difficult child 1 nearly choked himself tonight...

[gcvmom]

on his DINNER.

He was gulping down an Arby's sandwich, and apparently not chewing very well and not paying attention.

All of a sudden he was gagging and pointing and not breathing. husband smacked him hard on the back and a huge gob of food fell out, but he was still choking. Then he started gesturing like he wanted someone to do the Heimlich on him and pointing to his throat.

husband smacked him harder and a bit higher between the shoulder blades and more came out. Then suddenly difficult child 1 heaved and vomited out still more food. After that, he was able to breathe.

Then difficult child 1 starts LAUGHING. Oh. My. Gosh. That was a sure-fire way to send husband over the edge when you throw in the stress of seeing your kid choking to death... he blew up at him and started ranting about the need to actually CHEW one's food. I admittedly joined in scolding, though I was no where near as irate as husband (why is it that fear is always reacted to with a show of anger in some people?)

What a night!

 

[flutterby]

Adrenaline.

How scary.

 

[susiestar]

Having lived through a brother and a difficult child who both have done that numerous times, I can honestly say I felt your worry!

I am forever reminding the kids and husband that the food is not going to run away, that it is already dead so they won't lose it if they cut reasonable bites instead of giant gobs that cannot be chewed.

I hope you made difficult child 1 clean up the mess.

I think that many men react to that kind of worry with anger.

I can remember a friend of mine being forced to count the number of chews she took of each bite. Her gma insisted it would help her lose weight to chew each bite 30 times. I have done that for short periods of time with Wiz and thank you.

Why do males, esp, tend to take giant bites and not chew?

 

[Wiped Out]

So glad he is o.k.

I wonder if difficult child 1 laughed out of being scared from what just happened and didn't know how else to react. I can understand husband being upset after something so scary happened.

Hopefully it start chewing more. I do worry about this with difficult child as he seems to gulp down all of his food.

 

[Fran]

Jean, my difficult child has eaten and choked in just such a way. He eats so fast and tends to breath in between so that he either chokes or aspirates what he is eating.

I swear that their internal coordination and sensors are off. What tells us to breath in between mouthfuls of food doesn't seem to be well coordinated. The sensor that tells us there is too much food in our mouths to be able to chew and swallow don't seem to work that well in my difficult child.

I'm sure the laughter was out of nervousness. I tend to giggle when I'm really embarrassed or nervous.

 

[DammitJanet]

I am so glad difficult child 1 is ok! How scary.

I understand husband's response. I tend to get angry myself. So does Cory. Well, Cory either gets angry or he cries...lol. Or both!

I remember one time when Cory was about 6 he got loose from me and rode his bike into the road. Now we lived on a road where the cars drove 55mph. He darted in front of a lady who had to slam on her brakes to keep from hitting him! Scared her to death, scared me to death!

I pulled a switch off a tree and I beat that boy bloody. Took his bike, threw it in a trash heap and kept beating him as that poor women was crying in my front yard. She was so panicked that she almost killed him. She literally slammed on her brakes so hard she landed in my front yard. I beat him then hugged him, beat him some more. He had whipping marks all down his legs and back. I didnt give a potters dang if CPS came. He deserved it. He never did that again.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Glad he's ok. Hopefully he better understands the parental addage of "chew your food well".

I'm thinking he was probably embarrassed and that's why he laughed. A husband was probably relieved and that's why he reacted the way he did. Vision of what could of been for both.....

Sharon

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, my.

I can see both sides.

I assume that difficult child laughed due to stress, and to the image of himself in a Simpsons cartoon-like image.

I hope husband has calmed down.

Maybe difficult child could cut his food into bite-sized pcs from now on?

 

[ThreeShadows]

I think it's really hard for boys like yours and ours to sit still long enough to actually appreciate the art of eating. It is an art you know...

 

[Fran]

3shadows, I always said difficult child just stops to refuel. No real appreciation for flavors or a meal. Just fuel.

 

[Christy]

How scary, I'm so glad difficult child is okay!

My son is another one who gulps his food. It gets worse instead of better as he gets older. He is constantly putting more in his mouth than he can chew and I worry about him choking as well. Not to mention the fact that it is just gross. I will never understand why that boy is always in such a race with himself.

 

[totoro]

How scary!!!
K food stuffs that is part of her diagnosis for Dysarthria, she lacks feeling in her soft palate and back of her tongue.
She also lacks muscle control in her tongue. So she will stuff. We are now doing therapy for this... I have to cut her food up into very small pieces and have her put it directly onto her molars and chew. Along with all of the other fun stuff, it actually is fun.

Glad he is OK, husband does the under reaction, which ticks me off!

 

[KTMom91]

Very scary...glad he's all right.

 

[Star*]

WE ARE related......

If given the opportunity to eat Arbys? I will inhale it also.

Glad Captain Slappy was there to save the boy!

 

[aeroeng]

I am glad he is OK! Sometimes laughing is a way to release nerves.

You might want to take a CPR or first aid class. The Heimlich maneuver is better then smacked him hard on the back. Smacking him on the back can easily force the food back down. Which can be very bad.

At the age of 2, my first born choked on a pizza. He ran away from the table and out of the room. Because he was not making any sounds we did not know anything was wrong. My Mom came in as he ran out and stated that he was choking. My cousin got to him and did the Heimlich. Big glob of pizza came out followed by a death defying scream.

Later I learned that it is common for choking toddlers to run into a different room. They get scared and try to run away from it. So if a toddler ever runs out, make sure they are talking. If not follow and check.

So, I know how you feel. 14 years later I still shake when I think about it.

 

[BestICan]

Aaaack, choking is my biggest parenting fear. easy child had a minor choking episode at dinner last week and I did NOT handle it well. I'm so glad everything ended up OK.

 

[gcvmom]

Thanks everyone

What makes this doubly distressing (for me) is that this is NOT the first time difficult child 1 has done this to himself. At least two or three times in the last year or two. Ugh.

Eating... art? Huh? Wuzzat? I thought ALL men just sat down, bent over and inhaled forcefully...