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Parents have been all choked up asking me questions about what they can do to prevent their child from choking on something. Let me see if I can air out some information on this topic.

Choking is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury or death in children under 1 and the danger remains until age 5.

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The most common culprits

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To follow are the most common culprits that can cause a choking episode:

¯ Small parts from toys

¯ Coins

¯ Foods like hot dogs, grapes, raw carrots, nuts, raisins, or hard and gummy candy.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has published a policy statement on prevention of choking that notes that while parents play a role in prevention, so do manufacturers of toys and foods, teachers, and child care workers who can also do their part.

For example, the policy calls for manufacturers to put warning labels on toys or foods that pose a high choking risk.

It also stresses the importance of teaching CPR and choking first aid involving the Heimlich maneuver to all parents, teachers, and child care providers.

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Ways to prevent choking

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In addition to knowing about this policy and supporting it, parents can also do some other things to prevent choking:

¯ Don’t give infants and toddlers hard, smooth foods like peanuts or raw vegetables that require chewing with a grinding motion, since young children have difficulty chewing this way until age 4 and may try to swallow the food whole.

¯ Don’t give your toddler round, firm foods either, like hot dogs and carrot sticks, unless they are chopped into small pieces that are no larger than a half-inch across. Encourage your child to chew thoroughly.

¯ Supervise mealtime for your infant and toddler and don’t let them eat while playing or running.

¯ Pick up anything off the floor that could be dangerous to swallow such as deflated balloons, pen caps and small disk batteries.

¯ Keep toys with small parts out of reach of infants and toddlers.

¯ Don’t forget that balloons that are not mylar can burst and be sucked back into a child’s mouth, so avoid using non-mylar balloons at parties and events if young children are around.

¯ Keep small button-type batteries away from children, since they can not only cause choking but also damage the lining of their digestive tract if ingested.

Hopefully, tips like these will be useful food for thought to help prevent your child from ever experiencing a choking episode.

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Lewis First, MD, is Chief of Pediatrics at The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. You can also catch “First with Kids” weekly on WOKO 98.9FM and NBC5.