DS just choked? I think nanny's response wasn't correct
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Anonymous
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I work at home. I heard my 10 month old son coughing and crying. I didn't go downstairs because I don't like the meddle, but then the nanny started yelling my name.
When I got downstairs, my son was crying and had just vomited a little saliva on the floor. It seems like he still had some food in his mouth after lunch, and maybe gagged or choked on it while he was crawling around. I know a lot of people cannot tell the difference and I'm not sure if my nanny can. The "food" that came out was a little stringy bit of cantaloupe so I'm guessing it was more of a gag than a choke. Anyway, she told me she stuck her finger in his mouth to try to induce him to vomit. I have read over and over that this is NOT the right thing to do. I said it was dangerous to do that because it might push the food further back, but she said she was more scraping the side of his mouth. I feel bad because the whole situation must have been stressful, but if she is not responding appropriately I absolutely need to make sure she knows that. Language is a bit of a barrier - she speaks Spanish. So I guess my questions are: 1) Was her response appropriate? Normally I'm not an over-corrector, but in this case, I absolutely want to correct her if need be. 2) Do you know of any resources in Spanish that would be good for her to review? She's infant CPR certified but maybe they don't explicitly say not to stick your finger in the baby's mouth? |
nannydebsays
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1) No. You only finger sweep after back blows/tummy thrusts, and then only if you can clearly see the food.
1)a) My understanding is that unless the person choking is expressing they are unable to breathe, you watch and wait to see if they clear the obstruction themselves. With an infant/toddler, you may not wait too long to start back blows and tummy thrusts, but I do think you let them try. 2) There should be Red Cross classes taught in Spanish available if you live in a large metro area. Find a class, give nanny 2 or 3 dates to choose from, pay for the class, and send her. Ask to see her completion card. 3) I would strongly suggest you and she attend private tutoring with a person who speaks excellent English and Spanish, preferably a native Spanish speaker. You need to know at the very least basic Spanish, including several useful childcare related sentences. Nanny needs to know as much English as possible. If you are not comfortable with her ability to handle any sort of emergency issue, are you at home 100% of the time with her and your child? If not, what is your contingency plan if the pediatrician needs to be called? Are you confident nanny can read and understand medication instructions and other essential directions? If not, you might need to consider whether she is the best nanny for your child. |
Anonymous
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I typed out a long response and then realized it's probably done better on the Internet:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_infant-first-aid-for-choking-and-cpr-an-illustrated-guide_9298.bc So, no, inducing vomiting would never be correct. A finger sweep to the side of the mouth was taught a decade ago when I took infant cpr, but these things change. And, if he was gagging and coughing from the beginning, nothing is the correct response. Personally, I'd have her redo an in person cpr course as a refresher. |
Anonymous
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Wonderful resource, and it's available in Spanish. Perfect! Thank you so much.
Re: communication, we're pretty good at getting the point across. However, I definitely don't know the difference between the words for choking and gagging in Spanish and just wanted to make certain she understood the nuances. Thanks again. |
Anonymous
| Pay a decent wagevand hire a legal, ENGLISH speaking nanny. |
Anonymous
This! And then you BOTH get the first aid training. |
Anonymous
Thirded. |
Anonymous
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If she is a good nanny pay for a first aid/CPR class. It's not her fault if she hasn't been trained.
YOU should have NEVER hired someone who doesn't have CPR, and you and your husband should have it as well. NO EXCUSES. |
Anonymous
| Stop giving you kid food they are not ready to eat! |
Anonymous
What a ridiculous reply. Choking doesn't mean the kid wasn't ready for the food. Adults can choke on food too. It's an unfortunate accident. |
Anonymous
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Hopefully her CPR course was done in her native language. And NOT an online course.
Ask to see her certificate and verify that her class was taught in Spanish. Make sure she didn't simply purchase it online after answering a few online questions. If all that is good, then I would ask her to take a refresher course and also for her to show you any paperwork where sticking her finger down the throat to induce vomiting is recommended. Don't let this go until later. Deal with it now and make sure she complies with all of your requests. Your son's life depends on it. |
Anonymous
+1,000,000. I will never in a million years understand why any good mother would hire a nanny who does not speak the same language that she does!!! It is insanity. |
Anonymous
| Your non-English speaking bargain nanny could have killed your baby. But hey - you're saving money, right? |
Anonymous
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OP here... I've resisted responding so far but this is getting silly. I have a legal nanny, who is paid a good wage, gets 3 weeks paid vacation, bonuses etc. We like her and want to keep her, so we do our best to treat her well!
She understands a lot of English, and I understand a lot of Spanish, so in general, we have no trouble communicating. In this case, though, knowing the word in Spanish for "choking" vs. "gagging" is pretty advanced. So there is a language barrier here. I wanted to make sure she could review a resource in her native language. Re: the CPR class, I paid for her to attend one 3 months ago. After I posted this, we talked about what happened more, and she said in prior CPR classes, they recommended a mouth sweep. I don't know if they specifically said NO MOUTH SWEEPS in the last class or just focused on what she should do. In any case, there's just a lot of assumptions and judgments here. And I am finally frustrated enough to respond! But I do appreciate those who took the time to provide helpful responses. I am grateful! |
Anonymous
Sorry - you are still an idiot. Both you and non-English speaking nanny should have known that if the baby/child is coughing YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE. NO ONE EVER RECOMMENDED A MOUTH SWEEP FOR A COUGHING CHILD/BABY. AND you are NOT paying a good wage and she is not legal. Cut the crap. |