Jersey Shore star Mike Sorrentino is no stranger to dramatic situations — but an act of quick thinking and level-headedness from the reality TV personality and his spouse may have saved his son’s life.
On Saturday, Sorrentino shared video of a frightening moment where his two-year-old son, Romeo, began choking on pasta at their family’s dinner table on Thursday night.
Sorrentino, 41, said the incident was “the scariest moment of our lives” for he and his wife, Lauren.
In Ring camera footage from inside the Sorrentino home, a typical dinner suddenly turned dire when Romeo began choking on a piece of “his favorite pasta pesto gnocchi.”
“He hunched over and wasn’t breathing,” Sorrentino wrote.
In the video, Romeo can be heard with a stifled cough as he begins to choke. Immediately, Sorrentino rose from his chair to assist his son.
The 2-year-old continued to choke as Lauren, who is pregnant, audibly and calmly assured the boy he would be fine. Sorrentino lifted his son out of his chair and began patting his back to dislodge the pasta from the toddler’s airway.
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Lauren quickly retrieved an anti-choking device from the kitchen and assured the family members in the room that Romeo was not choking as long as he was making noise.
Lauren used the device and Romeo can be heard retching in the footage. Then, once his airway was cleared, the boy let out a loud wail.
As the clip ends, Lauren is seen comforting Romeo as he cried on the floor.
“I am so proud of how my wife and I didn’t panic, didn’t hesitate and eventually dislodged the food which was blocking airway and saved his life,” Sorrentino wrote. “I love my family with all my heart and am so grateful things worked out.”
“It’s safe to say we are now taking CPR lessons and Romeo won’t be having gnocchi anytime soon,” he concluded.
In his post, Sorrentino also included a snap of a pouty looking Romeo, and a photo of his family together.
Sorrentino later told Good Morning America that he is especially vigilant with his children during mealtimes.
“If I hear a cough during dinner, I assume it’s a problem. So, I immediately jumped up,” he recalled.
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Though Sorrentino said Romeo is “doing amazing” now, he called the incident a “scary close call.”
The video earned the parents praise online from social media users who commended their urgent — though calm — response.
Sorrentino and his wife are currently awaiting the birth of their third child in March. The pair also has a 1-year-old daughter, Mia Bella.
Before Romeo was born, Lauren in 2019 revealed she had a miscarriage when she was seven months pregnant. Lauren said the experience was “heart wrenching.”
Lauren and Sorrentino married in 2018, the same year he was released from prison after serving an eight-month sentence for tax fraud.
The Heimlich maneuver, a popular life-saving practice for choking, is not suitable for children under five years old or below 45 pounds. When a child is choking, it is important to act quickly and use a series of techniques to dislodge the object, including back blows, abdominal thrusts, and chest thrusts.
In the video, Sorrentino is seen using a form of the back blow technique, where one places an arm across the child’s chest and delivers firm blows between the shoulder blades.
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