What to do if a child swallows a foreign body? What to do if a child swallows a foreign object? Find out if the child has swallowed

Children are extremely inquisitive and learn about the world, touching and tasting everything. Most little fidgets, without suspecting it, can harm themselves: finding some small object, they put it in various parts of the body, they can even inhale or swallow it. If this happens, and your child swallowed a foreign body (well, if you saw and know what exactly he "ate"), immediately take him to the hospital.

Symptoms that indicate the presence of a foreign body in the body of the crumbs do not always appear, but it is still worth doing an x-ray of the esophagus, respiratory tract and bronchi.

What to do?

The concern of parents when the baby swallowed a foreign object is quite understandable, especially if adults do not know what exactly their baby "ate" or how the foreign body got into the esophagus or airways. In principle, a foreign body in the stomach does not pose a particular danger, it passes through the entire gastrointestinal tract and comes out naturally in a few days. A button, bone or bead swallowed by a baby usually does not cause discomfort for children, in this case it is enough for parents to observe the behavior of their crumbs and prepare vegetable or fruit puree for him to make this item easier to come out.

However, if the baby swallowed a foreign object in the form of a battery, a coin, a rather large or sharp-edged object, then immediately consult a doctor, because the consequences can be dire, even fatal. So, for example, a swallowed battery quickly oxidizes, releasing toxins in the esophagus and stomach, which can be fatal within a few hours, and sharp objects passing through the gastrointestinal tract injure the internal organs of children, provoke inflammation and other unpleasant consequences. In the hospital, the baby will take an x-ray of the esophagus, an examination and determine the location of a foreign object. After that, the doctor will determine exactly how it will be extracted.

Foreign body in the stomach

A foreign body in the stomach can cause a deterioration in the general condition in children, which is accompanied by the following symptoms: pain in the abdomen and esophagus, dizziness, nausea, excessive intestinal gas (bloating). However, it happens that the baby, having taken a foreign object into his mouth, could not swallow it and the foreign body remains in the esophagus, this often happens in infants. The danger is caused by a large unchewed piece of food or an accidentally swallowed object that is not used for food (pieces of chicken, meat or fish bones, wood, glass, nails, needles, coins, badges, buttons, etc.).

The main symptoms that parents should pay attention to are the following:

• "stabbing" pain, rapidly increasing and accompanied by salivation (the nature and intensity of the pain indicate foreign bodies stuck, damage to the mucous membrane, puncture of the esophagus wall or its rupture);
• bursting behind the sternum;
• swallowing disorder (especially pronounced for solid food and may be moderate or absent when taking liquid food or water);
• vomiting or spitting up;
• respiratory failure;
• noisy (hissing, whistling, stridor) breathing.

Respiratory disorders occur if a foreign body, passing through the esophagus, is stuck at the level of the larynx and mechanical compression occurs. An endoscopic examination will help the doctor make a diagnosis, and in some cases, a chest x-ray (to rule out damage to the airways) or an examination of the esophagus with contrast may be required. The tactics of therapy are determined by the surgeon.

Foreign object in the respiratory tract and bronchi

The respiratory tract is one of the most dangerous locations for a foreign body. With a sudden breath from fear, the foreign body can go even deeper. A foreign body can partially or, worst of all, completely block oxygen in the baby’s airways, and then adults need to take active steps in a matter of seconds. In case of confusion or ignorance, this can lead to a stop of the airways, bronchi or lungs and death.

Signs of a foreign object in the respiratory tract are a choking cough, wheezing in the lungs, possibly with the release of sputum and even blood, shortness of breath, the crying of the baby is deaf, as if squeezed, breathing is rather noisy.

An agonizing constant cough occurs only if the object is stuck in the trachea. If the foreign body is small, it slips into the bronchus and symptoms of bronchitis occur: cough, dry wheezing, there may be a temperature or even sputum discharge. Pneumonia can often develop.

