A Hereford couple are warning parents about the risk of ‘confetti filled balloons’ after a terrifying incident involving their 1-year-old child.
Amy said:
“Yesterday we experienced every parents nightmare when our baby girl started falling unconscious unable to breathe.
“It was her 1st birthday party and I had ordered some popular pretty rainbow confetti balloons. Unfortunately one popped and left the foil confetti pieces scattered across the patio. It didn’t occur to me to pick them up. In an instant of being on the ground playing she’d got a handful. They were quickly taken off her but it turned out she’d already done what every 1 year old does and decided to see what one tasted like.
“The size, shape and material of it meant it fit perfectly like a plug over her oesophagus and wind pipe. She made no noise just silently started closing her eyes and going floppy. I put her over my shoulder and the pressure on her dislodged it enough for it to move and she gasped for air and started crying. But as she took in air it kept making her choke and gag so over the knee she went. The thing still hadn’t come out but she was breathing and alert again. She kept coughing to get it out herself but it stuck to the back of her tongue and kept going back down.
“We called 999 and an ambulance was sent. She was still gagging and coughing but alert and crying. On the way the paramedic kept shining his torch in her mouth to try catch a glimpse and just before we reached the hospital there it was stuck flat against the roof of her mouth. It was quickly hooked out. She was throughly checked over and we were kept in hospital for 6 hours of observation before being sent home. The foil confetti piece taped in her medical notes.
“I never considered the inside of these pretty and popular balloons a choking hazard. Everyone is taught uniflated or the actual pieces of a popped balloon are, but with different things being added inside them more awareness is needed of these potentially life threatening additions.”
