Emergency · 4 min read · 2026-05-26

Choking: what to do and what to stop doing

A person who can cough and speak is clearing their own airway. Encourage the cough. A person who cannot breathe, cough, or speak needs help now.

This page is general education for families in Gurugram. It is not a diagnosis, a medicine list, or a reason to skip a clinician. Doses are deliberately not given.

In plain language

Stand behind an adult, lean them forward, and give firm blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. If that fails, abdominal thrusts — a quick inward-upward pull above the navel — are the next step in a conscious adult who is not pregnant. For a pregnant woman or someone you cannot get your arms around, use chest thrusts. For an infant, the technique is different: back blows and chest thrusts, not an abdominal thrust. Learn it from a demonstration. This page is a reminder, not a substitute for a first-aid class.

Signs worth noticing

These are the clues families usually notice first. One of them, on its own, is not a diagnosis.

They are coughing and making noise. Stay with them.
They become silent and clutch the throat.
They collapse. Start the emergency response you have been trained for, and call for help.
A child has inhaled a button battery, even if they seem fine. That is urgent even without choking.

What usually sits underneath

Food, especially poorly chewed meat or a handful of nuts in a child, blocks the airway. A partial block can become complete if the person panics and inhales harder, or if a helper pushes the object further with a finger.

Care that is reasonable at home

Call for emergency help as soon as choking is severe.
Give back blows as described if you have learned them.
Do not try to hook the object out unless you can see it and grasp it.
After any severe choking, the person should be examined. A piece can remain, or the throat can be injured.

These steps are for someone who is otherwise stable. If the picture is changing quickly, skip the home trial and come in.

When waiting is a bad idea

Inability to breathe or a collapsing person.
A baby who is choking. Techniques differ. Get emergency help.
Persistent cough, pain, or noisy breathing after the event.

How Rao Lokram Charitable Trust fits in

If you reach a hospital, say choking and the time it happened. Learning basic life support from a proper class is worth more than rereading this in a panic. OPD runs Monday to Sunday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM at Near Rockford School, Anaj Mandi Chowk, Kadipur Road, Shakti Park, Sector 10A, Gurugram, Haryana. Call 98185 48492 or 70423 28047. There is no appointment form on this website.

Questions people ask

Should I offer water?

No. Not while they are choking. Water can make a partial block complete.

Can I do abdominal thrusts on a child?

The force and the method depend on age. Infants are not given abdominal thrusts. Get trained, and get help.

What if they refuse help because they are embarrassed?

If they cannot breathe, help them. Embarrassment is recoverable.

If this sounds like you, bring the article on your phone if you want, but let the clinician examine you. Old reports and a list of current medicines make the visit shorter.