A 4-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur died of suffocation after eating candy, according to doctors who tried to treat him. According to reports, the child was eating Frutola – an eye-shaped sticky candy which he swallowed and got stuck in his throat.

When he told his mother, she gave him water to wash, causing the candy to go down his throat and leave him breathless. After this he was taken to the nearest hospital, where the doctors could not remove the toffee from his throat and he ultimately died due to suffocation.

Family members said that the child died tragically after struggling for about three hours. His family has now requested that the toffee manufacturer be held accountable.

Danger of suffocation in children

According to experts, suffocation occurs when an object blocks someone’s throat or windpipe, rendering them unable to breathe. Statistics say that the main cause of choking injuries in young children mostly occurs while eating, so it is always good for parents to know which foods pose the greatest risk of choking.

Doctors say hard candy causes the most choking hazards, followed by other candies, such as hard or large pieces of meat and bones. In addition to hard candy, there are several other high-risk foods that you should keep out of the reach of infants and young children – because they are dangerous. Some of these include:

• Grape
• Popcorn
• chips
• carrot sticks
• raw vegetable pieces
• pieces of cheese
• gummy candy
• peanut butter
• chewing gum

Symptoms and signs of suffocation

So, to know if your baby is suffocating, you should look for these signs:

• panting or wheezing
• try to cough harder
• Inability to talk, cry, or make any kind of noise
• their face turns blue
• grab them by the throat or wave their hands in the air
• looks nervous

How can you help a child who is choking?

According to experts, even though it is extremely worrying and scary to see your baby suffocating, the first thing you need to do is call emergency services. Doctors say that for infants — children under one year old — instead of reaching into their mouth to find an object blocking their airway, you should initiate a backslap. To perform a backslap, use the heel of your hand to strike between your child’s shoulder blades at least 5-6 times, then examine their mouth and remove any objects.

For those who are over 12 months, try the Heimlich maneuver – where you place the baby bent at the waist towards the ground. While applying pressure to the abdomen, strike between their shoulder blades with the heel of your hand five separate times. If back thrusts are not able to dislodge the stuck object, give five more abdominal thrusts.

How can you prevent suffocation in children?

Whenever you give food to children, always keep a few things in mind:

Always give age appropriate food

According to experts, children of different ages have different needs when it comes to food. Since babies do not have molars, they cannot grind or crush food and hence you need to be careful while giving them fruits and vegetables or candy.

cut food into small pieces

It is always important to watch the size of food given to small children. Always cut your child’s food into small pieces so that it does not get stuck in their throat.

sit the children down to eat

Teach children to always swallow their food before they start talking, laughing or eating another piece of food as this increases the chance of them choking.

Make sure they sit upright when eating, even when eating candy, and always supervise.

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