A quick-thinking nurse has shared the moment she called on her years of experience to save a choking baby at a Sydney park.
Heidi Young was enjoying a birthday barbecue with friends in 2019 when a six-month-old girl began struggling to breathe because a piece of sausage was lodged in her windpipe.
Within seconds, the tiny girl’s face turned grey and her mum’s desperate cries echoed through the park.
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Paediatric nurse Young — who began her career in 2000 — ran over, took the baby and delivered five back blows, aiming to clear the blockage.
When that failed to work, she considered chest thrusts but— just as she flipped the infant over — the little girl vomited, gasped for air and began screaming.
“It was pretty full on,” Young told 7NEWS.com.au.
“My sons were there watching the whole thing.”
Young said her training, and a career that has spanned the UK, Sydney and Perth, helped her stay “laser-focused”.
Still, it was a “relief” when the little girl was OK.
“I was sitting on my hands for a little bit afterwards because they were shaking, even though it was a good outcome,” she said.
Young, a specialist in childhood allergy, described the emergency situation as the “catalyst” for her baby first aid business called The Nest, Kids CPR and Allergy.
It runs in-person and online classes that teach parents how to respond to emergencies such as choking and allergic reactions.
Young said the courses are led by specialists who teach parents to act decisively and “feel equipped and empowered to protect their children”.
Recent data from St John Ambulance revealed fewer than one in 10 people say they are very confident they could assist in an emergency.
According to government statistics, there were 1186 deaths attributed to choking and suffocation in 2020-2021, with 144 of those linked to obstruction by food.
Young said the Sydney park incident was not the only time she has stepped in to help a choking child, and believes without her training the outcomes could have been “devastating”.
“You don’t need (the training) until you need it in that emergency,” she told 7NEWS.com.au, arguing it should be taught to parents in the antenatal stage.
“There’s no opportunity unless you go looking for it. I’ve seen 24 years of disaster, I don’t know why it’s not mandatory.”
First aid for choking babies younger than one
- Lay the baby face-down on your forearm with their head lower than their body, supporting their head and shoulders on your hand.
- Hold their mouth open with your fingers.
- Give up to five sharp blows to the back between the shoulders with the heel of one hand. After each blow, check if the blockage has been cleared.
- Use your little finger to remove the object from their mouth if it has cleared from their airway.
- If the blockage has not cleared after five back blows, place the baby on their back on a firm surface. Place two fingers on the lower half of the breastbone and give up to five chest thrusts. After each thrust, check if the blockage has been cleared.
- If the blockage has not cleared after five thrusts, continue alternating five back blows with five chest thrusts until medical help arrives.
- If the baby becomes unconscious, start CPR immediately. Start with compressions, not breaths.