Top 7 Kitchen Safety Kids to Teach Your Kids

Suffocation can be caused by the throat being constricted thereby restricting breathing, a lack of oxygen and a surplus of carbon dioxide in the body tissues (asphyxia), and being in a place or position resulting in a decreased capacity for breathing (entrapment).

Cut food into small pieces and avoid foods that are hard to swallow, and chew. Foods such as grapes, popcorn, nuts, raw carrots and vegetables, hot dogs cut in coin shapes, hard foods, hard candy, cough drops, gum, and globs of peanut butter especially with white bread should be avoided.

1. Always ask an adult’s permission before cooking in the kitchen.
2. Wash Your Hands.
3. Clean As You Go.
4. Use a Potholder or Towel to Carry and Hold Hot Items.
5. Practice Good Knife Safety Tips.
6. Ask Before You Lick.
7. Listen, Listen, Listen.

1. Install safety locks.
2. Store sharp knives in your upper cupboards.
3. Use a baby gate or high chair.
4. Relocate cleaners from under the sink.
5. Relocate medicine and foods from low cabinets.
6. Keep the kitchen floor clean and safe.
7. Keep electrical cables out of reach.
8. Turn pot handles toward the back and use back burners.

Death from choking In the United States, the odds of one dying from choking on food is around 1 in 2,535. These odds are greater than the odds of dying from an accidental gun discharge or as a passenger on a plane. In 2019, there were around 1.6 deaths from choking per 100,000 population.

1967: Jimmie Foxx, famous Major League Baseball player, died by choking on a bone on 21 July 1967 aged 59. 1970: Jimi Hendrix (27), choked on his aspirated vomit while unconscious with barbituates.

How to Avoid Choking

1. Don’t offer small, hard foods to children younger than three or four years of age.
2. Don’t feed slippery foods to kids under age four.
3. Chop foods into small pieces.
4. Watch out for sticky foods.
5. Be careful with nut butters.
6. Avoid propping your baby’s bottle.
7. Offer appropriate foods.
8. Watch your children while they eat.

Don’t slap a choking person on the back while they are upright – gravity may cause the object to slip further down the trachea (windpipe). First aid for choking adults includes back blows and chest thrusts while the person is leaning forward.

If a baby under one year is choking, here’s what to do:

1. Phone 000 immediately.
2. Lay the child downwards on your forearm.
3. Use the heel of your hand to give five firm back blows.
4. If the blockage hasn’t cleared, lay the child on their back, and give them up to five chest thrusts.

The epiglottis should cover the trachea, so food goes down your esophagus. Choking occurs if the epiglottis doesn’t close properly, so food gets caught in your trachea.

A major complication of aspiration is harm to the lungs. When food, drink, or stomach contents make their way into your lungs, they can damage the tissues there. The damage can sometimes be severe. Aspiration also increases your risk of pneumonia.

What should you do?

1. Drink water to try moving it down (if not bones or hard objects)
2. Do not attempt to remove bones and hard objects by yourself as they may injure the throat.
3. Head to the A&E department where a doctor can remove the obstruction.
4. Specialised equipment may be needed to remove food stuck deep in the throat.

Choking is caused when a piece of food or other object gets stuck in the upper airway. In the back of the mouth are two openings. One is the esophagus, which leads to the stomach; food goes down this pathway. The other is the trachea, which is the opening air must pass through to get to the lungs.

Your throat may feel sore after you have had an object removed or have swallowed an object that has scratched your throat. It may hurt for a few days when you eat or swallow. The scratch itself may make it feel as if something is still stuck in your throat.

A mild choking episode may cause your child to cough, gag or vomit.

The bottom line: If a person is intoxicated enough that they are passed out and you are concerned about them choking on their own vomit, then you should not leave them alone and immediately call 911 to have them medically assessed.

A person who’s choking may cough continuously until they expel the food or liquid from their throat or airway. However, in some cases, the object, food, or liquid gets stuck in the throat and cuts off the air supply.

The person’s face turns blue (cyanosis) from lack of oxygen, if breathing is not restored. The person may become unconscious, if breathing is not restored.

Abdominal thrusts for children over 1 year

1. Stand or kneel behind your child.
2. Clench your fist and place it between the navel and ribs.
3. Grasp this hand with your other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards.
4. Repeat up to 5 times.
5. Make sure you don’t apply pressure to the lower ribcage, as this may cause damage.

First Aid

1. Lay the infant face down, along your forearm. Use your thigh or lap for support. Hold the infant’s chest in your hand and the jaw with your fingers. Point the infant’s head downward, lower than the body.
2. Give up to 5 quick, forceful blows between the infant’s shoulder blades. Use the palm of your free hand.