My baby's dummy almost killed him

Adrienne Herrick was at work when her son's daycare called on August 12. Her was choking and she couldn't believe on what.

Little Cameron Herrick had swallowed his dummy. The 5-month-old was in critical condition by the time his mum met him at Botsford Hospital in Michigan in the US. Police met her at the door and told her it was serious.

The dummy was lodged in his throat. Doctors immediately began emergency treatment but they couldn't remove it.

Dr. Angel Chudler was the first doctor to treat Cameron when the ambulance arrived. "It was the scariest case in my 10 years of practicing," he told Fox News.

Dummies are a common item for babies and are manufactured following strict safety guidelines. Cameron had used a dummy since birth and has never had a problem like this.

So how on earth did he swallow it?

Dummies are recommended for babies needed to be soothed and to improve their suck reflex for breastfeeding. In fact some doctors recommend them for babies until they are 1 to cut the risk of SIDS. However 12 brands of dummies have been recalled when they were found to pose a risk to children. There has been 68 reports of choking incidents in 2011 alone.

Ms Herrick told the Huffington Post she doesn't know how he managed to swallow it. "That pacifier is as big as his face."

Doctors had to perform a rare needle cricothyorotomy to get enough oxygen into him until they could figure out how to remove the item.

Cameron soon started turning grey and his heart rate began to drop. Doctors were certain they would lose him. And with every breath, the dummy slipped further down his throat making it more difficult to remove.

He was rushed into surgery where the dummy was removed piece by piece until his airway was clear once more. The was then placed into a medically-induced coma to give his little body time to recover.

Cameron is now 7 months old and has completely recovered from the incident. "I would give every single doctor in this hospital an organ if I could, I told them that," his grateful mum said. "They saved both of our lives. They saved his life ... and I wouldn't be here if they hadn't saved him."

The day of the incident, Cameron's grandmother went home and threw all his dummies out. "He sucks his thumb now," Ms Herrick said.

Does your baby use a dummy or his/her thumb?