A foreign body in the bronchi, trachea and respiratory tract in children is the most life-threatening. Large objects with a smooth surface (metal, plastic parts of toys, berry bones, peas, peanuts) are heavy and are not thrown out by an air stream when coughing. Nut shells, spikelets of herbs, springs linger in the bronchi, clinging to the mucous membrane. Easily swelling, relatively dense plant tissues (citrus peels, pieces of boiled vegetables), as well as chewing gum, seem to be wedged into the lumen of the bronchus. Remaining blocked for a long time, the bronchi become inflamed, and pneumonia, asthma or pneumothorax can be a consequence of this.

If a foreign body is in the respiratory tract, lungs, bronchi, trachea in children, they should immediately receive first aid.

If a foreign body is inhaled by an infant:

• put the child on your arm or on your thigh, lowering his head down;
• hit 5 times on the back with the base of the palm;
• if the obstruction remains, turn the infant over and press 5 times with two finger jerks on the infant's chest in the midline.

When a foreign body is aspirated by a child older than 1 year:

• pat the child on the back with the base of the hand while the child is sitting, kneeling or lying down;
• if the obstruction remains, stand behind the child and wrap your arms around his torso, clench one hand into a fist below the child's sternum, put the other hand on the fist and sharply press the abdomen in an oblique upward direction. Repeat this procedure (Heimlich maneuver) 5 times.

An ambulance must be called immediately. In the hospital, the child will have a chest x-ray or bronchoscopy and remove the foreign body.

Foreign body in the nose, eye or ear of a child

A foreign body in the ear can get into the external auditory canal, or into the cavity of the middle or inner ear. As a rule, the child himself pushes the object into the ear. It can be any small household item, a toy, a piece of paper, plasticine, cotton wool, a wooden chip or stick, plant seeds, an insect. A foreign body in the ear is manifested by congestion and pain in the ear, hearing loss, a feeling of pressure in the ear, sometimes dizziness and vomiting.

Diagnosis of a foreign body in the ear is carried out by an ENT doctor using otoscopy (detailed examination). Removal of a foreign body, depending on its size and shape, is carried out by washing, instrumental or surgical intervention.

Often, parents are faced with the fact that the baby pushes all kinds of small objects into the nose (buttons, toy parts, even food and insects). Signs (primary) of a foreign body in the nose of a child are as follows: difficult breathing due to nasal congestion, redness and irritation, mucous discharge, the child begins to sneeze, lacrimation appears.

If a foreign body gets into the baby's nose, and the parents did not immediately determine this, then the object begins to decompose (if it is of plant origin), grow into the surrounding tissues, causing considerable discomfort and pain to the baby.

If a foreign object is in the nose or ear in children, secondary symptoms are characteristic - pus and an unpleasant odor, one-sided headaches and a runny nose are formed.

Before pulling out a foreign object, first of all, you should calm down yourself and calm the baby, then drip vasoconstrictor drops into the nostril (they will relieve swelling) and, closing the second, undamaged nostril, ask the baby to blow it well with his nose, imitating the process of blowing out. If the object did not come out on its own, this indicates that it has been in the nose of your crumbs for quite a long time and has already managed to grow together with the surrounding tissues.

Extract insect it is possible by dropping vaseline oil, glycerin into the baby’s ear, thereby blocking the access of oxygen to the “bug”. After a while, she dies, then you should put the baby on the sore ear so that the pest comes out with the dripped liquid.

Foreign inanimate object, if the parent sees it, you can hook it with tweezers and gently remove it from the ear with a smooth movement. But if the object is not visible to the naked eye, you should not pick and try to find it, go to the doctor. Thanks to special equipment, a specialist will quickly remove a foreign body.

Children are very inquisitive and enjoy tasting the world around them. And therefore, not always parents can protect them from swallowing various foreign objects or inhaling their parts.

Evgeny Komarovsky, a pediatrician of the highest category, tells how to act in such a situation.

What choke on and is it dangerous?

