Saturday, 27 January 2007... The day Rachel turned 8 months, I had a scare of my life...

Parents being Don't-Listen-to-People parents, my mom insisted on giving Rachel a bite lick (according to her) of steamed sweet potato that she was having because Rachel was staring at her non stop... I rejected at first, but after a few pushes, relented and say ok lar, since Rachel was having sweet potato porridge anyway, nothing wrong...

WAHLAU, how wrong was I, when she allowed Rachel to bite a big (to Rachel it IS big - about 1cm cube) chunk, and then when I wanted to take it out, I saw Rachel 'chewing', so I let her chew, even called Tecky to bring water and to come see Rachel chew... To my horror, a few seconds later, she tried to swallow and from the look on her face, I saw that something was wrong... She had a 'help me' look, which then I realise she wasn't breathing, then she started to cry, but no sound came out, and started to choke! OMIGOD! I was practically screaming for Tina to go get my aunt (the paed) that stays next door, and mum (guilty of course) was hitting Rachel's back so hard, trying to get the piece out of her throat...

TOTAL havoc, I don't know wat happened, I know I kept asking for answer on what to do now, trying to DIG into Rachel's mouth/throat for that piece, and I guess sweet potato being sticky in texture, is a little tough to deal with in this kinda situation... LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY, after a few (A LOT) harder hits (this was the time I heard her choking for breath), and a dig with my index finger, she started to cry (with sound this time)...

I know I sigh in relief, and with this, tears started to fill my eyes... I hugged her so tightly and realised I could have lost her if that chunk stayed there... Blaming question started to come in, YOU BUY MUNCHKIN FOR WHAT? TO PREVENT THIS KINDA SITUATION FROM HAPPENING!! WHY ARE YOU SO CARELESS!!! etc etc etc... I think God was looking closely down on us at that time, taking care of the situation (I for one did not handle it well), and I couln't thank Him enough for it...

Mum started to say, from now on, she will not dare to simply give Rachel food, and will not givetoo big a piece anymore... To imagine, I always give small piece, she scolded me, "NOT EVEN ENOUGH TO FILL THE GAP OF HER TEETH LAR" (not that she has teeth), so I guess, mum (and myself of course) learnt a very important lesson... Mum told Tina, next time I won't dare give already... And then I realised, my mum has been giving Rachel LOTSA food when I was at work...

Anyhow, lessons I've learnt from this experience, which I don't hope for anyone else to face:
1) DO NOT trust your kid to know how to chew, make sure the pieces of food you give are always in the right size (and texture)
2) DO NOT give in to anyone when it come to what you think is not right
3) DO NOT PANIC when anything happen (difficult but important)

After a careful thought, I remember I read somewhere saying that if choking happens, lay the baby on yourlap (tummy down) and hit the back... I'll do more research on this, whoever got good suggestion do comment, but I'll post another post when I have the right answer...

Labels: Mishap, Parenting Tips, Rachel Huan