Call me paranoid, I don’t mind. I’m very afraid of baby choking. This stems from an article I read in this year’s newspapers about a 1-year old boy who had a fatal choking incident when eating some chicken meat. I remember feeling awful when I read that piece of news and since then, I’ve been extremely careful when feeding baby, whether it’s vege in his porridge or baby biscuits.
Recently we taught him how to hold food between his fingers and led him to feed himself. He enjoyed it so much that each time he wants biscuits, I wonder if it’s because he wants to experience the self-feeding or he really wants to eat. In any case, I don’t stop him because he should be snacking up so that he doesn’t lose weight.
As much as it is a necessary step to teach him these skills, it also scares me a lot. Since he’s learned to put food into his mouth, I worry that he’ll pick up non-food objects and stuff them into his mouth too. It’s easier said than done to try to pry his mouth open to fish out whatever he’s put in. Worse yet, it’s my paranoia of him choking on things.
Just two nights ago, he gave me a mild scare when he put something into his mouth when I had just turned around for a bit. When I spotted him chewing, I ran and tried to see what was in the mouth and to get it out. He happily chewed and refused to open up. I saw glimpses of what I thought were biscuit crumps and I thought perhaps the father had given him a little treat before leaving him in his walker alone. Plus, he seemed to have enjoyed it and even fully swallowed the stuff so I felt a bit more relieved.
Later, upon checking with the father, I found that he was in fact not given any biscuits. So I have no idea what went into him. It probably was not food. But he was okay and we have no seen him acting cranky so I guess it won’t harm him too much. Since this little incident, I know I have to be more watchful of him and to make sure that he doesn’t just chew and swallow whatever lands in his hands.
How do you teach a toddler what is edible and what is not? There’s just no way for them to know right?