The items that a child may well swallow or inhale are very diverse, and the severity of the situation must be assessed based on what exactly was swallowed by the baby. It is clear that a small and smooth cherry stone that has entered the digestive tract will not cause any harm to the baby. You don’t have to worry - after a while the baby successfully goes to the toilet and the same bone from the cherry will be found in the feces. The same can be said about situations in which the child suddenly swallowed the gum.

Therefore, parents should evaluate the nature of the surface of the swallowed object, as well as its size.

Even if a child has swallowed a plastic part from a designer, it is only necessary to talk about danger if this part has sharp, uneven edges that theoretically can injure the esophagus or intestinal walls.

In this case, parents should definitely contact a medical institution, even if the child looks good and no negative symptoms appear. Signs may appear later, and it is important to prevent this.

However, a foreign body that has entered the respiratory tract rarely "behaves" without symptoms. And such an incident often requires emergency assistance. Indeed, a swallowed foreign object in itself, even if it is paper, a napkin, or if the baby chokes on food, may well harm the child, but much more often the unreasonable and wrong actions of parents frightened to the point of colic harm him.

Parents should at least roughly imagine not only the size and texture of what they swallowed, but also the volume.

A harmless cherry pit will not cause harm if it is one, maximum two or three. But now a handful of such bones can cause intestinal obstruction.

What to do?

If a child swallowed a foreign object and began to feel sick, then Komarovsky does not advise parents to interfere in this most important process - the gag reflex is very wisely invented by nature precisely to rid the body of a foreign, outsider.

If the object is swallowed, and the baby does not show reflex attempts to get rid of it, but the object belongs to the group of dangerous ones, it is important to immediately call an ambulance. While the doctors are on the way, the child should not be given anything to eat or drink.

If the object is safe and does not bother the child in any way, then it is worth waiting until it leaves the child's body in a completely natural way, along with feces during bowel movements.

It is much more difficult to independently deal with the situation when the child inhaled a small object. A foreign body stuck in the trachea is manifested by a strong suffocating cough, limited inhalation, cyanosis (blueness of the skin and lips) may appear, the child may bulge his eyes, he suffocates and can even lose consciousness.

If the child is breathing, nothing needs to be done, you need to wait for the ambulance. The maximum that needs to be done if the baby has independent breathing is to open the windows wide open and ensure the flow of a large amount of ordinary fresh air.

Attempts to knock the child on the back, shake his head upside down will not lead to good - the object can move further along the trachea and lead to mechanical asphyxia.

If a foreign body is stuck in the gastrointestinal tract, the symptoms will depend on where exactly it happened. When the esophagus is blocked, there are difficulties with swallowing, saliva flows intensely, there is pain in the retrosternal region.

If the object is stuck in the stomach, the pain will be in the abdomen, there will be an unproductive urge to vomit. When the intestines are blocked, abdominal pain occurs, blood and mucus appear in the stool, there may be no defecation, and bloating is observed.

First aid

Komarovsky advises to provide first aid only if the child is not breathing. In this case, the Heimlich maneuver, which every mother should know, will help. While the baby is coughing, this means that there is a chance that the body itself will get rid of the foreign object.

If the cough has stopped and the object has not come out, you need to proceed to active actions.

• Take a position behind the child, standing with the front of the body to his back, hug him from behind with your arms.
• Squeeze your right hand into a fist and place the bend of your thumb on the tummy between the navel and ribs.
• The open palm of the second hand is placed on top of the fist and the fist is pressed into the stomach with quick and precise movements.
• Repeat as many times as necessary to clear the airways. If everything worked out, the skin becomes normal color, breathing is restored.

If the child is small, lay him on a hard, flat surface (floor) and take a kneeling position next to him. The middle and index fingers of the mother's hands should be put to the child in the same epigastric region described above, it should be pressed gently, upwards towards the diaphragm.

