As a first time mom one of my biggest fears so far has been choking.
This is not an irrational fear; according to multiple reputable articles choking is a leading cause for hospital visits and even deaths!
Choking is especially prevalent in children under the age of 3.
I searched many articles to find the most common food choking hazards for children. Even if a food is not listed it does not mean it could not potentially become a risk. Children should always be seated and supervised while eating.
Fruits and Vegetables
Uncut round fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, raw hard vegetables.
Examples:
- Grapes
- Blueberries
- Cherries
- Grape Tomatoes
- Raisins and craisins
- Carrots
- Whole corn kernels raw or cooked
- Apples
- Uncut canned fruit
To prevent choking berries and tomatoes should be cut into fourths or eights.
Dried fruits are not recommended for children under 18 months, and even then your child should be CLOSELY monitored.
Hard vegetables and fruits can be cooked for softness. Hard fruits (such as apples) may be given raw to babies older than 9 months if cut appropriately for age.
Canned fruit should be cut to an appropriate size for your child’s age.
Proteins
Nuts, meats, beans, cheese.
Examples:
- Hotdogs
- Sausages
- Meat sticks
- Tough meat
- Large chunks of meat
- Fish bones
- Uncut or smashed beans
- Nuts and seeds
- Large chunks of meat
- Nut butters
Hotdogs, meat sticks, and sausages should be cut in length twice and then diced (about 4 pieces per circular cut).
Meat should be prepared to be soft enough to smoosh between your fingers until your child has developed strong chewing skills and cut appropriately for their age. Look closely for bones in fish and chicken.
Smash or quarter beans.
Nuts are tough, some recommend age 4 and above, others 5 or older.
Nut butters spread thinly upon another food such as toast should be safe (watch for allergies). Giving a glob of nut butters could conform to airways though.
Grains and Grain Products
Dried grain bars or cookies, dried grain crunchy snacks, whole grains.
Examples:
- Cookies
- Granola bars
- Breads with nuts or seeds
- Crackers with nuts or seeds
- Chips
- Popcorn*
- Whole grain kernels
Cookies and granola bards should be age appropriate based on labels, also always take into consideration your child’s eating development as they may not be ready for items even if they are advertised for their age group.
Avoid breads and crackers with nuts until children are 5.
Potato, corn, and tortilla chips that break up into sharp pieces when chewing should be held off until your child is 4 or 5 debating on which resource you refer to.
*Popcorn should be held off until your child is 5 years or older. This one terrifies me. It’s not only an immediate risk of choking on the popcorn itself your child can also inhale kernels and aspirate. They may cough a bit and then seem fine and later get a very serious and potentially deadly infection. Not worth the risk.
Sweetened Foods
Candy, fruit snacks, marshmallows.
Examples:
- Jelly beans
- Peanut M&M’s
- Hard candies (Jolly Ranchers, Life Savers, etc.)
- Fruit snacks
- Gum
- Marshmallows
Small round hard candies should be avoided until your child has developed advanced chewing capabilities around 4 or 5 years of age.
Fruit snacks and gummies are dependent on how hard or soft these are.
Gum isn’t recommended until about age 5 because it shouldn’t be swallowed and most children will not understand this concept until they are around that age.
Marshmallows are about the size of a small child’s airways, if cut smaller they can be more safe but still pose a potential risk since the consistency changes.
Takeaway
These are some of the highest risks involving food choking hazards for young children, but any food could potentially become a choking risk. This is a reminder, not only to you, but to myself to stay vigilant in regards to the types of food I am providing to my child and also to closely monitor my child when she is eating.
We consistently sit down for lunch and dinner but snacks are a different story. Now that she’s a bit older it’s easy to forget she’s still at a high risk at 19 months. Heck, realistically these could also be a risk to adults too!
My recommended tips:
Check with your pediatrician or another healthcare professional if you have any questions.
I regularly checkout the “Solid Starts” website when I have questions about when an appropriate time to serve a type of food is or how to cut it and I’m told they even have an app now! Here’s the website: https://solidstarts.com/
I also have attended a CPR class, and I recommend you do as well if you never have. I honestly could probably use a refresher course as it’s been a couple of years.
Check out videos on Youtube. I viewed quite a few to refresh my memory on CPR and how to preform the heimlich maneuver on an infant and then again for a child.
Trust your instincts. Sometimes this one can be hard when friends and family harp on you for being overprotective. Don’t let that sway you. You know your child better than anyone.
Weaning is such a stressful time! Didn’t think of needing to hide marshmallows!
It most certainly is! The marshmallows caught me by surprise too!
Good for new parents. For some reason, some people don’t use common sense and it is good to highlight this type of advice.
Thank you for sharing this list! I’m going to share it with some new moms that I know!
Thank you for commenting and passing the information along to the new moms in your life!
This is extremely helpful and informative. I don’t have kids of my own yet, but I do have a young niece. Thank you for sharing this!!
That’s great you’re thinking about the little ones you already do have in your life. Thank you for taking the time to comment! 💖
Good Advices, a must read!
Thank you!
All of this. This is a huge thing for me with young children. It’s extremely important for anyone caring for young children to cautiously monitor the shapes and sizes of foods. Great post!
Thank you! Food safety definitely tops my list too!