Children’s safety and first aid experience

The priority of pre-emptive prevention is always 100 times higher than that of emergency first aid, and mastering standardized first aid skills is the only trump card to avoid the final risk.

In the evening of late autumn last year, I was walking my baby downstairs. I happened to see my grandma from the same unit running wildly with her grandson, whose face was purple from holding in his arms. She said that while the baby was jumping to eat jelly, he suddenly choked and couldn't speak. My mind went blank for two seconds, and I instinctively rushed to pick up the baby. According to the Heimlich maneuver I learned in training, I stood behind the baby with a hollow fist and punched the two horizontal fingers above the navel. I quickly pressed upward and inward three times. Half a piece of jelly spurted out as the baby coughed, and my face slowly turned red. Thinking about those few dozen seconds now brings chills down my back. If I hadn't gone to the community hospital to take that free first aid class two months ago, I would have probably just panicked and waited for 120 to arrive, which would most likely have been delayed.

To be honest, I used to think that first aid was only for doctors, and it would be useless for ordinary people to learn it. By then, my hands would be shaking, and I couldn’t remember the steps. It wasn’t until after that time that I deliberately read a lot of information on pediatric first aid, and I discovered that many of the “common senses” everyone defaults to are not only controversial, but even many are wrong. For example, there are two schools of opinion on the operation of the highly praised Heimlich maneuver: one school believes that children over 1 year old can use abdominal thrusts if they have airway obstruction. ； Pediatric emergency experts on the other side insist that for children weighing less than 10 kilograms, even if they are over 1 year old, it is best to use a combination of "back pats + chest compressions" to avoid impact damage to the child's internal organs. My own practical experience is that in an emergency, don’t get stuck on the parameters. You first judge whether the baby can make a sound and whether the face is purple. As long as the baby is completely out of breath, it is much more important for you to dare to take action than to worry about the weight difference of half a kilogram. Of course, the premise is that you have really attended a standardized training class and don’t press blindly on a baby who is coughing normally.

Oh, by the way, I checked the public data from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023. Accidental injuries are the leading cause of death for children aged 1-14 in our country, with foreign bodies in the airway, falls, and burns and scalding being the top three. More than 60% of accidents occur at home. This is really not alarmist. But when it comes to prevention, the parenting circle has been arguing for several years: one group is the "total blockade group", which advocates putting anti-collision strips on all table corners, installing safety locks on all drawers, and storing all sharp objects in high places, so as to transform the home into a zero-risk safe house. ； The other group is the "moderate exposure group", which believes that children should be allowed to touch warm water that is not scalding and scissors with rounded corners. They will naturally hide when they know it hurts. Otherwise, it will be more likely to cause accidents when they go out without protection. I used to be on the blockade side, but it wasn’t until my child tore off the anti-collision strip and stuffed it in his mouth that it almost got stuck. Then I came to my senses: What you thought was a safety measure might also be a new hidden danger. Now my house only has locks on the two drawers where kitchen knives and medicines are kept, and only the three drawers that he often bumps into when running past are installed on the corners of the table. He can open the rest of the drawers at will. Whenever he encounters scenes such as hot water bottles, sockets, and roads, I hold his hand to feel the temperature and explain clearly what the consequences will be if he touches it. On the contrary, he has never touched anything that is not allowed to be moved.

Last month, my baby fell while running wildly in the community, and his lip was bleeding. My mother was so scared that she wanted to call 120. I squatted down and pressed for two minutes to stop the bleeding, then opened his mouth to see that the teeth were not loose and the wound in the mouth was less than one centimeter. I rinsed his mouth and stuffed a popsicle to reduce the swelling. After ten minutes of observation, he was able to speak normally and drink water, so he did not go to the hospital. I would have panicked before, but now I know that not all injuries require running to the hospital. It is more important to first determine consciousness, breathing, and whether there is active bleeding than to rush to pack up and send to the hospital.

Anyway, raising a baby is never 100% safe. You can't keep a baby tied to your waist for the rest of your life. I now advise everyone I meet to take two hours on weekends to go to a community hospital or the Red Cross to attend a free first aid class. It will be more useful than hoarding ten internet celebrity safety gadgets. Don’t be too anxious. Children will have to fall and bump a few times before they know what dangers are. As parents, we usually pay more attention to check for hidden dangers. We have first-aid skills that can support us. If we really encounter trouble, we are better than anything else.