the abdominal area between the ribs and the navel;
- Wrap your other palm around your fist and press on your stomach a couple of times (you should press gradually from bottom to top);
- Repeat if the bone does not leave the place where it is stuck.
If a child has lost a creation, then the following steps must be taken:
- Place the baby on his side;
- Tilt your head back while holding your chin;
- If he is not breathing, then artificial respiration should be started. To do this, inhale as much air as possible. Press your mouth and nose close to your baby's and exhale. Do this five times and check if the baby is breathing;
- If breathing does not appear, then you should make 30-35 pressing movements with two fingers in the chest area, closer to the bottom;
- You should continue until the child begins to breathe without your help or until doctors arrive and provide medical assistance.
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.
First signs
You need to understand well that a plum pit can travel through a child’s body absolutely asymptomatically and practically painlessly. Usually in a day or two you can see her in the potty after the baby has pooped. In most cases, this is what happens, and therefore there is no need to panic, grab a child who has swallowed a bone and rush to the hospital, if no complications are observed.
However, if the baby begins to breathe with difficulty, coughs, or cannot inhale air at all, this means that the bone has blocked the airway.
When a child begins to complain that it is difficult for him to swallow, pain in the abdomen and sternum, nausea, the bone is stuck in the esophagus. The baby may begin to vomit, and blood may be visible in the stool.
Parents' actions
If your baby himself came and said that he had just eaten a delicious plum along with a stone, there is no need to bulge your eyes, much less faint. Nothing bad has happened yet. Explain to the little one that he shouldn’t be afraid, watch how he swallows, whether he breathes freely and ask if he has pain in the top of his tummy. If these alarming symptoms are absent, then you will have to monitor the child’s stool for a couple of days and after a loose bone is discovered in it, the child will finally calm down. However, persistently but calmly explain that in the future there is no need to do this again.
But if a child experiences increasing pain in the abdominal area, frequent vomiting and blood in the stool, there is no need to hesitate. In this case, it is unlikely that we will be able to do anything ourselves. The only advice is to call an ambulance.
This is if the bone is stuck in the esophagus. But if it gets into the trachea or larynx, the ambulance may not make it in time. Here you need to provide first aid on your own, otherwise death from suffocation may occur.
Correct first aid
- A small child who has not yet turned one year old should be carefully placed on the forearm of the hand, head down, supported by the chin. With your other hand, firmly but not forcefully pat the back between the shoulder blades. If this does not lead to the fact that the bone or some other foreign object that the child swallowed does not fly out, you need to act differently.
- Sit on a high chair. Place the baby on your lap, tummy up, legs facing you. And make a few pushes with your fingers just below the baby’s nipples. Movements should be directed away from you. That is, as if squeezing the bone back into the mouth.
- With an older child, the algorithm of actions is completely different. You need to put him with his back to you. Wrap your arms around it. Clasp your fingers and try to push out the stuck object with a few sharp pushes into the upper abdomen. This method is very effective and in 99% of cases helps to clear the airways.
Calling an ambulance does not cancel this.
If there are all the signs that the child has choked, but can breathe, albeit with difficulty, it is better to wait for the doctors or take the child to the nearest emergency room. Not all people know how to provide first aid correctly and efficiently, and this can only lead to a worsening of the situation.
Finally, it is necessary to reassure particularly impressionable parents. Yes, the article contains a description of very unpleasant and dangerous moments for a child’s health. Once even the terrible word “death” is mentioned. This was not done to scare people to the point that the purchase of plums, apricots and other tasty and healthy fruits that contain seeds inside will be prohibited. And not for axes to clatter and saws to screech in the garden plot, destroying these beautiful trees. And not even to force parents to sit next to them and look into their little one’s mouth when he feasts on fruit.
Possible cases are described that in reality do not happen very often. In most cases, those same wise grandmothers turn out to be right and children who swallow a plum pit are in virtually no danger.
Still, this means that leaving a child to his own devices must be done with caution. Reasonable freedom - yes. But one attentive and loving eye of a mother or father should always see their child, no matter what all three of them do. It will be calmer and problems of all kinds will arise much less often.
The kernels found in the seeds of any fruit tree contain amygdalin. This dangerous compound belongs to the group of cyanogenic glycosides, and in plum pits the proportion of its content varies between 1 – 1.8%. When it enters the stomach, it is digested and exposed to enzymes and bacteria, as a result of which amygdalin decomposes and releases hydrocyanic acid.
In addition, large plum pits have sharp edges that, if swallowed, can damage the esophagus or stomach lining. Independent attempts to remove the bone may not be successful and will only harm your health, so it is better to call an ambulance without waiting for dire consequences.
The plum pit, in the windpipe, creates obstacles to the flow of oxygen into the lungs. A barking sound instead of a voice and the inability to breathe indicate that a foreign body has entered the respiratory tract.
