What to Do if a Baby Weiner Dog Is Choking

March 06, 2022 Post a Comment

The Fourth of July is already surrounded with enough hazards to stress out parents. Nosotros're looking at you, open up water and fireworks.

Only what about your kids' plates?

Summer is peak hot dog season. Considering 150 million franks are consumed on the 4th of July alone, according to 2019 data, at that place is a strong risk they will be on the menu over the holiday.

So, now is "a good reminder fourth dimension that hot dogs can be serious choking hazards," said Dr. Tanya Altmann, author of "Infant & Toddler Basics."

The size, shape and texture of hot dogs brand them especially unsafe for young children, so the pediatrician is here to explain everything parents should know before handing a kid a canis familiaris.

Hot dogs top lists of foods to avoid giving toddlers

Any food that is "large, round and solid" can be a potential choking hazard, Altmann said.

That's why hot dogs often rank at the top of lists of foods to avoid giving immature children. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that hot dogs should be kept away from children younger than 4 years old.

Other potentially dangerous foods include whole grapes, hard or sticky processed, chunks of meat or cheese and popcorn.

"Hot dogs are long and circular and when (young children) bite off a piece of it, it actually looks kind of like a thick quarter and that is the perfect size to go lodged into a kid'south pharynx," Altmann said.

Hot dogs should NOT be cut like this for toddler and young children, as they pose a choking risk.

Choking incidents among children

In a 2013 study of choking incidents amid young children, the AAP reported "choking is a leading crusade of injury amid children, and tin sometimes be fatal."

Researchers investigated nonfatal food choking-related emergency section visits among children ages 0 to fourteen years from 2001 to 2009. On average, 12,400 children (or 34 per day) were treated for a choking incident.

Difficult candy caused most choking episodes (fifteen percent), followed by other candy (13 percent), meat other than hot dogs (12 per centum) and basic (12 pct).

Hot dogs accounted for 2.6% of the cases.

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At what age can a child eat a hot dog?

Parents tin start introducing solid foods (except raw dear, which can harbor leaner that causes foodborne disease in infants) to babies around six months of age, said Altmann. Parents should consider both the nutritional value and safety of a nutrient when choosing their babe's diet.

"If yous wanted to mash up a hot dog into pureed or bite-sized pieces, theoretically you could feed it to an older infant or toddler, but I would fence information technology may not be nutritionally the best choice," she said.

Merely kids beloved hot dogs. We all know they volition eat them. So when they do, they should be accordingly cutting up to reduce the risk of choking.

"I'm one of those crazy moms that goes effectually the birthday party with the plastic pocketknife that cuts all the hot dogs," Altmann said.

Cut hot dogs lengthwise first

All foods for babies and young children should be cutting into ½-inch or smaller pieces, the AAP recommends. However, "cylindrical-shaped foods" require extra care.

"Hot dogs, for example, are exactly the size of a kid's airway and can easily wedge in there," the USDA notes in its April 2019 "Infant Diet and Feeding" guide for WIC.

Thus, hot dogs should be cutting lengthwise into strips showtime and then cutting again into smaller pieces.

The same goes for other common choking hazards such as grapes, cherries and cerise tomatoes.

For older kids that want to exist similar the grown-ups and eat a hot dog while holding information technology, Altmann says parents could yet cutting the hot dog in half long-ways before putting it in the bun to aid reduce the choking risk.

When can parents stop cut hot dogs for kids?

Usually around age 4 is when the choking hazard is reduced because children "are a piddling more aware, their throats are a little bit bigger and they are able to handle things that need to exist chewed a piffling more before they consume them," Altmann said.

But 4 also isn't a "magical" number, she warned. "Annihilation can be a choking risk."

Besides cutting upward risky foods, caregivers should likewise teach kids how to consume food by taking small bites and appropriately chewing before swallowing. Adults should also stay within reach of children when they are eating so they tin help if there is an incident.

Usually around age 4, children are at less risk to choke while eating a hot dog that is not cut up.

What to do in a choking situation

"Brand sure the child is really choking," Altmann said. If a child is coughing or talking, there'due south a take a chance the child tin can push the food out on his or her ain.

Simply look for the post-obit signs of a choking child:

Unable to breathe
Gasping or wheezing
Unable to talk
Turning blueish
Grasping at their pharynx
Waving their arms
Appear panicked
Limp or unconscious

If a kid is choking, telephone call 911 and start a rescue procedure like back blows for infants or the Heimlich Maneuver for older kids.

Simply prevention is always best.

"For young children, just cut it upwardly and for older kids, watch them advisedly when they are eating and remind them to take small bites," Altmann said.