A mum has issued a warning to parents after her daughter nearly choked to death.
Taking to Facebook to share her harrowing story and raise awareness among fellow parents, mum-of-two Laura Chambers uploaded a post detailing the dangers of feeding children uncut grapes after her four-year-old daughter nearly choked to death when eating one.
Alongside a snap of a small whole grape, the concerned mum wrote: ‘Last night Olivia nearly died. And it was my fault.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158172784683492&set=a.10151504286668492&type=3&theater
‘I made her and Oscar a snack, handful of grapes and some dried cereal.
‘It was the first time since hearing about that poor child who died chocking on a grape that I didn’t cut them in half,’ she continued. ‘I figured- she’s almost 5, she isn’t the kind of kid to shovel food and choke, and I was rushing to finish cleaning the house.’
Continuing her story she wrote: ‘So off she went up stairs with her bowls of snack to carry on playing with her brother. I continued hoovering, luckily I’d switched it off when I heard her at the top of the stairs. I knew in an instant what had happened. I ran to her. She couldn’t breathe.
‘She had gone to chew a grape and it had shot to the back of her throat, gone down and got wedged.
Read more: How to cut grapes for toddlers
‘I turned her over and hit her as hard as I could between the shoulder blades and still nothing,’ wrote Laura. ‘She was looking me dead in the eyes and her lips turned blue as she couldn’t breathe.at.all.
‘Jamie finally managed to perform some manoeuvre on her that sent this grape pictured flying across the room.’
Read more: Mum warns parents about the dangers of long hair after son nearly lost his toe
The horrified mum then warned other parents against letting the same thing happen to their own children, adding: ‘I lay here now watching her sleep I’ve cried most the night & my heart hurts as I look at her chest where there are still nail indentations from where she clawed at her throat for air, PLEASE PLEASE let this be a reminder to all the parents out there.
‘My life nearly changed forever last night all because of my carelessness.’
