Janet Ogundepo
Paediatric experts have advised nursing mothers to desist from breastfeeding sleeping babies to avoid the danger of aspirating the food.
Aspiration is when food, liquid or other substances accidentally enter the airway or lungs.
According to the National Institute of Health, foreign body aspiration is a major cause of coincidental death in children less than one year old and the cause of death in seven per cent of children under the age of four.
According to Medscape, an online medical portal, foreign body aspiration accounted for more than 17,000 emergency department visits and caused 220 deaths in children aged 14 years or younger.
Recently, a netizen mourned the death of his 45-day-old baby on X, formerly Twitter, using the handle Chills Revolver @MyDayInYourLife.
He revealed that the doctor attributed his death to milk aspiration.
Speaking with Punch Healthwise, a Paediatrician, Dr Tolulope Asare, explained that aspiration of food or fluids is common in children and is mostly caused by force-feeding, which is common in Nigeria.
He said most children who experience this, die or do not make it in time to the hospital.
Several studies on force-feeding also showed that it does not lead to adequate food intake and nutrition.
“Some children have some anomaly that predisposes them to aspirating and when such children are force-fed, it can lead to death. Don’t feed babies while asleep and also allow the baby to burp before being put down.”
Shedding more light on how aspiration happens in babies, Medscape Often, stated that the medical emergency presents after a sudden episode of coughing or choking while eating with subsequent wheezing, coughing, or stridor.
It, however, noted that in numerous cases, the choking episode is not witnessed, and, in many cases, the choking episode is not recalled at the time the history is taken at the hospital.
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