Terrified of choking

[Anonymous]

Yesterday, as usual, my nearly-one year old DS was spitting out the little bites of toast with hummus I was giving him. He wouldn't pick up the little bites and feed them to himself either. So I decided to hand him a nearly whole piece of toast (with crust and all) just to see what he would do. He quickly took it and tore it in larger pieces which he then shoved in his mouth. My eyes were as big as saucers and heart racing as he kept packing it in...I tried to get him to hand me a piece over or feed one to me without any luck (I didn't want to snatch them away b/c then he would get upset and cry with a mouthful of toast). Anyway, I find I constantly worry about him choking and hesitate to give him the larger pieces of food which he seems to desire. Do other moms worry this much about choking? Is he really ready for a big chunk of banana or large piece of toast? Please help me chill out.

[Anonymous]

Can't help except to say that I'm with you! I have a 9 month old DD and can't imagine giving her large pieces of "real" food!

[Anonymous]

I'm a pretty laid back mom on most everything with DS, but like you, I have always had this major fear of him choking. He's 2 now, and I still catch myself worrying about it! But just remember that his gag reflex should kick in and that's the only way he will learn how big of bites he can take. So I think he is fine eating those things. Just make sure that they are not round things like grapes or whatever that could completely block his windpipe and you'll be ok!

[Anonymous]

If you are still super paranoid than take an infant/baby/child 1st Aid/CPR class.

Sometimes I will soak things in water to make them a little soggy and, if worse case scenario it all goes down at once, there won't be quite the risk of choking. The only problem with soggy crackers, bread, and such is that it becomes a texture thing and DC often wouldn't eat more than 3 bites.

Otherwise, stick to giving smaller foods until you child is comfortably chewing - use common sense.

[JurekGrabowski]

You don't have to worry too much, just continue to be vigilant and think prevention.

In the medical world choking is called an airway obstruction injury. Children, especially those under age 3, are particularly vulnerable to airway obstruction death and injury due to their small upper airways, their relative inexperience with chewing and their natural tendency to put objects in their mouths.

From what I could find out on the Safe Kids Worldwide website, In 2001, there are about 60,000,000 children <15 yrs old living in the United States and only 169 children died from choking (30 percent food and 70 percent nonfood) and more than 17,500 children were treated in hospital emergency departments for choking-related episodes. Children are at risk from choking on small, round foods such as hot dogs, candies, nuts, grapes, carrots and popcorn.

So I think you did a good job in supervising your DS while he was eating so continue doing that…but you might want to stay away from chunks of banana, hot dogs, and other round foods. And also reviewing first aid and CPR instructions like the other poster suggested is a good idea too.

JGG

[Anonymous]

You never really know what they can do until you let them try. I usually let mine have bigger pieces and then if he has a problem, I fish it out if necessary and then go to a smaller piece. I try to be most careful with hard, round things that are the most easy to lodge in the throat. I think it would be hard to really choke on toast, though. I think it would be stuck in the back of his mouth where you can pull it out.

[Anonymous]

I was also terrified, but I was amazed at the natural reaction of my son's body to get the food up (I'm trying to not be gross, but basically he would throw up). A few times, he came close to choking and by the time I was working the straps on the high-chair, he was getting rid of the food himself. I'm not saying don't be vigilent, but don't overly worry.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like your son was okay with those big chunks of toast? That means that he can handle it, and I would not worry about giving him bigger pieces, just watch him very carefully and make sure he is not running around with them. My one-year-old insisted on eating whole weat bread with sunflower seeds and banana bread with pieces of walnuts in it-- at first I would crumble the banana bread and take the nuts out but she clearly wanted the whole piece and handles it very well. She also has a lot of teeth, though so she is good at chewing.

[Anonymous]

I am the total opposite. I give my 8.5 m.o. bagels and waffles and crackers all the time. She "chokes" on a daily basis. Basically, she realizes the food is too big and coughs it up. There have been a couple times I had to sweep it out of her mouth, but for the most part, she has been figuring it out on her own. When I give her meals, I always cut the blueberries in half and the grapes into small pieces and the banana slices into quarters, but I feel like she will be able to figure it out when it comes to the rest of it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, although the more finger food he eats, the more confident I become in his ability to cough up chunks. Mine is 11-months. I'm also trying to introduce water in a sippy cup to him and am worried about him drowning. It's always something.

[Anonymous]

If you haven't already, you can do a first-aid course that teaches you what to do in the event an infant or toddler does choke. Worth doing in itself plus it should also give you peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Yikes, my niece had a scary experience with a grape when she was almost 4 yrs old. I'll always be super paranoid about choking hazards because listening to my sister describe how she was turning blue scares me to death. And my sister did have 1st aid training, and wasn't able to induce her to cough up the grape. It finally went away on its own, but she could have easily gone the other way.

[Anonymous]

OP - I'm with you. My almost 3 yr. old doesn't seem to be okay with just taking bites of things. Rather, he just likes to shove the whole thing in his mouth. Not long ago I started giving him whole bananas to peel and eat on his own (he loved peeling it) until I saw him shove nearly half the banana in his mouth. I was horrified and that was the end of him being able to peel and eat his own bananas. Now I cut them up for him in small pieces. Needless to say, there's a lot of talk happening in our house right now about learning how to take BITES of things.

[Anonymous]

just give him small pieces. Also for those that do serve hotdogs to their children, please slice them long ways, smaller circles. it is the circle that chokes. I think everyone should take a CPR class, but especially if you have children. You never know and how sad would it be if you could have saved a choking person.

[Anonymous]

OP here- Thanks for all the responses. I feel better hearing from your experiences. I have taken an infant CPR course but I fear of not actually being able to perform the technique when needed... I guess that is probably a common worry as well.
To the PP about the sippy cup, I'm with you there too! I used to take out the little valves to make it easier for him until he sucked down a bunch of water and got strangled! I agree, it is always something.