A paramedic has issued a terrifying warning about a popular party item that could pose a fatal choking hazard to your little ones. 

According to Nikki Jurcutz, who runs the child first aid service, Tiny Hearts Education, the culprit is a seemingly harmless decoration – balloons.

“They’re the leading cause of FATAL choking worldwide,” according to Nikki.

It’s a nightmare scenario that no parent wants to imagine, but it’s one that we need to take seriously.

Here’s everything you need to know about keeping your child safe around balloons. 

“They are impossible to move”

Taking to her Instagram account, Nikki shared a reel demonstrating how a balloon can end up lodged in a toddler’s throat.

“Balloons are a massive choking hazard. They are really light, they are wet from the saliva inside. I’m going to show you what happens when they go into an airway,” she warns.

She then shows a transparent piece of tube with part of a balloon stuck in it.

“Remember [their esophagus] is a wet, sticky area and also the balloon is wet and sticky. The issue with these non-food items are that they are very difficult to get out. Even with back blows or any type of pressure, it will be difficult to actually remove this from the airway and extract it.”

Nikki then tries the back blow technique in action and the balloon doesn’t budge.

“These are impossible to actually move,” she says, adding more explanation in the text on-screen: “The balloon may move with the back blow but will quickly get stuck to the other side of the airway rather than becoming loose and popping out like we see with other common choking hazards like grapes.”

She concludes her video by saying, “We really need to watch our little ones around balloons.”

Nikki captioned her clip, “You don’t need to do a hard ‘no balloon rule’ although I know some people do.”

This is what she recommends instead: