Kid Time

A quick-thinking mum saved the life of her choking baby thanks to a video she watched on YouTube.

“The colour changed in her face”

Lindsey Hughes says she was walking with her eight-month-old daughter Phoebe when she started to choke.

Thankfully, the mum recognised the signs of choking and managed to clear her daughter’s airway, using a technique she learned from a St John’s Ambulance video.

“The colour changed in her face. She went a reddish purple in seconds and her eyes started bulging. She looked really shocked, like she didn’t understand what was going on,” Lindsey told the Daily Mirror.

Lindsey said she was walking along the seafront in her hometown in North Wales when she decided to give her daughter a snack.

“I gave her a mango finger to chew on. She liked the juice and it helped with teething,” Lindsey explains.

Luckily, the mum sat on a bench to watch her daughter eat. Soon after, Phoebe went very quiet and “it looked like she was convulsing.”

“It was terrifying to see someone so small and delicate panicking,” says Lindsey.

“I put her across my legs, with her head by my knees and her feet by my body, I raised her bottom a bit so there was some elevation at her back.”

Lindsey then gave her daughter four big pats on the bag, which dislodged the mango and her daughter was able to breathe again.

“Within seconds her colour returned to normal and she was reaching out, asking for food again,” says Lindsey.

“I was shocked that it had worked. I started looking around for validation about what had just happened but there was still nobody around.

“I put her back in her pram because I wasn’t feeling very stable myself at that stage and I just sat there looking at her as she grasped out for food.”

What to do if a baby (under one year) shows signs of choking

1. Call Triple Zero (000) for an ambulance
2. Give back blows as follows:

• Place the infant with their head downwards on your forearm.
• Support their head and shoulders on your hand.
• Hold the infant’s mouth open with your fingers.
• Give up to five sharp blows between their shoulders with the heel of one hand.
• Check if the obstruction has been released after each back blow.
• If the obstruction is relieved, turn infant on their back and remove any of the foreign material that may have come loose with your little finger.