Airway safety

Choking

Food

• The majority of choking incidents in young children happen with food.
• Always supervise young children while they are eating. Make sure they eat sitting down.
• Children under the age of 4 should not eat round, hard food. Parents should cut up food such as carrots, grapes, raisins and hot dogs and also avoid food such as hard candies, popcorn and peanuts until their children are older.

Toys and small objects

• Ensure that your child plays with age appropriate toys.
• Keep small objects such as balloons, buttons, marbles, small toy parts and coins out of reach of children as the pose a choking risk.
• Strangulation

Children can strangle themselves with consumer products that end up around their necks such as blind cords, drawstrings, cords and ribbons.

To prevent strangulation:

• Securely tie-up blind and drapery cords or cut them so they are out of the reach of children.
• Never leave loops hanging.
• Do not place cribs, dressers and other pieces of furniture near windows to prevent your child from climbing and getting tangled in blind cords that are left hanging.
• Do not let your children wear necklaces, scarves or clothing with drawstrings when playing on playground equipment.

Suffocation

Babies can suffocate when they are not placed in a safe space for sleeping.

• Infants should always be placed on their backs to sleep.
• Never place blankets, dolls or pillows in a crib.
• Avoid using bumper pads in a baby’s crib.
• Discard plastic wrapping and bags after use.