A Baby Swallowed A Pacifier And I May Never Sleep Again

I have what I think is an irrational fear of my child choking. I cut his food into ridiculously small pieces, I scan every new home we visit for small items, and I stare at him intently when he’s eating. I was hoping this was one of those parenting paranoias that I would grow out of – but it hasn’t happened yet. It may never happen – since I read a story this morning about a child who choked on his pacifier. His whole pacifier.

From Today Moms:

The incident took place in August, but is just now coming to light. Mom Adrienne Herrick says she was told by a daycare worker that 5-month-old Cameron was bouncing on her lap with his pacifier in his mouth, chewing on it. He stumbled and pushed the pacifier into his mouth. When she tried to pull it out, Cameron took a huge breath and sucked the pacifier into his throat. When she realized she couldn’t retrieve it, she called 911.

Children almost never choke on pacifiers because of standards set my the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The shield is supposed to be large enough to not allow passage past the gums and into the throat. Also, there are holes in the shield so that if the pacifier were to be lodged in the throat, the child would hopefully still be able to get air. It was these holes that may have helped save Cameron’s life.

[Doctors] suspect that as Cameron struggled to inhale, the deep breaths pulled the pacifier farther into his throat. Emergency room doctors quickly intubated the child, allowing him to breathe. When his vital signs stabilized, they sedated him and surgically removed the pacifier through his mouth. It had started falling apart so surgeons pulled the pacifier out piece by piece.

Cameron was put into a medically induced coma on a breathing machine for two days and needed to be fed through feeding tube for over a week – but now he’s doing fine. I’m not, though. Is there ever and end to the terrors of parenthood?

(photo: Baltskars/ Shutterstock)