Food is dangerous. We all need food to live, but it can kill us at the same time. And for younger kids who are still learning how to chew and swallow, food is especially dangerous.
According to a study in 2001 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60% of the kids brought to the hospital due to choking actually choked on food.
A blogger for the LA Times argues that pediatricians and food manufacturers aren’t doing enough to protect children from choking. In other words, they’re not taking choking seriously.
And I agree. But the good thing about being a parent is you don’t have to wait for others to tell you that choking is more common than people assume. Take your own steps to protect your kids by being extra careful about what you feed them and what kinds of toys you buy them. And don’t forget that just because the item isn’t labeled as a choking hazard, doesn’t mean that it can’t choke your kids.
Do you think that pediatricians and food manufacturers should take choking more seriously?
Are You Sufficiently Worried About the Risk of Choking? Probably Not, Pediatricians Say [LA Times]
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Hi,
Choking has always been something my wife and I worried about, so when the first of our kids starting eating solids I went to the AAP website looking for advice.
So while hotdogs may not get redesigned any time soon, the AAP still has some great recommendations on how to reduce the risk of choking.
Included in their recommendations is a 1/2 inch size guideline for hard foods. This size guideline struck me when I saw it as (a) something I’d never heard about before and (b) much smaller than I’d thought.
So we created a simple way to inform others such as new parents like us, babysitters, grandparents, and daycare providers about this guideline and give them a way to measure it all on the place where you need it most- a plate.
The Safe Sizer plates are colorful, durable melamine plastic plates with a molded in one-half inch inner diameter raised ring. The purpose of the Safe Sizer™ ring is to:
a) Inform those who don’t know about the one-half inch size recommendation
b) Remind those who do to follow it at the exact place and time when they need the reminder
c) Measure bite sizes to one-half inch or less. It’s smaller than you think. Simply Cut, Size, and Serve right on the plate.
If you’d like to learn more, please see our website.
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David Zak
Midwest Monkeys