As a parent, it’s important to be careful about how your little one’s eating. You need to be more cautious about the food you are offering to your baby. Sometimes food can be a choking hazard, especially if they don’t chew their food well or they try to swallow it whole. Parents may be nervous about choking. But you can take some steps to avoid choking. Here are the simple steps that you can follow to manage gagging and prevent choking-
Avoid chunks of food
Avoid offering chunks of food, such as pieces of vegetables like carrot, celery, beetroot, tomatoes chunks of fruits like grapes, apple, strawberry, and cubes of cheese. Instead of chunks, cut foods into smaller pieces to make them safer & more manageable.
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Peel before giving veges
Peel the skin off from fruits and vegetables to make them easier to chew & swallow. Always remove hard seeds from fruit. Steam or simmer chickpeas, beans, broccoli until soft. As children become more confident eaters, you can gradually increase the firmness.
Cut and boil meat properly
If you are giving meat to your baby always remove all bones, skin & fat from meat & fish. Cut meat into strips as thinly as possible.
Avoid nuts
Dryfruits and nuts play vital role in child’s growth but never give these whole nuts to your little one. Give them very finely chop or flake whole nuts, peanuts and other seeds. Avoid giving nut or seed butters to babies. Only use nut & seed butters as a spread or in cooking, for example in curries or mixed into porridge.
White bread
We often give bread butter or bread jam to babies but remember white bread can form a ball shape with a dough-like texture in the throat. Try lightly toasting bread. Always cut bread, chapatis, naan bread & other breads into narrow strips.
Candies and toffees
Children love candies, jelly, chewing gum and toffees but try not to give them these things begore 3 years of age. Its better to give them small pieces of chocolates.
Supervise eating
It’s important to keep good watch on your baby as they eat. And be sure to have your child sitting at meals versus walking or running around. Babies/toddlers should never be left alone when eating and drinking – it is always important to supervise them during meal time. Ensure baby is in a sitting position in a high chair and strapped in safely at mealtimes so that they can swallow the food safely and also spit the food out easily if required.
Symptoms of choking on food
- Child will be unable to breathe, cry, or cough
- A red puffy face
- Signs of distress
- The baby’s lips and/or skin turn blue
- The infant loses consciousness or goes limp
Steps to be taken if your child is choking
- Get them out of the high chair
- Support their chest and chin with one hand and – with the heel of your hand – give 5 sharp blows between the shoulder blades
Don’t attempt this
We feel nervous at this point of time and its difficult to resist the urge to reach in baby’s mouth and grab an object out unless it’s visible and easy to grasp with your fingertips. By doing this you may actually push the object farther down into the airway.
Also, don’t attempt to do the abdominal thrusts with an infant. While abdominal thrusts can help children and adults move objects in their airways, they can be damaging to a baby’s developing organs.
You might have heard to turn your baby upside down and hold them by their feet. This isn’t a good idea because it may force the object deeper into the throat. The best way is to call the expert as soon as possible.
