Summertime is hands down the most nostalgic time of year. Christmas puts up a good fight for winter, but at the end of the day, everything about summer makes us think about being a kid. Few are more nostalgic than all the foods we associate with this warm, balmy season. Ice cream cones, s’mores, watermelon, and more. But summertime also bring about unique dangers for children. Drowning risks, of course, but also there’s a number of those very same foods commonly associated with summer that present choking hazards to little ones.
The Enchanted Nanny (we’ll call her Nanny from here on out for convenience) who touts herself as “TikTok’s Mary Poppins” to her more than 800,000 followers, offers a list of the more common and perhaps less obvious choking hazards you might run into this season and how to mitigate risk…
Ice cubes
“They are so dangerous,” she says. “They’re hard and slippery, and can block the airway. People always think because they melt they’re not a choking hazard. But they take a long time to melt and if your child is choking on a whole ice cube that is blocking their airway the seconds really count.”
Nanny recommends skipping ice cubes entirely, especially for babies and toddlers. If you want to keep drinks cool, store them in a fridge or thermos to keep things “chilly.”
Popsicles
She calls them “ice lollies” but we here in the U.S. would call them popsicles. She notes that many of them are essentially trachea-shaped and so, “if your little one bites, it becomes the perfect size to block an airway.”
Instead, she offers, serve a frosty treat you can scoop. She recommends ice cream (whomst among us) but I’d add sorbet, sherbet, or Italian ice if you want something a little less rich.
BBQ foods
Honestly, take your pick, but probably the number one concern here are sausages and hot dogs. They’re cylindrical (again, the same basic shape as your trachea) and have a casing that makes it difficult for the food to break down if it gets stuck.
“If you are feeding your child barbecue sausages, make sure to cut them lengthways into quarters so that you have much smaller pieces,” Nanny suggests. “And make sure your child is sat down and not talking or running around while they’re eating.”
This is especially true of cocktail sausages (think pigs-in-a-blanket), which are best avoided all together.
Grapes
Most parents are probably aware (and deeply afraid) of this one, and with good reason.
“Again, the perfect shape and size to block an airway,” Nanny explains. Add frozen grapes to the mix (a popular summer treat in my house) and it’s even worse. “Again, you’re going to want to cut these lengthways and quarter it.”
Lollipops
It hits the trifecta of hard, round/cylindrical, and small. Again, anything hard and round or cylindrical is going to be a bigger risk. In fact, experts agree that parents should wait until 5 or 6 to cautiously introduce any hard candy.
Marshmallows
I wouldn’t have thought of this one myself, but it does make sense.
“Remember, marshmallows are really sticky and they can get stuck really quickly because of the fact that they are sticky and slimy,” she says. “Even the tiny ones, if you’ve got little ones. I would keep those marshmallows under lock and key.”
So maybe wait until your young children are in bed before you break out s’mores around the fire pit.
Popcorn
Unlike most of the foods on this list, popcorn is dangerous not because it’s hard and round. Just the opposite, in fact.
“It is light as a feather which means it can easily be inhaled really quickly,” Nanny explains. “It can get stuck, it can irritate the throat causing it to swell or it can just block the airway.”
Ham
“If you’re making sandwiches for picnics, I would avoid ham,” she advises. “Ham is another one of those things that can very quickly fly to the back of the throat and get stuck.”
Again, I wouldn’t have thought of this myself but thinking about the texture of that particular cold cut it does make sense. Instead, she recommends sticking to cheese or jam for little ones.
So this summer, enjoy the nostalgia without all the choking hazards by being mindful of the risks and cutting them — literally! — when and where you can!