A pediatrician who has lived every parent’s worst fear has an important message for caregivers of kids everywhere.
Dr. Michael Milobsky didn’t panic when his daughter started to choke on a piece of pizza crust — he went straight to the training that he believes everyone should know.
“There is one main skill and piece of knowledge that every parent needs to save your child’s life at home, and that is how to manage choking,” he said in a TikTok video posted on Aug. 12.
As a father of seven, he’s luckily only had to utilize the skill once, on his fifth child.
“Without knowing this, it would’ve been over,” he said. “Choking is so important to know to be able to act in the moment because by the time you call 9-1-1 and get help, the damage is done, and it could be permanent.”
The best way to prevent choking at home is to not let your child walk around and eat at the same time, Milobsky said.
He stressed that there are three important things to know to save a child’s life when it comes to choking, which he demonstrated with a bear he named Phil.
No sweep
Milobsky shared that, in his experience, this mostly happens with toddler-aged children who may have been walking around with food in their mouths and choked on it.
“Do not blindly stick your finger in your baby’s mouth to try and pull whatever is there out,” he said.
He explained that your child’s airway is shaped like a funnel, not a cylinder, and if the object is unintentionally pushed in further, it will become lodged and impossible to remove.
Unless you can see what you’re getting, it’s best to avoid putting your finger near your child’s mouth.
Back blows
The second thing parents should know, Milobsky said, is that if your child is choking and coughing and making sounds, let them.
But if their ability to make sounds stops, you immediately intervene with back blows.
You have to hit between the shoulder blades really hard “as if you’re abusing them — that hard,” he said.
For decades, the Heimlich maneuver has been the de facto emergency strategy for choking, but research has linked the technique to damage to the ribs and heart valves and ruptures in the stomach and food pipe.
Hitting someone in the back directly between the shoulder blades can be just as effective and far less invasive. In 2023, there were around 1.7 deaths from choking per 100,000 population.
If that doesn’t dislodge the item, then you move on to abdominal thrusts.
Abdominal thrusts
You do thrusts in the belly at the bottom of the breast bone, about two fingers down — but don’t spend too much time being ultra precise.
Once you find the space, put your fist there and push in and up as hard as you can “as if you’re trying to hurt your child.”
This is the method that worked on his daughter and saved her life.
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