If the child pushed something into his nose, Komarovsky recommends using a technique called "mom's kiss." The technique was coined in 1965 by Canadian emergency physician Stephanie Cook.

The essence of the method is as follows:

1. mother tightly puts her lips to the mouth of the child;
2. closes the nostril free from foreign objects with his hand;
3. inhales strongly into the baby's mouth;
4. the air flow "presses" on a foreign object and it leaves the place in the nasal passages.

The method helps in about 60% of cases. But even if the reception was successful, the child should still be examined by a doctor as soon as possible.

See another first aid technique from Dr. Komarovsky in the next video.

Prohibited Parenting Activities

While the ambulance is coming, an open window and vigilant observation of the behavior and well-being of the baby by adults will be enough.

No need to try to push objects stuck in the esophagus or nose by any means at hand. Parents who have ever met or heard recommendations from the older generation to give a choking child something tough, such as bread crust or cracker, can reach this point.

If a potentially dangerous object is swallowed and there is no vomiting, some parents risk giving a laxative or mechanically inducing vomiting by pressing on the root of the tongue. An object that is too sharp, such as glass, if swallowed safely, can seriously injure the esophagus when vomiting.

While you are waiting for the arrival of the ambulance, do not allow the child who is choking to actively move, jump, run. And even more so, you don’t need to shake him, beat him on the back with your fist, scream, panic and additionally frighten the child.

Young children need the control and attention of their parents. As soon as the child begins to crawl, to walk independently, he needs an eye and an eye. Shelves, drawers, small items - all this should not be accessible to the baby. Children explore the world around them in two ways: tactilely and by taste. Seeing an interesting, bright, attractive, or up to this point unfamiliar object, the child will instantly want to study and figure out what it is intended for. Therefore, it is possible that a coin lost on the floor will become the object of “research”. It must be remembered that even such a small object is dangerous for the health of the child.

Dangerous coins: a penny, a ruble or ten?

If the baby swallowed, for example, a penny, it is not so dangerous. It will pass through the stomach, intestines and out naturally. A ten-kopeck coin, if it enters the body, will come out on its own within a week.

A ruble, a two-five-ruble coin will come out on its own. A ten-ruble iron circle is much harder for the body, because it is quite large. If the object is more than two centimeters in diameter, this is fraught with unpleasant consequences. If the swallowed object does not appear with a stool within three days - a maximum of a week, you need to consult a doctor. Be sure to take an x-ray, on the basis of which to decide on further actions. It is possible that surgery will be required. With this option, so that the withdrawal procedure is painless, anesthesia and an endoscopic apparatus are used.

Coins for children are not toys. It is necessary to remove all coins from the baby's access area

If a six-month-old, one-year-old child ate a coin, you need to be as careful as possible, since an object of any size can injure the baby's body. Plus, you need to take into account that he cannot verbally express what happened. If the baby can more or less express himself, then in a playful way you need to establish what happened. Older children, with a stronger body, may not feel any changes in their well-being, but even in this case there is no need to lose vigilance and consult a doctor.

How to understand if a child has swallowed a coin?

As soon as a foreign object enters the child's body, into the stomach, some signs appear:

• aching, worsening pain in the abdomen;
• chest pain;
• nausea and vomiting for no reason;
• blood in the stool.

Indirect symptoms

• the child is restless, whiny;
• refusal of food, profuse salivation and even hiccups;
• large coins press on the airways, causing shortness of breath and coughing.

There are cases that even after swallowing a coin, the child feels good and no unusual behavior is noticed behind him.

How urgently to see a doctor?

If a swallowed coin enters the digestive system, it will come out naturally. If it does not cause any symptoms and inconvenience, it will still not be superfluous to watch your child for several days in order to make sure everything is in order.

When a small foreign body gets stuck in the digestive tract, there is a cough, pain when swallowing, vomiting. In this case, do not hesitate - consult a doctor.

What should not be done?

