A mum has issued a warning to other parents on social media, after her son became very ill because of popcorn.
Nicole Johnson Goddard, from Denver in the US, explained on Facebook how her family – with her husband and their three kids – usually have movie nights and popcorn as a snack.
During one of those family nights in, her youngest son Nash had a ‘small chocking episode’ but seemed fine after coughing. While nothing came out, the parents assumed the toddler had swallowed whatever caused the coughing episode, and continued to watch the film.
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However, the cough continued the next day and two days later the little boy gained a temperature and was ‘super fussy’.
Alongside picture of her son recovering in hospital, the mum wrote: ‘He had a fever, so I gave him Motrin and put him to bed. A very long night with him and then his breathing looked a little laboured to me and he just didn’t feel good. I called my paediatrician immediately and said Nash needs to be seen ASAP. We went in and got sent to children’s main campus immediately.’
At the hospital, Nash had an X-ray and the doctor booked him in for a Bronchoscopic removal soon after as the popcorn had gone into his lungs and caused an inflammation, which turned into pneumonia.
‘At 6pm they put Nash under and performed the procedure. I paced and cried the entire time my little man was in surgery. He had aspirated popcorn into his lungs when he choked’, the mum explained.
‘The body recognized it as a foreign object and put puss pockets around it. All the inflammation caused him to develop pneumonia in his left lung. During the procedure the dr got out 6 pieces.
‘There was so much inflammation so the dr wasn’t 💯 he got it all so scheduled him to be admitted and repeat the procedure in 2 days. ‘
After the scary incident, Nicole now wants to make parents aware of what could happen to children if they choke on popcorn or other foods.
She added: 'I wanted to share our experience because as I’ve shared the story so many people were shocked and unaware of the bad effect popcorn can have on a toddler.
‘If I wouldn’t have trusted my instinct and brought him in, the outcome wouldn’t have been good.
‘Please no negative judgment on this post, I wrote it as an eye opener for people to see how something that you think is fine can quickly turn into something bad! Always trust your gut because it’s right!!'
