The infant’s parents first became concerned when the boy began drooling and retching without any apparent reason, according to a report in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.

When an x-ray turned up nothing unusual, the child was sent home from the hospital in western Norway after a short period of observation.

Four months later, however, the boy’s parents found the child was unable to eat solids and took him to see a doctor again.

This time, a surgeon discovered a sore in the baby’s throat. The doctor prescribed medication to reduce the build-up of gastric acid and asked the parents to bring the boy back in after four weeks.

But just two weeks later, the child’s parents rushed him to the emergency ward when he began having serious trouble breathing.

Eventually, an x-ray computed tomography scan (CT) revealed the real source of the problem: a plastic Christmas star, 18 millimetres in diameter.

The child was quickly sent to an operating room, where a surgeon removed the tiny festive decoration. The boy’s condition immediately improved and the symptoms disappeared.