Raise your hand if you worry a lot as a parent. *raises hand*.
I worry about a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t but since choking is the 4th leading cause of unintentional death in children I knew we needed to be more prepared. We took the emergency preparedness courses, watched videos on what to do when your child chokes (here is a GREAT one ), and took measures to prevent choking but…what if it wasn’t enough?
We live in a house of 3 boys and pets so Legos, marbles, candies, nerf bullets, coins, dog treats, and other small items are always within reach of our 6 month old. We have even caught the toddler attempting to feed him pretzels the other day! He started crawling early (5.5 months!) so he has been into everything lately. My toddler also loves to sneak whole grapes and hotdogs
I started seeing ads for dechoking devices that you could order for your home and decided to set up an interview with the owner of LifeVac, Arthur Lih, to talk about his dechoking device. I wanted to see if this device was something we needed to invest in for our family. There are a lot of products for parents that I personally find unnecessary but this one seemed important.
Note: I am not a medical professional. This is not medical advice. This device does not replace CPR courses that your family should take part in.
Upon starting our video call I could immediately see his wall was covered in images of all the kids. I asked about it and he told me that each time a person is saved from his product (200 on the day we spoke, now up to 204 as of the day this article was posted!) he puts them on his wall to remind him of how far they’ve come. Arthur remembered their names, ages, and what they were choking on!
This LifeVac product is a one-time use medical device and costs $69.95 for the home kit (with one adult mask, one pediatric mask, and a practice mask). You can (and should!) get the combo kit with a home kit and travel kit so you can keep one in the car. The bundle is $118.95. Plus there are lots of promotions!
The weight limit for the pediatric mask is 22lbs where it fits perfectly. However, that’s just a guideline and the mask CAN work on infants who weigh less—the mask just might not fit ‘optimally’. Recently, LifeVac saved a 3 week old baby who was choking on mucus. You can see in our image with the practice (adult size) mask it’s much too big for our 3 year old but the kids were able to see how it worked. You can see how it works in this video.
This would be a great item to give a new parent, grandparents, teachers, caregivers, or just to keep on hand in case you come across a choking incident!
If you use the LifeVac in a choking incident, they send you a new one! And they never expire! I think that’s a low-risk purchase.
Here are some FAQ they’ve answered on their website if you need more information!
Needless to say…I ordered it! We keep one in the car and one at home. I’m probably going to order an extra travel one for my husband’s truck and one to keep in the diaper bag.
I hope we never have to use our LifeVac dechoker device. But I feel a little more at ease owning it.
You can use code AZ20 to get 20% off your purchase! You can shop here.
Who will you buy one for?
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