This bizarre accident happened not once, but twice! And mom Kacie McFadden of Stanford, North Carolina speaks up to warn other parents.
“He was about 2 months old,” she told the news. “He was gurgling and I ran in the room and I found that the pacifier had broken off—it was lodged in his throat and he was changing colors.”
Panicked, she pulled the pacifier from baby Ryder’s mouth. The nipple was missing.
“I did the Heimlich,” she recalled, “and it finally came out. It really could have killed him had I not checked on him.”
READ: The Pacifier vs. The Thumb: A guide for parents
Kacie sent the company manufacturing the pacifiers an angry letter. The company in return sent her an apology and a package of new pacifiers. They also requested that the broken pacifier be returned for analysis.
“They sent new pacifiers in the mail trying to make us feel better about what happened. We had told them that we are not happy so they sent us two more,” Ryder’s dad, Jeremy Hedlund, wrote on the company’s Facebook page. “WE AINT HAPPY AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!”
They didn’t send in the pacifier, but they kept and used the new ones without incident.
READ: Are pacifiers really good for your baby?
Two months later Kacie found Ryder again with the torn nipple in his mouth.
Ryder was trying to get something out of his throat, she said, and then realized that the piece of the pacifier was lying on his stomach.
“Had the scare of my life twice, and now we’re not going to use them anymore.”
Things to consider when choosing a pacifier
You might think that choosing a pacifier is easy, but there are important points to consider to make sure that it is the right fit for your infant.
Size: A pacifier that is too big can cause a choking hazard while one that is too small may be rejected by your baby.
Material: There are three options to choose from: silicone is easy to clean and is less prone to retaining odors, latex is softer and more flexible and more babies prefer its texture, and hard plastic is long-lasting and cleans easily.
Guard: It prevents your baby from drawing the nipple inside the mouth and choking, and it should measure at least 1 ½ inches.
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