IF your baby was choking and gasping for breath, would you know how to help them? Research from St John Ambulance indicates that for two-thirds of North-East parents, the answer was “no”. Thankfully Helen Russell's husband, Sean, knew what to do when our one-year-old choked on a sharp object. Helen Russell reports.

I DISCOVERED how to help a choking baby when I covered the story of Andrew Spencer, then aged 11, from Coundon, who saved the life of his younger brother, Christian, when a piece of chewing gum became lodged in his throat, in 2010. While researching information to run alongside the news story, I found out there was a different technique to use on babies. Two years later, when Sean and I became parents for the first time, I showed him what to do if our baby choked.

We now have a second daughter, Alice, aged 15 months. She loves exploring and, unfortunately, loves putting things in her mouth. Despite our best efforts to keep the family home hazard-free, we have a three-year-old, Molly, who loves craft and messy play. Alice follows her around like a little shadow.

One day, Sean was at home alone with the girls when Alice started choking at teatime.

He says: “She started coughing, but it quickly changed from normal into a worrying cough.

“She looked like she was really struggling to breathe and she had a horrible look of panic on her face.

“I couldn’t understand why because there is no choking hazard with mashed potato, which was what she had eaten.

“She couldn’t take a full enough breath to even cough properly and she was going scarlet.

“I couldn’t get her out of her seat fast enough.

“I held her along my arm, over the kitchen sink, and hit her on the back, but nothing came out.

“After two or three more tries, I felt her tummy start moving and she threw up a green, star-shaped foil sequin, phlegm and blood.

“I didn’t know she had put it in her mouth.

“The whole thing probably only lasted about 20 seconds, but it felt like half-an-hour.

“I am usually pretty relaxed with the kids and I don’t panic or overreact easily, but that was terrifying.

“I thought she was going to die in my arms.”

Following advice from Alice’s childminder Vanessa Barnes, who phoned us after reading about the ordeal on Facebook, we called the NHS non-emergency line 111.

Vanessa warned us that, because there was blood in Alice’s vomit after she coughed the star up, there could have been a cut at the back of her mouth, which can cause the throat to swell.

The helpline dispatched an ambulance to our house, in Thornaby, which took me and Alice to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

After a thorough examination by an A&E doctor, she was given the all-clear to go home.

Sean and I both feel so strongly that anyone who has contact with babies and children, not just mums and dads, but grandparents, aunties, uncles, friends or carers, should all learn how to save a choking child.

When St John Ambulance launched a campaign last year called The Chokeables, figures revealed that two-thirds of parents in the region did not know the correct technique for saving their baby from choking.

It is thought the initiative, which included a 40-second video clip featuring the voices of several celebrities, saved about 46 lives last year.

Sean added: “It is so important to know what to do and it is such an easy thing to learn.

“There was no-one else around to help me with Alice that day so if I hadn’t known what to do then I don’t know what would have happened.”

St John Ambulance advice, for babies:

IF a baby is choking, check mouth and remove any obvious obstruction.

Lay infant face down along your forearm, with its head low, and support the back and head.

Give up to five back blows with the heel of your hand.

If obstruction is still present, turn infant onto their back and give up to five chest thrusts, by using two fingers to push inwards and upwards - towards the head - against the baby’s breast bone, one finger’s breadth below the nipple line.

Aim to relieve the obstruction with each chest thrust rather than necessarily doing all five.

If obstruction does not clear after three cycles of back blows and chest thrusts, dial 999 for an ambulance and continue until help arrives.

For adults and children:

When an adult or child is choking, firstly encourage them to cough.

Support their upper body with one hand and help them lean forward.

If that fails, give five sharp blows to the back, between the shoulder blades, with the heel of the hand. If that does not work, stand behind them and put both arms around the upper part of the abdomen. Clench your fist. Place between the naval and the bottom of the breast bone.

Grasp fist firmly with other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards five times.

Repeat back slaps and abdominal thrusts up to three times, then call 999 and continue until help arrives.