Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! Each month we'll send you an email filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now Date: 2/28/2005 9:16:00 AM Author: Mary Wood (naomi37@hotmail.com) Subject: My daughter, too I'm going through this with my almost-4-year-old daughter - it's incredibly harrowing for her Dad and me. She choked on a piece of candy Feb. 9th at a special event at her preschool. Was able to clear it herself, and then was fine until last week when she either began to choke on a piece of waffle, or just swallowed a bite that was too big, and it felt bad going down. Again, it resolved itself before any intervention was needed. That day she was okay for most of the day, but by evening she had worked herself into such a state that she would no longer consume any food that had to be chewed, and by the next evening, would not even swallow her own spit. (The tail end of a cold, with some sticky phlegm, may have precipitated or contributed to the trouble this past week.) She's had her ears & throat examined, and chest & neck x-rays show everything's okay. This doesn't rule out some physical thing that wouldn't show up in these exams, like reflux, but that hasn't been a problem for her before. Her pediatrician is certain it's just anxiety, and I'm 99+ percent sure that's the case. An expert at this site, http://www.earlychildhood.com/community/ask/ask_current.asp?ExpertID=142&QuesId;=185, says the best thing to do is act normal. Of course, I think that would be impossible, even if you had been told to do so at the very beginning of the problem. So we haven't acted nonchalant, because we're concerned she keep up her strength instead of stressing her body and risking illness by burning up her "reserves" too much. Now I suppose we've made the problem worse, darn it. We've encouraged and yes, even coerced her to eat whatever non-chew food we can think of; I've sat with her and had "eating practice" with regular food (which went well for a bite or two until some other family member showed up and broke up the calm), and talked about needing to eat so she could have energy to play and grow. I'm trusting that time, love, and as much patience as we can muster will get her through this in good physical and mental health. If anyone has advice, please let me know! Name: Email: Subject

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