Toddler Choking on Water?

Posted on June 20, 2008 in Health & Safety by little mochi

Nearly his first 9 months, Little Mochi’s bath wasn’t truly in a bath tub.  My husband and I would lie him down on our laps holding his head above the tub.  We’d use a bath towel to wet his hair, shampoo it, and then use the same bath towel to clean off the shampoo (we’d do that by saturating the towel and then squeezing the excess water onto his head).  This way, it would prevent any water from getting into his ears and cause an ear infection.  Then, we’d let him sit in the tub full of water and clean him quickly.

However, recently, he’s been getting rather rowdy in the bathroom.  He loves his baths.  When I say Love, I mean LOVE.  He gets extremely excited when he hears the water running in the bathroom.  He jumps up and down when he sees us pull out his bath tub.  Somehow, he knows that bath tub is his and that we’re going to give him a bath when we pull it out.

At around 10 months, I sat him in his tub and decided to wash his hair “normally.”  I applied the dab of shampoo on his little head, foamed it up, and poured water over his head.  Stupid me.  I almost choked him.  Little did I know, he doesn’t know that he’s not supposed to breathe when the water comes down his face or he’ll end up breathing in water.  Well, that’s what he did.  He breathed in the water that was coming down his face.  The water that I poured over his head.  He couldn’t breathe for awhile and started to choke. 

Poor Little Mochi looked up at me with fear and started to grab on to my legs.  I quickly picked him up, put him on my lap and started to pat his back. 

I’ll tell ya, that scared the sh*t out of me!  That was the first and last time I poured water over his head!

Just until recently, I discovered something new that enabled me to pour water over his head without choking him.  I would first use my left hand, form an “L” out of my hands, and cupped his forehead.  That way, when the water falls down his face, my hand acts like a visor/shield.  The water actually falls down the side of his face instead.

Don’t know if that’s something stupid, but it works for now.  At least until he realizes he’s not supposed to breathe in water. 

Just curious, has this happened to your baby?  And what do you do?



Comments

2 comments to “Toddler Choking on Water?”

  1. Julia on June 21st, 2008 2:38 pm

    i just pour the water over her head VERY carefully. a few times, the water ran over her face and DD didn’t like it. btw, i use a water bottle to pour water on her head. i pretty much use the same method as yours to try my best to shield the water from her eyes, nose, and mouth. it doesn’t work every time though.

  2. little mochi on June 21st, 2008 11:50 pm

    LOL…I’ve never thought of a water bottle. I just use a wash cloth and squeeze the water out. Perhaps I’ll the water bottle next time – it sure beats the heck out of squeezing water all the time! Thanks for the suggestion…

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