Would you know what to do?

I had a horrible little scare this morning with baby Trinity. After her morning breastfeed, I sat her upright on my lap and noticed she was turning a shade of purpley-blue. I realised she was not able to breathe. I guess a gunky throat combined with her milk had blocked her airway. One of the things that is so scary about choking is that, contrary to what I had imagined previously, it is silent. She wasn't coughing or making a noise - she was just silently turning blue.

Immediately, I was just about to turn her onto her front, head downwards and start to give back blows to clear the blockage but thankfully her body's own gag reflex kicked in and she brought up all the gunk and milk all over herself and me!

I was so relieved that I couldn't care less about all the clearing up I'd have to do.

Although I am by no means any kind of expert and actually am not even sure how much I can remember, it made me realise that the past first aid training I had done had sunk in sufficiently at some level to help me know what I had to do. I have always wondered how much I would remember (and I always hope that I will never need to find out) in a real emergency situation - but our little scare this morning made me realise that it is so important for parents to know the basics.

It is definitely worth getting yourself booked onto a First aid course. It often doesn't cost very much and at the end of the day, it is worth spending that money if it means the difference between being able to help your child in an emergency situation and not knowing what to do.

In the meantime, there are also resources available online that are worth taking a look at. We regularly practice fire drills with our children and we have taught them how to put an adult into recovery position. We also practice how to phone the emergency services for help. I truly hope and pray that they will never have to use that knowledge for real but if they ever do, I hope that having had a practice will make it that bit easier for them to do it.

I know that St John's Ambulance do an app that can be downloaded and The Red Cross have online videos and resources to help you learn the basics.

Don't wait - just equip yourself with a few basics including what to do if a child is choking, basic CPR and things like burns and bleeds. Make sure that you would know what to do!