The issue: a poorly chewed bite of hot dog can be compressed and
swallowed, and then expand to fill up an immature food passage, cutting
off the airway. The solution: cut the hot dogs lenghwise so the pieces
are smaller, better sized for a young child. Or choose a healthier food.
Staying with a child who is eating is imperative, but how many are up to
doing a Heimlich on a young child?

Small children do die from choking each year - but education is a more
sensible approach than product redesign. jh

On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:14:36 -0400, (j h)
wrote:

>The issue: a poorly chewed bite of hot dog can be compressed and
>swallowed, and then expand to fill up an immature food passage, cutting
>off the airway. The solution: cut the hot dogs lenghwise so the pieces
>are smaller, better sized for a young child. Or choose a healthier food.
>Staying with a child who is eating is imperative, but how many are up to
>doing a Heimlich on a young child?
>
>Small children do die from choking each year - but education is a more
>sensible approach than product redesign. jh

Every food presents a choking hazard... no one food presents more of a
choking hazard than another. It's not what food, it's how one eats..
some don't chew properly, other's talk while eating, some are easily
distracted and so eat unconsiously, some are so preoccupied that they
literally forget they're eating (popcorn at the movies is dangerous).
And people do differ physiologically/anatomically, many do have
swallowing issues, seriously. Some have problems swallowing pills.
Many with food intolerance have swallowing issues (most people who
claim a food allergy actually have food intolerance... only about 3%
of adults have food allergies, only 1% of children have food allergies
- check WebMD). People with respiratory illness typically are more
prone to choking. Anyone, child or adult, who tends to have food go
down the wrong pipe needs to be tested... there are specific tests
done radiologically while swallowing specific radiopaquely treated
foods, major hospitals perform these tests, consult your physician...
usually a malformation that is easily corrected. Smokers develop
restructured airways, from constant coughing/throat clearing...
smokers also develop narrower airways from constant inflamation...
smoking also causes greater volume and thicker mucous, another serious
impedance to proper swallowing. And naturally a young child should
never be left unsupervized while eating, not at any time.

On 2010-03-16, brooklyn1 > wrote:

> Every food presents a choking hazard... no one food presents more of a
> choking hazard than another.

Exactly.



> It's not what food, it's how one eats..
> some don't chew properly, other's talk while eating, some are easily
> distracted and so eat unconsiously......

And never eat lying down!

I've almost choked to death 3 times in my life, 2 as an adult. The
last time, I literally ran downstairs to alert my neighbor for help
and blew the chunk on his doorstep, thank gawd! He wasn't home.

nb