By Ted JeoryTHE relieved mother of a nine-month-old baby who almost choked to death after swallowing a plastic sticker has warned parents to be on their guard.

By Ted Jeory

THE relieved mother of a nine-month-old baby who almost choked to death after swallowing a plastic sticker has warned parents to be on their guard.

June Baker said she had no idea how her baby daughter Millie managed to get hold of the small sticker that lodged in her throat and almost killed her, but pleaded with other parents to be careful.

Mrs Baker, 30, a nursery nurse, said she had just been feeding Millie at her home in Moulsham Lodge, Chelmsford, when she had started choking.

“I picked her up and then a bit of pasta came up, but then she stopped breathing, turned blue and her eyes started bulging,” she recalled.

“I slapped her on the back and I could see that there was something stuck in her throat, but her mouth was foaming and I couldn't get a grip on it.”

Mrs Baker dialled 999 and paramedics arrived within minutes. “They got forceps out and used those,” she said.

“They eventually got it at the third attempt, but I had to leave the room to be sick after the first go - I thought I was going to lose her. The paramedics were brilliant.”

Millie could not eat properly for two days after the incident, but she has since made a full recovery.

But Mrs Baker and her investment banker husband, Matt, 27, who also have a two-year-old daughter Jessica, remain puzzled over how their baby found the sticker.

Mrs Baker said: “It was plastic, had glitter on it with the word 'Love'. We think it must have dropped off a doll, but it's really a mystery. It must have been in her throat before we fed her.

“I would never buy any plastic stickers. At least with the paper ones, the babies can chew them to a pulp.

“But these plastic ones are dangerous - I'd really urge other parents to be careful. The whole episode was very grisly.”

ted.jeory@eadt.co.uk