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 supervise their children to prevent them from putting foreign objects in their ears, nose, or throat.

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

During the summer, children are on vacation and play at home. Parents should closely supervise 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, causing congestion in the throat. The baby's mother and the nurse soothed the baby to stop crying and held the baby's head so that it wouldn't shake. The doctors performed an endoscopy and used specialized tools 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 or 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 injury, and it stopped on its own afterward.

In this case, the baby's cooperation is poor, so the doctor's operation 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 just a light, without the need for a nasal endoscopy, and they can be easily removed at the clinic. But in some 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 nasal foreign objects are not detected and removed promptly, they can cause infection, perforation of the nasal septum, or the foreign object can fall deep into the airway, causing 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, and ears at any time, especially when they play by themselves, without supervision or with anyone. 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 their siblings. Parents should pay special attention and closely supervise their children to prevent them from putting objects into their ears, noses, or throats or from putting objects into each other's ears, noses, or throats while playing together.

Parents should not let children play with toys that have small pieces or small sized objects such as lego, 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 seeds, longan seeds... or hard seeds such as macadamia nuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds because they can easily cause choking.

Round, small 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, causing choking before children have time to chew. Therefore, when feeding children under 5 years old these jellies, 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 of a child 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 out, and the foreign object will be pushed deeper inside.

When a child has a foreign object in the throat, parents should not let the child 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 his nose, parents need to gently reassure him and guide him to push the object out. Parents should cover the nostril that does not have the object and guide 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 you blow your nose vigorously and the foreign object does not come out, 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