Mother’s warning as child ‘unconscious’ after choking on ‘protected’ wafer

A mother feared her baby was dying in her arms after he ‘fell unconscious and turned blue’ when he choked on a baby-friendly biscuit.

Nicola Cruz said eight-month-old Lorenzo Cruz passed out while choking on a Kiddylicious strawberry wafer snack last month.

The 36-year-old was visiting a friend on May 14 when she fed Lorenzo the biscuit, advertised as being suitable for babies aged six months and over, a pre-lunchtime snack.

But seconds after handing over the sweet treat, Mrs Cruz claims Lorenzo began choking and gasping for air after the biscuit turned ‘sticky’ when he munched on it.

Now Mrs Cruz has issued a warning to other parents – and called for the product to be ‘removed from the shelves’.

Eight-month-old Lorenzo Cruz ‘fell unconscious and turned blue’ after choking on a baby-friendly biscuit

The Kiddylicious strawberry wafer snack is advertised as being suitable for babies aged six months and over

The frantic mother-of-five said she feared Lorenzo would die as he fell in and out of consciousness as he was unable to breath for 40 seconds

The frantic mother smacked the child’s back in a desperate bid to remove the wafer lodged in his throat.

The mother-of-five said she feared Lorenzo would die as he fell in and out of consciousness as he was unable to breath for 40 seconds.

Luckily, Lorenzo’s father arrived at the house and successfully removed the wafer from his throat.

Lorenzo was rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where doctors carried out tests to check there wasn’t any permanent brain damage.

The stay-at-home mother insists the snack, which claims the product ‘encourages self feeding’ on the packaging, is not suitable for six-month-old babies and should be removed from the shelves.

Kiddylicious said the safety of consumers is ‘our top priority’ and that they ‘continuously’ conduct safety checks to ensure the highest quality.

Mrs Cruz, from Nottingham, said: ‘Me and my friend were sat there talking away and Lorenzo was becoming a bit agitated so I thought he must be hungry.

‘He’d had these snacks before and there’d been no issues.

‘I gave him one of these wafers and broke it in half for him to eat and he sat on my knee. Next thing we know he starts gagging a bit and my friend said “he’s choking Nic”.

Eight-month-old Lorenzo was rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where doctors carried out tests to check there wasn’t any permanent brain damage

Lorenzo’s horrified mother, Nicola Cruz, 36, is sharing his ordeal to highlight how dangerous she believes these biscuits can be

‘I’m smacking his back trying to get it out of him but it’s not working. His dad had just turned up and he came running in and put his fingers in his mouth to get it out.

‘He had turned blue at this point so we had no choice but to put our fingers in and physically get it out. It wasn’t coming out when we smacked his back.

‘He was going blue around his mouth and on his cheeks and kept losing consciousness. Luckily, his dad was able to scoop it out.’

Fortunately Lorenzo thankfully hasn’t sustained any permanent injuries.

His horrified mother is now sharing his ordeal to highlight how dangerous she believes these biscuits can be.

Mrs Cruz said: ‘I thought because he was eight months, it was safe for him to eat as finger food.

‘The packet says “suitable for around six months”. But when it was in his mouth it became like a sticky texture and just stuck to his mouth.

‘I thought I was going to lose my baby when I saw him turn blue like that. If it wasn’t for his dad and the ambulance wasn’t there, it might’ve been a different story.

‘I’m dead funny about giving him anything now after this.

‘They said at the hospital that if it had been maybe 30 seconds longer, there could’ve been damage. Even blood came out of his mouth when he threw up.

‘I was scared he would be brain damaged or even die.

‘I will not use that brand now at all, I’m breaking snacks up into tiny pieces because I’m that afraid of it happening again.

‘I think these should be removed from the shelves. I’d say to other parents “don’t trust the age recommended on the products”. Someone else could not be as lucky as I was next time.’

A Kiddylicious spokesman said: ‘At Kiddylicious, the safety of our consumers is our top priority, and we therefore continuously conduct safety checks to ensure the highest quality for our products.

‘Although we were not contacted by the consumer at the time of the incident, we encourage them to reach out to us directly so we can discuss this matter further.’