Emergency treatment of the choking child.

The Committee on Accident and Poison Prevention of the American Academy of Pediatrics concurs with the American Heart Association and the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council recommendation that the relief of foreign body airway obstruction in infants and children should be achieved through a combination of back blows and chest thrusts. The four back blows are intended to produce an artificial cough resulting in increased pressure in the blocked respiratory passages. The four chest thrusts are added to give an additional sustained pressure increase to facilitate expulsion of a foreign body. The use of the abdominal thrust is not recommended and blind finger sweeps should be avoided. Infants should be held face down with the head lower than the trunk; older children can be placed across the thighs. The back blows are delivered with the heel of the hand. The chest thrusts are delivered as for external cardiac compression. Physicians and the general public should be familiar with recommended resuscitation techniques.