A dad is urging for lollipops to be banned after his five-year-old son nearly died when he was given one during trick-or-treating.
Brett Cole said his son Bobby ‘went floppy’ and passed out when he started choking on a lolly he’d received on Halloween, that had come off its stick.
Brett has now issued a warning to other parents about the hidden dangers of lollipops.
He said he does not usually allow his two children to have lollipops but after being given them in their trick-or-treat haul, he decided to let them have one.
Bobby was then sat with his mother, who is a senior health-care assistant, when he began to make choking noises’ and she called Brett in for help.
The sweet had detached from the stick and had got stuck in Bobby’s throat.
Brett, from Plymouth, Devon, said the incident was ‘easily the worst experience’ of his life.
He said: ‘We’ve seen a couple of things before about lollies, so we don’t normally give them to our children.
‘But they had been given a few in their Halloween sweets and they had been good and asked to have them, so we let them.
‘My wife was sat next to Bobby on the sofa and he just started choking on it.
‘Deanna shouted for me and I hit him hard on the back, to no effect.
‘He passed out and he went floppy. My wife gave him the Heimlich manoeuvre and after several thrusts it came out with sick and blood.’
Brett said his son was ‘in a bit of shock’ at first, but after a check-up at hospital and a sleep, he returned to his normal self.
He added: ‘I just want to make people aware of the dangers. We all burst out crying, we were so worried.
‘We’re going to ban the lollies.’
Brett shared the warning on Facebook and so far, more than 35,000 people have shared the post.
He said that he and his wife have read through some of the comments and other parents have said their children have also choked on similar lollipops.
Taking to Facebook, Brett said: ‘So today it happened, we don’t usually buy the kids lolly’s but after trick or treating they had some in there pots. The end came off and bobby started choking, this was easily the worst experience of my life.
‘I hit him so hard on the back to no effect. Deanna Cole this morning has saved Bobby’s life. She gave him the Heimlich manoeuvre and after several thrusts it came out with sick and blood.
‘Please guys take this from me ban these lollies. I never post on Facebook but please take my advice. We have all cried our eyes out but Bobby is ok, he may not have been.
‘Bobby is five and I stupidly thought this was old enough. I won’t make that mistake again, make sure you don’t!’
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