Parents and caregivers...show of hands...who follows these guidelines?

[eyesroll]

I stumbled across this American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation:

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that children under 4 years old should not eat:

* hot dogs
* nuts and seeds
* chunks of meat or cheese
* whole grapes
* hard, gooey or sticky candy
* popcorn
* chunks of peanut butter
* raw vegetables
* raisins
* chewing gum

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/choking.htm


Hm...kiddo will be four in September. I get the part about the chewing gum and the sticky candy...but raisins? (Who here *didn't* eat raisins when they were little?)

No hot dogs at all? (It doesn't even say cut them up -- which we don't really do anymore anyway -- it says no hot dogs. Keep in mind this is just for choking, not for nutrition.)

Popcorn?

Raw vegetables...all of them?

Funny that her daycare serves carrot sticks, celery, raisins and hot dogs. I don't know whether they cut up the hot dogs...but I know they don't cook the carrot sticks, or (eew) the celery.

How long are you supposed to cut up those grapes?

What constitutes a "chunk" of meat or cheese?

How are you all doing with your choking-prevention program?

[joneschick]

1. if you go to Toy-R-Us you can get a small parts test fixture

http://hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/indust/safety_toys-securite_jouets/protection_e.html

we got one for my fil, when he was making puzzles and toys when the girls were very small.

[xmas74]

2. Candy, gum and sunflower seeds were the only ones I

followed. My daughter started eating peanut butter when she was two, same w/ raw veggies. We added peanuts, walnuts and grapes when she was three. Her favorite snack at the age of three was "ants on a log"-celery w/ peanut butter and raisins. The others were no big deal to me either way.

She's six now and never choked on any of those things.

[LeftyMom]

3. My kid's a bit too old for that now

He got veggie dogs from time to time, though they were cut up. Make sure to cut them lenghtwise first and I don't see there's a real choking hazard.

He did and does love popcorn and never had a problem with it.

I had no idea that peanutbutter came in chunks. He's had it, but doesn't care for it much.

Obviously no chunks of meat or cheese, choking hazzard or no.

No candy except for the occasional bit of chocolate, just because I don't want the kid wired or bugging me for candy anytime we go anywhere.

He's had lots of raw veggies and rasins, nuts and seeds. They're all pretty great sources of plant-based nutrition.

For the record, I don't recall that LeftyKid's ever even gagged on food except a few times as a baby when he'd fam his teething cookie halfway down his throat. If he were prone to gagging and choking I'd have followed the rules a bit more closely, but cutting things up and keeping an eye on him while he ate worked fine for us.

[eyesroll]

4. Yeah, the popcorn thing was puzzling to me too.

We were at a neighborhood festival and got popcorn today. (We also got candy as part of the parade...but she lost interest in the giant bag we ended up with after one lollipop, so hey...)

I've only been in her life since she was 2 1/4, but I've never seen her have any problems except when she shoveled an entire plate of spaghetti into her mouth at once.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. One of my son's favorite snacks when he was 2-3 was raisins and Cheerios

in a snack cup.

Raisins?? Probably because of the choking factor..?

Raw veggies? Another tasty treat he liked was grated carrot on oatmeal (always made the rolled oats kind on the stove).

[ContraBass Black]

6. Under four years old?

At that age, I had a fully developed mouth that wouldn't shut the hell up.

[NMMNG]

7. I work with individuals who are developmentally disabled

All of them are unable to chew or chew very poorly. Therefore any solid food is chopped very tiny or run through the food processor before it is served to them. Peanut butter is strictly forbidden as they are unable to alert us if they are choking (two of them are completely non-verbal and the other two, while having rudimentary speaking skills are still unable to alert anybody if they are choking).

[thefool_wa]

8. some yes some no

We were on board with hot dogs, grapes and nuts until our kids had molars, but 4 seems a little long to torture a kid by eating popcorn in front of them. For our youngest we just bite the husk parts off and let him eat the soft parts.

We were pretty militant about nuts the first year with both of our kids as well, but a recent study is refuting the claim that nuts before age 1 causes nut allergies. Go figure.

Regardless of what the AAP says, I figure you shouldn't give them anything that requires chewing to not be a choking hazard until they have back teeth and nothing really hard (nuts, candy, etc) until they have a firm grip on chewing things up before swallowing.

How are we doing? Well one is 4 and one is 18mos and neither has choked to death yet. Though, each of them in their infancy did have one choking scare wherein my wife had to flip them over and whack them good to get it out. Ironically, while I don't remember specifically what the item was in each case, I do remember that neither item was on the list above.

side note: its not just whole grapes that are a problem, but grape skins also. Our pediatrician said to cut and peel grapes before feeding them to our kids before age 3. I will actually back that up, our son tried to choke on grape skins from a split grape once.

[leeroysphitz]

9. I don't give my son any of those things (at 18 mo.) but then,

I must admit, I'm really uptight when it comes to my son...

[jobycom]

10. They should add tortilla chips. I've tried to choke both kids on them.

They get broken into little, spikey pieces that lodge in the throat.

I've never avoided any of those, except hotdogs (I'm vegetarian) and gooey candy (I ain't cleanin' it up, and my spouse has never cleaned up anything in her life!)

[dolo amber]

11. Every time I read something like this, I am shocked my kids are alive

:eyes:

[asthmaticeog]

12. I'm *always* shocked they're alive.