You, as a parent, always want to help your blood. The desire to respond quickly and deal with the problem on your own is commendable. Therefore, you need to know how to properly help a child who has swallowed a coin.

Attention! You can not give a laxative or emetic medicine, do an enema to a child when he has swallowed a foreign object. This will complicate the situation. There is a huge risk of injury to the intestines by the edges of the very object in the baby's body.

1. You can not water or feed a child to advance the coin.
2. You can not "shake" a small object out of the child.
3. You can not force to chew the bread crust.

How to help?

Initially, if you decide not to wait for the coin to come out by itself, but call an ambulance, sit or lay the child down and observe his condition.

Check if an object is stuck in the airway. If respiration is not difficult, there is no shortness of breath, then the coin went through the digestive tract. You just have to wait for the doctor and the solution to the problem.

Emergency help: coins out!

If the child chokes and immediately develops symptoms of choking, wheezing or persistent coughing, remember that you have approximately four minutes to help.

If the child cannot cough up the foreign object himself, you need to open his mouth and press the root of the tongue with your thumb, thereby causing vomiting.

If you manage to find the “cursed” coin, carefully remove it with your fingers. This must be done very carefully so as not to push the object further.

Place the baby on your stomach on your lap and tap on the back, as is done when someone chokes on food.

If the baby is choking, gently roll him over on his stomach and pat his back

Video of Dr. Komarovsky: “What to do if the child chokes? First aid"

How long can you wait?

If the coin does not cause any symptoms, then you can wait 12-48 hours while observing the condition of the child. If a coin does not come out in a day, this does not mean that it is stuck. Since the body cannot recognize what material is in the stomach, it will try to digest it until it finally gives up.

Precautionary measures

Often, unpleasant situations happen due to parental negligence. Therefore, as soon as the baby begins to move independently around the apartment or house, it is necessary to remove tiny dangerous objects that he can reach.

Do not let the playing baby out of line of sight. He needs an eye for an eye.

Video on what to do if a foreign body enters the body of a child

Be vigilant, attentive and caring. A child needs affection, warmth and love. If you give all this to your baby, then he will not pull unfamiliar objects into his mouth without asking.

Sad statistics show that every year millions of foreign bodies enter the gastrointestinal tract, and a significant proportion of these patients are children. This occurs as a result of careless handling of small objects, parental oversight, or, in rare cases, intentionally.

What to do and how not to get confused if you and your child are in such a situation?

Risk factors

Foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract are common. And, despite the fact that 80-90% of foreign bodies pass through the gastrointestinal tract without any problems, a significant number of children die from them every year.

Most often in children, the diagnosis of "foreign body of the gastrointestinal tract" is made in early childhood from 1 to 3 years. Why?

The fact is that this is the most inquisitive and active period in children. In the second year of life, children quickly begin to move and explore territories and objects that were previously inaccessible to them, some of which must strictly be in a place inaccessible to children. After all, the child needs to turn and examine the object from all sides, be sure to smell it, and most importantly, determine the degree of edibility of an object.

Many parents believe that from one to three is the most wonderful age period. Of course, he brings them great pleasure from communicating with his child, but it also requires more care and control. At this age, the pace of neuropsychic development is very high, the child quickly acquires skills - he learns to take a mug himself, handle a spoon and fork, dress, in a word - take care of himself.

But along with these skills, other abilities develop as well. The kid learns to open various drawers, boxes, unscrew the lids, substitute a chair and reach for all kinds of shelves, where there are a large number of different things that are interesting to him, some of which are potentially dangerous for the child. And such an acquaintance is often too close, threatening his health.

Another important feature of this age is the unconsciousness of children. After all, not always the child is aware of what can and cannot be done - and curiosity turns out to be stronger than prohibitions. The main questions for children are: “why?”, “why?”. And they, of course, need to check everything on their own in practice. The combination of all these features explains the high level of injuries, accidents in everyday life and good knowledge of the problem of foreign bodies by doctors, including the gastrointestinal tract.

