Summer vacation, prevent children from getting foreign objects in the ear, nose and throat

During the summer, children are on vacation and play at home. Parents should closely monitor their children to prevent them from putting foreign objects in their ears, nose, or throat.

During the summer vacation, a medical facility in Ho Chi Minh City regularly received many cases of children stuffing toys into their noses and throats; some cases required emergency treatment.

During the summer, children are on vacation and play at home. Parents should closely monitor their children to prevent them from putting foreign objects in their ears, nose, or throat.

In mid-June 2024, baby MTH (1 year old, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) was taken to the emergency room in a state of crying, coughing, red face, and sweating. The baby's mother suspected that the baby had stuffed an object into his throat and choked.

A foreign object was discovered in the baby's throat, the throat area was congested. The baby's mother and the nurse comforted the baby to stop crying, holding the baby's head so that the baby would not shake. The doctors performed an endoscopy, using a specialized tool to remove a small, intact yellow foam star, about 2cm long. Luckily, the parents took the baby to the hospital as soon as they discovered it so that the doctor could handle it promptly.

Because foreign objects in the throat, if not detected and treated promptly, can cause airway obstruction, or can go from the throat to the larynx and trachea, making it difficult for the child to breathe, endangering their life.

In addition, foreign objects in the body can cause infections and even ulcers in the surrounding area. In another case, GTD (3 years old, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) was playing in the living room when he cried out, said he had a sore nose and a runny nose.

The baby's mother suspected that the baby had stuffed a toy into his nose, so she quickly took him to the hospital. Doctors used a Clar headlamp to observe a foreign object in the left nostril.

The baby's mother and nurse held the baby, the doctor used a specialized tool to take out a piece of green lego. The baby's nose had a small amount of bleeding due to the foreign object rubbing against the nasal mucosa, causing damage, and it stopped on its own afterwards.

In this case, the baby's cooperation is poor, so the doctor's actions must be decisive and quick because otherwise, the baby will cry and fuss, and the foreign object can go deeper inside and injure the baby's nose during the operation.

With foreign objects in the nose, the doctor can observe them with a light, without the need for a nasal endoscopy, and they can be easily removed at the clinic. But in other cases, when the child is fussy, uncooperative, and the foreign object is deep inside, the doctor must perform surgery under anesthesia to remove the foreign object.

If foreign objects in the nose are not detected and removed promptly, they can cause infection, perforation of the nasal septum, or the foreign object falling deep into the airway, causing airway obstruction, difficulty breathing, and endangering life.

Master Doctor CKI Nguyen Trung Nguyen, ENT Center, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City said that children under 7 years old are curious by nature, like to explore strange objects around them, so they can put them in their nose, throat, ears at any time, especially when they play by themselves, without supervision, without anyone to play with. If the child is under 3 years old, parents should not let them play alone.

During this summer, children are on vacation, playing at home or with cousins. Parents should pay special attention and closely supervise children to prevent them from putting objects in their ears, noses, or throats or putting objects in each other's ears, noses, or throats when playing together.

Parents should not let children play with toys that have small pieces or small sized objects such as legos, sharp objects, coins, buttons, batteries, etc.

Summer is also the season of many types of fruits. Parents should not let children eat slippery fruits such as rambutan, longan seeds... or hard seeds such as macadamia, walnuts, peanuts, almonds because they can easily cause choking.

Small, round seeds like corn kernels and peas are also not safe for children under 3 years old to hold. Because children can put these seeds in their noses. Jelly is very slippery and can easily fall down the throat and cause choking when children do not have time to chew. Therefore, when feeding children under 5 years old these types of jelly, parents need to cut them into small pieces.

Parents should also not let children eat boneless food by themselves, do not let children gnaw on chicken or duck thighs to avoid choking on bones; do not let children laugh and play while eating.

Doctors note that when detecting signs of foreign objects in the nose or throat such as coughing, difficulty breathing, sore nose, or throat congestion, parents should not try to remove the foreign object because it will cause swelling of the airways; do not yell at the child, causing the child to cry, and the foreign object will be pushed deeper inside.

When a child has a foreign object in their throat, parents should not let them swallow rice because in many cases, the foreign object becomes more serious; do not stroke the child's chest because it will cause the foreign object to go deeper into the airway. Parents should take the child to the hospital as soon as possible for timely treatment by a doctor.

When discovering that a child has a foreign object in their nose, parents need to gently reassure and instruct the child to push the object out. Parents should cover the side of the nose that does not have the object and instruct the child to blow hard on the side with the object.

Never use your fingers or any other objects to try to remove the foreign object. If blowing hard on one side of the nose does not remove the foreign object, it is best to take your child to the hospital to have an ENT doctor remove the foreign object.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nghi-he-phong-ngua-tre-bi-di-vat-tai-mui-hong-d218280.html