Plum seeds are not of interest to gourmets either, since not every lover of fruit kernels has the patience to extract them. In addition, it is not recommended to eat more than 10 kernels.
First aid for swallowing foreign bodies
If a foreign body is swallowed by an adult and a child is suspected of swallowing a foreign object, you can take a wait-and-see approach for a while and monitor the victim, but only if you are convinced that the swallowed object has smooth edges, is small in size and is chemically safe. In 80% of cases, swallowed objects pass through the rectum on their own, in 18% they require additional therapeutic and diagnostic measures, and only a little more than 1% require surgical intervention.
What do we have to do:
- First of all, you need to pay attention to the behavior of the victim - in young children this may be restlessness, irritability, crying, increased salivation, difficulty swallowing, refusal to eat, vomiting food or liquid. In this case, you should immediately call an ambulance. Swallowing small batteries and objects with sharp edges is especially dangerous. If you know for sure that this has happened, you should call an ambulance immediately, without waiting for symptoms to appear.
- If small children swallow objects, make sure that the object does not enter the respiratory tract. If this happens, the baby will have a convulsive cough, facial cyanosis, and signs of suffocation. In this situation, it is necessary to call an ambulance immediately, and before it arrives, you should place the child on your lap upside down, the angle of inclination should be approximately 60°, and gently tap the edge of your palm between the shoulder blades.
- If you know exactly what object the child swallowed, you are sure that there are no sharp edges and the possibility of damage to internal organs, the child is calm and does not refuse food - you need to carefully monitor the child’s stool to make sure that the foreign body has passed out on its own. Otherwise, if the object remains in the body for a long time, it may have an adverse effect, and the possibility of surgical intervention cannot be ruled out.
- When foreign objects are ingested by an adult, it is also necessary to monitor clinical manifestations. If the victim complains of pain along the esophagus, there is increased salivation, vomiting, especially with blood, or breathing problems, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor. In the absence of clinical manifestations and the belief that the swallowed object does not pose a danger to internal organs, a wait-and-see approach is possible.
Video: what to do if a child chokes
What not to do if you swallow foreign objects
If an object is swallowed, stuck, and causing distress, you should never try to push it down with food or liquid. Often, when fish bones get stuck, the victim is asked to chew and swallow bread crusts. This should not be done - the bone may move from its place, but it may also get stuck in the underlying sections, causing even greater trauma to the esophagus. You should not give laxatives or drugs that increase peristalsis (wave-like movements of the intestinal wall, as a result of which food masses move through the intestines). It is also not recommended to give an enema, so as not to lead to even greater trauma to the mucous membrane.
What to do if a child swallows a plum pit?
During the berry and fruit season, it should be explained that the seeds must be spat out.
However, even the most obedient baby can do this either by accident or out of curiosity. If the bone is still swallowed, parents should not try to induce vomiting or give him a laxative to achieve. A bone stuck in the esophagus should not be pushed into the stomach with a bread crust. The baby should not eat or drink yet.
If swallowing a plum pit does not cause any discomfort, it may pass naturally. If you feel worse, you should call a doctor.
It happens that for various reasons it is not possible to see a doctor immediately. In such a situation, parents are advised to carefully monitor changes in the child’s health. If he has abdominal pain, the baby is vomiting repeatedly, it is no longer recommended to delay visiting the doctor. You should immediately take your child to the hospital if bloody discharge appears in the stool.
Removal methods
If it so happens that a child has swallowed a plum pit, parents need to be extremely attentive to his condition. At the first deterioration, which we have already discussed, you need to urgently consult a doctor.
If the baby behaves normally, there are no breathing difficulties, there is blood in the stool, he is active and mobile, you need to carefully monitor the time of bowel movements and the amount of stool expelled and examine them for the presence of a swallowed object. When he appeared, there was no need to worry anymore, because everything turned out fine. But if the bone does not appear on the first day or two, you still need to consult a doctor. Here the danger lies not only in the sharp corners of the bone. It is the plum bone that, under the influence of chemical reactions in the stomach, is capable of releasing a toxic substance - hydrocyanic acid. It can also pose a danger to the child's health.
First aid for a child choking on a plum pit
Situations when the baby does not swallow a bone, but with it, are considered especially dangerous.
Before the doctor arrives, parents can alleviate the child’s condition in the following ways. First, he is placed face down with his hands so that the baby's chin and back can be supported. Then the palms strike between the shoulder blades, forcing the bone to come out. If this does not happen, the child is placed on his back on his lap so that his head hangs down, and lightly presses on the chest area below the nipples. The second option for help can be provided like this. Both hands clasp the child's body and press on the area between the sternum. Making several sharp upward pushes, they try to squeeze out the stuck bone.