How do foreign bodies enter the child's body?

Most often, foreign bodies enter the gastrointestinal tract of a child by accident. During play, they are involuntarily swallowed as soon as the child is distracted and loses control of the object he is holding in his mouth. Usually these are small things - toys or their parts, coins, buttons. It can also be large pieces of food, bones from fruits. Often, children, fearing punishment, hide this fact from their parents, and if the child has no complaints, the foreign body can be detected very slowly or not detected at all, because. in most cases, small items come out within 2-3 days on their own. As a rule, the child does not experience any discomfort.

At the moment of swallowing, fear and a feeling of an unpleasant “lump” in the throat predominate in preschool children. If the object is of considerable size, then after swallowing, choking, nausea, and vomiting may appear.

In most cases, foreign bodies freely pass through the gastrointestinal tract, come out naturally and do not require treatment. During this period, the child needs the supervision of a specialist who can track the progress of a foreign body through the intestines. To speed up this process, doctors advise taking orally substances that promote the movement of food masses through the intestines (vegetable oil, etc.). As a rule, the foreign body comes out in 2-3 days. Parents should closely monitor the child's stool to make sure that the foreign body has come out.

Rarely, but it occurs that children swallow dangerous sharp and metal objects (pins, needles, metal nails, razor blades, jewelry or fish bones), which can severely injure the wall of the esophagus, penetrate through it. In this case, there is a high probability of damage to vital organs that are anatomically closely located with the esophagus (aorta and large vessels, heart, bronchus) and the occurrence of dangerous complications, which can subsequently greatly reduce the quality of life, make the child disabled or lead to death (but such situations extremely rare).

How to detect a foreign body and what to do about it?

The clinical picture depends on the type, size, shape and location of the foreign body. More commonly, symptoms include dysphagia (impaired swallowing), odynophagia (pain when swallowing), and chest pain. With a large foreign body that causes complete obstruction (opposition to normal functioning) of the esophagus, there is profuse salivation and regurgitation.

Therefore, if parents see:

That the child has swallowed or is suspected to have swallowed a foreign body;

That the child, against the background of complete well-being, suddenly coughed, vomiting occurred, or he refuses to eat, loses consciousness;

That nothing bothers the child, but the pin that he held in his hands a minute ago disappeared without a trace - and it could not be found;

then it is necessary to urgently deliver the child to a hospital, which has a surgical, radiological, endoscopic, ultrasound department, available around the clock, and where experienced doctors work and there is a necessary arsenal of means for providing medical care.

In such a situation, in no case should you engage in self-treatment - rinse the stomach, feed, give any medications. First of all, the issue of the speedy delivery of the child to the hospital should be decided.

It is very dangerous if a battery turns out to be a foreign body. In the stomach containing hydrochloric acid, the battery, oxidizing and releasing aggressive substances, can cause damage due to chemical burns. Ulcers can form at this site and life-threatening complications can occur. Small disc batteries are especially dangerous in the esophagus, where they can quickly cause colic necrosis (chemical burns from alkaline exposure to the lining of the esophagus) and perforation (rupture of the esophagus). Therefore, the sooner the child is taken to the hospital, the better.

Methods for removing a foreign body

After the child is delivered to the hospital, a pediatrician and a surgeon should examine the child in the admission department, if necessary, additional examinations are carried out: x-ray (but only metal foreign bodies, stones and some types of glass are visible on the x-ray, and plastic, wooden objects are not detected due to material texture), endoscopic or ultrasonic. A diagnosis is made and the level of presence of a foreign body is determined, along with the issue of the need for hospitalization and emergency intervention.

