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08 Dec 2006 12:51 PM

How To Prevent Your Child From Choking

by Teresa McEntire | More from this Blogger

Yesterday I talked about potential choking hazards and now I want to address how parents can help prevent their child from choking. Of course there are no guarantees, but parents can do their best to eliminate those items that are potential choking hazards from their child's diet and keep dangerous objects out of reach.

Many parents do not realize how easily a child can choke at mealtime. About 60% of children treated for choking related episodes choked on a food item. Dr. Barrios, an ENT in San Francisco has treated many children for choking. He says, "The best advice I can give is for parents to cut food in pieces smaller than a pea, and then encourage and train children to chew well before swallowing. And if you feed your children meat, it should be cut extremely small. Or consider shredding it, since chunks of meat are very dangerous for youngsters to consume. In addition, give kids liquids like milk or water or juice with their meals so that food goes down more easily."

Choosing age-appropriate foods is also extremely important. Catherine Ipcizade has an extensive list of foods that pose a choking danger for young children in the baby blog. Review the list and make sure that you don't feed your child those foods that are potentially dangerous. If you do give them to young children take special care. My children all loved popcorn. But when they were young I would bite off the hard part and just give them the soft white part to eat. It meant more work for me but eliminated the risk of choking.

Parents also need to take special care about the things left available to their child that can be a potential choking hazard. I used to refer to my children between the ages of 6 months and 1 year as little vacuum cleaners. Because they would pick up everything off the floor and put it in their mouths. Keeping potentially dangerous objects out of reach of young children and babies is especially hard when you have older children. My son had a toy box of toys, small cars, Legos, etc. that he could only play with when his sister was sleeping. Then the toys had to be put away when she woke up. This way only toys that were safe were played with around the baby.

Here are some tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics to help parents prevent their children from choking.

• Make children sit down while they are eating. It is especially important that they don't run or walk with food in their mouths.
• Cut food for children under age four into pieces no larger than half an inch.
• Don't allow older children to share potentially dangerous foods with younger siblings. (Like the time my son tried to give his baby sister a piece of gum.)
• Keep toys and household items with small parts out of reach.
• Pay attention to age recommendations on packaging. These are there for a reason. Toys not for children under age 3 have parts that can be a choking hazard.
• Do not let small children handle coins.
• Keep the area between furniture cushions clean. Young children could potentially find small items that they could choke on.
• Enroll in a CPR class so that you could handle an emergency if it happened.

Taking these steps does not guarantee that your child will not choke, with children there are never any guarantees. So it is important that you also know what do in an emergency situation. Stay tuned for a blog about how to perform the Heimlick Maneuver and what to do if your child is choking.

See these related blogs:

Your Baby & Holiday Hazards

Parents Beware The Hidden Danger In Some Kids Toys

Danger! Foods For Your Baby to Avoid

Toy Cars Recalled for Choking Hazard

Learn more about Teresa McEntire

Teresa McEntire grew up in Utah the oldest of four children. She currently lives in Kuna, Idaho, near Boise. She and her husband Gene have been married for almost ten years.

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