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A paramedic has warned parents to watch out when feeding their children hotdogs – and other foods like it – because they could be a choking hazard to little ones. Here's the video that she shared.
This isn’t an article to say that you can’t feed your kids hotdogs, that would be absolutely ridiculous, but there are ways in which you can make eating them a bit safer and less of a worry for you, which is always a positive when you’re a parent.
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In this instance, Australian paramedic and CEO of Tiny Hearts Education Nikki Jurcutz is warning specifically against hotdogs because of their shape, size, and the windpipes of children.
According to Nikki, hotdogs are responsible for more choking deaths than any other food, partially on account of the fact that they are pretty well-sized to fit snugly in a child’s throat.
In a video, she explained: “If you were to design a perfect plug for a child’s airway you couldn’t do much better than a hot dog,
“Learn how you can minimise the risk just by changing the way you prep the food.”
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Then, she does a little demonstration of what can happen using a hotdog and a tube that is designed to represent a child’s airway.
Basically, if you prepare the hotdog to be in circular chunks or whole, they can easily become stuck if not chewed properly, which is something that kids might do.
However, the problem is easily solved by just slicing them lengthways instead.
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That means that they are much narrower and therefore able to pass through the throat much easier and with a dramatically lower risk of choking.
Nikki went on: “Even if it gets into the airway, it does not completely occlude it.”
She then demonstrated this fact with her tube and a hotdog sliced along its length.
This is good advice for all foods of that size, really.
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Think about grapes or things like that, they could easily end up causing something like that, too.
Not if you cut them in half, though.
Nikki’s followers have been thanking her for the knowledge she’s imparted, with one writing: “Thank you for this tip.”
Another said: “This is good to know.”
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It certainly is – as any parent will tell you, it’s all about keeping them safe.
Luckily, this is a fairly simple way to do so.
One person even commented with their own experience with this, writing: “I nearly died choking on a hot dog when I was five or six, I think,” one follower wrote.
“Not sure my exact age bc I was really young but I do have the memory burned in. It was terrifying.”
Another replied: “The first time I had to do the Heimlich (manoeuvre) was as a summer camp counsellor for a child choking on a hot dog,
“Never forgot that and always made sure to cut them like this when serving hot dogs or sausage to my child.”
Tom Wood