Choking risks

Choking happens when a child’s airway gets blocked by something. Anything smaller than a 20-cent coin can cause an airway blockage and be a choking risk for children.

Here are examples of choking risks for babies and young children.

Food choking risks

• Chewing gum
• Fruit pips and stones
• Hard foods like crackers and corn chips
• Hot dogs and sausages
• Lollies and marshmallows
• Meat in pieces and bones, including chicken or fish
• Nuts and seeds, including popcorn kernels
• Peel on fruit and vegetables like apples, nectarines, grapes and tomatoes
• Raw vegetables like carrots, peas and lettuce leaves
• Round food like berries, corn, grapes, olives and cherry tomatoes
• Stringy food like celery and pineapple
• Tablets and chewable vitamins

Household choking risks

• Coins
• Foil
• Jewellery
• Screws, thumbtacks and pins
• Small magnets
• Small batteries and button batteries
• Tops of pens and markers

Toy and toy part choking risks

• Beads and buttons
• Crayons and pencils
• Marbles
• Plastic shapes
• Table tennis balls
• Eyes of stuffed toys
• Uninflated or popped balloons

Other risks

• Christmas baubles or lights
• Garden objects like pebbles
• Stickers – for example, stickers on fruit

Preventing choking while children are eating: tips

These tips can help you protect your child from choking while they’re eating.

Where your child eats

• Always supervise your child, so you can respond quickly if your child chokes.
• Ensure your child is sitting down. Your child is more likely to choke if they eat while lying down, running around or playing.
• Sit with your child while they eat and talk to or entertain them. This way they’ll be less tempted to get up and run around.
• Avoid giving your baby a bottle in bed. Babies who fall asleep with a bottle can draw liquid into their lungs and choke.

What your child eats

• Until your child can chew well, give your child food in pea-sized pieces or smaller. Anything bigger than this is hard for young children to eat safely.
• Cut cylinder-shaped foods like sausages or grapes lengthways into halves, then quarters.
• Don’t give your child whole nuts and seeds or similar hard foods until they’re 4 years old.
• Remove bones from meat and fish. Consider using minced meat instead.
• Remove pips from foods like olives and cherries.
• Cook, grate or mash hard foods, particularly hard fruit and vegetables like carrots and apples.
• Peel the skin off fruit like apples, nectarines and grapes.

How your child eats

• Don’t give your child food while they’re crying. Your child won’t be able to chew and swallow their food properly if they’re crying.
• Encourage your child to chew food well. If your child chews and swallows properly and takes their time during meals, this will reduce their risk of choking.

Do you know what to do for a choking child? Our choking first aid article and illustrated guides to choking first aid for babies and choking first aid for children and teenagers take you through the steps.

Preventing choking around your home: tips

These tips can help you protect your child from choking around your home:

• Try to keep small objects out of reach. Curiosity leads children to put unusual things into their mouths. Check the floor for small objects by getting down to child height and looking around.
• Always follow the age recommendations on toys. Use toys that are solid and sturdy, and avoid toys with small parts, breakable parts or brittle surfaces. Check toys for exposed stuffing and loose screws and buttons.
• Avoid buying toys with button batteries. Check the battery compartments on items in your home to make sure they’re secured with a screw. Keep loose button batteries or objects with unsecured button batteries out of reach and in child-resistant containers.
• Keep toys for small children and older siblings in separate boxes. Encourage older siblings to keep their little toys out of reach. This might include Lego, doll clothes, beads, car parts and so on.

If a child swallows or inhales food, liquid or a foreign object and it enters their lungs, they can develop a cough or pneumonia that won’t go away. Seek medical help if you think your child might have swallowed or inhaled food, liquid or a foreign object.

Children at higher risk of choking

Children under 4 years old are at higher risk of choking, but older children can also choke.

Children with disability or chronic illness might also be at higher risk of choking than other children. Children are more likely to choke if they have conditions like cerebral palsy, epilepsy, intellectual disability or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. If your child has one of these conditions, talk to your doctor about how best to avoid choking.