In 99% of cases, a foreign body in the gastrointestinal tract can be removed endoscopically, using a special device. This is possible if the foreign body is not below the duodenum or in the large intestine. Necessarily performed premedication (preliminary drug preparation of the patient for the introduction of anesthesia) and general anesthesia. In this case, the child will not only remember nothing and endure the procedure painlessly, but will also allow the doctor to calmly do his job. Extraction of a foreign body occurs with the help of gastroscopy and examination of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum using a flexible fiber-optic device or colonoscopy and examination of the rectum with a fibrocolonoscope. Moreover, an endoscopic loop, basket or clamp is passed through the endoscope to extract the foreign body.

After anesthesia, the child must be observed in the hospital for at least a day. In some cases, there is no need for anesthesia, this issue is resolved by the surgeon and endoscopist. Sometimes a foreign body can be pushed through the apparatus and in the future, taking a laxative will help it leave the body faster in a natural way. According to statistics, it is possible to remove foreign bodies endoscopically in 97.6-99% of cases. If it was not possible to remove the foreign body endoscopically, a laparoscopic (through a small, usually 0.5-1.5 cm incision) or abdominal surgery is performed, which is always more traumatic for the body and is associated with a much larger number of possible complications.

Prevention of a foreign body entering the child's body

To reduce the risk of a foreign body entering the child's body, you should not leave him alone unattended, and also expose objects that are potentially dangerous for the child and thereby provoke the child. It is necessary to remove household chemicals, tools, and various trifles in a place inaccessible to the baby.

Also You should be extremely careful when choosing toys for your child. They must be chosen taking into account the age of the baby - for the smallest, quite simple, large, bright, without small and easily breaking parts of the toy are suitable. You need to buy them only in children's stores or specialized children's departments. The tag must indicate the manufacturer, material and age of the child for which it is designed. Quality is guaranteed in genuine toys, because the most important thing is the safety of your baby. Fake toys are cheaper, but often they are of poor quality and will quickly break down before your baby can be happy. In any case, your approach to this issue should be reasonable.

Krasavin A.V., chief physician of the children's polyclinic "Markushka",
pediatric gastroenerologist, endoscopist.

It is very important for each parent what to do if the child has swallowed a plastic part and what to do, who to contact. How not to waste precious time?

Degree of danger

As a general rule, plastic parts, such as those in a well-known designer, should not be considered particularly dangerous. Moreover, in most cases they can even leave the body naturally, especially if their mass is not large, and the contours are spherical or oval.

In addition, all plastics do not change their properties at body temperature, do not oxidize, do not undergo splitting by pancreatic enzymes or gastric acid.

However, everything is not as cloudless as it might seem at first glance. The processes of moving a plastic object through the intestinal tube will irritate the intestinal mucosa, which will lead to spasm of the intestinal tube.

As a result of this, there is a possibility of developing acute intestinal obstruction - a life-threatening condition that, without emergency medical care, will lead to death.

In addition to intestinal obstruction, ingestion of plastic foreign objects can lead to organ perforation. True, in the case of plastic products, this probability is small.

If the part, when swallowed, enters the windpipe, a severe condition may develop associated with clogging of the larynx with a foreign object, which will lead to acute suffocation.

Clinical manifestations

When a foreign object enters the windpipe, a special, characteristic symptom complex occurs, which cannot be confused with anything else. In such situations, a coughing fit occurs, the child's face turns blue or pale, salivation increases sharply.

If a plastic foreign object enters the digestive system, especially if this object is small in size, there may not be any pathological manifestations. The child can be quite active, his behavior will not differ from usual, natural functions will correspond to the norm.

If the swallowed object is large, most likely there will be a sore throat or behind the sternum, salivation will increase, fear will appear, there may be nausea and vomiting. It is possible that the intensity and localization of pain will change, correlating with the advancement of a foreign object.

Procedure

First of all, you need to, without wasting a second of time, call an ambulance. If the child's condition is satisfactory, and the time of arrival of the brigade is not determined, it is better to get to the medical institution on your own.

What not to do with a child who swallowed a plastic part?

It is strictly forbidden to force a child to cough, give enemas, provoke vomiting, give laxatives, and also give a piece of stale bread to push through a foreign object.