A brief summary of children’s safety and first aid experiences

The priority of prevention is always higher than first aid. When encountering an emergency, "don't operate blindly, judge the situation first, and give priority to seeking help from professionals" is 10 times more effective than using half-baked first aid skills.

To be honest, I have been doing pediatric science in the community for almost three years, and the most unfortunate case I have ever encountered was a 3-year-old baby with a fish bone stuck in it. According to old experience, my grandma fed her two large mouthfuls of steamed buns and poured half a bowl of vinegar. The shallow thorn that could have been taken out in one minute at the otolaryngology department for 50 yuan was pushed into the esophagus, scratching the mucous membrane and being hospitalized for three days. Not to mention the suffering the baby suffered. Nowadays, many parents like to watch short videos to learn first aid, which is a good thing in itself, but many people only remember the Heimlich maneuver and cannot even figure out the boundaries of its application. Last month, there was a case admitted to the emergency department. The child just choked on milk and coughed. The parents came up and pressed the stomach and punched it, pushing out all the accumulated food in the stomach and choking it into the trachea. Instead, it caused aspiration pneumonia. Oh, by the way, the Heimlich is not universal. Babies under 1 year old need to pat their backs and press their chests if a foreign object is lodged in them. It is easy to injure the fragile ribs by punching the stomach. This knowledge point is not mentioned in many short videos.

There are actually two different voices in the industry regarding whether ordinary parents should systematically learn first aid for children: One group advocates that all caregivers should take the first aid certificate and be proficient in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, trauma bandaging, and foreign body disposal. After all, the first 4 minutes of an accident are the golden rescue time. Waiting for 120 may not be enough.； The other group believes that ordinary people do not have practical situations, and it is easy to make mistakes if they learn only superficially. It is better to memorize a few absolute taboos, call 120 as soon as possible in case of an accident, and follow the operator's instructions to operate more safely. I have been raising my own children for 3 years, and have participated in 3 officially organized first aid practical trainings. To be honest, I prefer the latter - if you really have time to study systematically, it will definitely be a bonus, but most working parents have limited energy, so there is no need to force themselves to become first aid experts. First, clearly remember a few "don'ts" that are prone to accidental injuries, and you can already avoid 80% of secondary injuries.

Let me tell you something about myself. Last year, my baby stepped on a building block while running in the living room, and the back of his head hit the leg of the coffee table with a "thud". I stretched out my hands to hug him, but suddenly I remembered that the training teacher said that if you fall on your head, you can't move immediately. You need to check the conscious reaction first, so I squatted on the side and counted for three seconds. When the baby cried out, he could clearly say "headache", and there was no nausea or vomiting reaction, I dared to slowly pick him up. Later, when I went to the hospital to take a CT scan, it was fine. The doctor also said that I did the right thing. If I had picked him up in a panic and called his name while shaking him, the intracranial hemorrhage would have worsened the injury.

Oh, by the way, there is another misunderstanding that many people have: they always think that children’s accidents happen outdoors and in kindergartens. In fact, in the pediatric emergency data we collected last year, 72% of accidental injuries occurred at home: a baby who had just learned to crawl touched a kettle that was not placed on the table, and the old man turned around to get a courier and the baby swallowed it. Button batteries on the ground, the balcony without an invisible guardrail, and the child climbed up and overturned the guardrail... These things are really not far away from us. Don't take it lightly because "my child is good and won't touch it". My colleague's child usually doesn't even touch the socket. That day, he took the key to poke the socket while the adults were cooking. Fortunately, he installed the anti-shock protective cover in advance and nothing happened. In fact, doing a good job in daily troubleshooting is equivalent to building the first safety firewall for your child. It is really more effective than learning first aid afterwards.

After all, there is no 100% safety when raising a baby. Just be more careful at ordinary times. If something happens, don't let your emotions lead you away. Don't rely on half-understood experience. Call 120 first and follow the guidance of professionals. That's better than anything else.