Insights on safety and first aid for preschool children

Pre-scenario protection is always 100 times more important than emergency first aid. There is no universal first aid formula. There is only a combination of protection + first aid that is dynamically adjusted based on the age of the child and the scene he is in. Rather than pursuing perfect first aid skills, it is fundamental to first establish the understanding that "the safety of a child is no trivial matter, and there is no absolutely safe environment."

Last month, I was on lunch break. I had just finished patrolling and sat down to take a sip of water. I heard crying coming from the activity area of ​​the small class. I ran over and saw that the little Yuzi, who had just entered the kindergarten, had stuffed half a fingernail-sized plastic bead picked up in the art area into her nostril. The trainee teacher in charge of the class was so panicked that she wanted to reach out to clasp it, but I quickly stopped her. During the previous training, the doctor had repeatedly said that if a foreign body is inserted into the nasal cavity, it will easily push the foreign body deeper into the airway, which may lead to suffocation. I squatted down to coax her not to be afraid, pinched her unplugged nostril, and asked her to blow it out as hard as blowing her nose. After trying it twice, it didn't come out. I immediately carried her and ran to the community hospital at the entrance of the park. The doctor used special tweezers to pick it out and it only took 8 minutes. When I reviewed it with the director afterwards, everyone was scared, but luckily I didn't do it blindly. The consequences of really blocking the trachea would be disastrous.

To be honest, the whole Internet is now promoting the Heimlich maneuver. Many parents around me know the action formula by heart, but when it comes to using it, many people can't figure out the applicable scenarios. I went to a pediatric first aid training organized by the district education bureau before. The two instructors had different opinions: the nurse from the emergency center said that as long as it is confirmed that a foreign object is stuck in the throat, pat the back 5 times before performing Heimlich. The faster the operation, the better. ； Another deputy chief physician of pediatrics emphasized that as long as the child can still vocalize normally, cry and cough, don't mess around and let him cough on his own. External intervention may cause the foreign body to shift and become stuck. Later, I read the latest version of the "First Aid Guidelines for Foreign Objects in the Airway of Children in China" and realized that the two statements are not contradictory at all. The former corresponds to the state of complete suffocation in which the child can no longer speak and turns purple, while the latter refers to the situation where the foreign body has not completely blocked the airway. Is there any one-size-fits-all standard answer?

When I first joined the industry, I memorized the "Hidden Safety Hazard List" issued by the kindergarten by heart. What sharp objects are not allowed in the class, jelly nuts cannot be eaten by children under 3 years old, and climbable objects cannot be placed on the windowsill. That day, the children in the art area were folding airplanes. A boy ran away with the folded sharp-cornered airplane and fell. The corner of the paper scratched directly into the corner of his eye, missing his eyeball by just two millimeters. I was so frightened that I broke out in a cold sweat - who would have thought that the A4 paper that I usually draw on for my children could also be a source of danger? You can’t keep your baby from touching paper, right? Since then, I have no longer been superstitious about the "hazard list". Rather than taking away all "dangerous items", it is more practical to watch the scene when the baby uses these things: you must sit on the seat when holding scissors, you cannot run away with anything with sharp corners in your hands, and you are not allowed to fight when eating. It works better than anything else.

Oh, by the way, parents often ask me if they want to buy one of those internet-famous home first aid kits, which cost only a few hundred dollars. I generally advise everyone not to buy blindly. Many items are not needed at all, such as styptic powder and tourniquets. For small wounds that the child usually bumps into, just rinse them with saline and put a band-aid on them. If the bleeding is really severe enough to require a tourniquet, it is useless to treat it at home. It is better to rush to the doctor. It is enough to prepare some calamine, burn ointment, sterile gauze, and iodophor at home. Of course, some parents who live in relatively remote areas and far away from the hospital feel more at ease if they have all prepared. I have no objection. After all, every family's situation is different, and there is no absolute right or wrong.

I once met a mother who covered all the table corners and wall corners in the house with anti-collision strips and covered the entire floor with thick carpets. As a result, her baby slipped when she was running and hit her chin on a Lego block on the carpet, which required three stitches. She later complained to me that "it's really impossible to prevent". In fact, this is the case. Preschoolers are very curious and quick to act. It is impossible to eliminate all risks. First aid skills are like band-aids in your pocket. They can provide temporary relief if something goes wrong, but they are not as useful as keeping an eye on them and taking precautions against all imaginable scenarios in advance.

There was an open day for parents in the kindergarten last week, and a father demonstrated the Heimlich maneuver to everyone on the spot. His movements were so standard that he could be a training teacher. I later chatted with him and found out that his child had eaten a grape and got stuck once last year. He was so panicked that he didn't know what to do. Fortunately, his grandma patted him on the back and caught it. After that, he specially signed up for a first aid class and took it for more than half a year. You see, anyone who has really experienced it knows that safety has always been a matter of peace of mind. You can't wait until something goes wrong before you think about learning first aid, nor can you think that everything will be fine after learning a few tricks. After all, with a child's brain circuitry, you can never guess what he can do to you in the next second, right?