Choking Prevention For Children

BINGHAMTON, NY - Choking is one of the leading causes of unintentional, injury related death among infants under age one. These injuries occur when children are unable to breathe normally, because food or objects block their airways.

According to the National SAFE KIDS campaign, children, especially those under age three, are particularly vulnerable to death and injury from choking due to their small upper airways, their relative inexperience with chewing and their natural tendency to put objects in their mouths. Additionally, infants are at greater risk, because they cannot lift their heads or free themselves from tight places.

"Prevention is the best strategy to use to avoid choking in children," said Claudia Edwards, Public Health Director of the Broome County Health Department. "Parents and other adults who care for young children need to have places in which kids can live, play and learn that are free of items small enough to be swallowed and become lodged in a child's airway passage. These include small toys or toys with small parts, as well as food. Also, anyone who cares for small children should be familiar with how to help a choking child. Adults are encouraged to attend the American Heart Association's Pediatric Basic Life Support Course or the American Red Cross's Infant and Child CPS Course Class. Both courses teach safety techniques and are usually available through local hospitals and health maintenance organizations."

Keeping mealtime and the home safe are among the best choking prevention practices:

• Choose foods appropriate for the child. Cut everything a baby eats into pea-size pieces, and offer only cooked and soft foods. The American Academy of Pediatrics stresses that, until age four, children don't know how to chew with a grinding motion that breaks food into small pieces.
• Avoid giving children such foods as nuts, raw vegetables, hard candy, popcorn, unpeeled fruit slices, chunks of meat and poultry, spoonfuls of peanut butter and snack chips.
• Always supervise children during mealtime. Help them and watch them as they eat. They can not call for help if they choke.
• Teach proper eating behavior. Teach them to sit and eat carefully and slowly. Don't allow them to eat lying down, walking or running. Insist that food be chewed thoroughly and in small portions.
• Keep clutter off the floor. A small child puts everything into his or her mouth, and that includes items that pose a choking hazard, such as old bits of food, dust balls and small toy pieces. Have older children sweep the floor clean, and keep their toys with small parts safely away from smaller children.
• Keep potentially dangerous household items, such as toothpicks, extra buttons and safety pins, completely out of a child's sight and reach.
• Lock the door of the home workshop (or the workbench itself) or basement. Keep children away from tools and hardware, such as screws, nails and bolts.
• Keep jewelry, especially earrings and rings, out of sight and reach.
• Install clips or locks on lower kitchen cabinets to prevent children from opening them.

For more choking prevention tips, contact the Broome County Health Department at 607.778.3921 or visit www.safekids.org.

CONTACT:

Diane O'Hora, Supervising Public Health Educator,
Broome County Health Department, 607.778.3921
email: dohora@co.broome.ny.us

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