Lifestyle

Mum warned over snack box for her fussy toddler as parents spot hazard


A mum has sparked debate after posting a picture of her 13-month-old daughter’s lunchbox on social media, as others insisted her snack choices were choking hazards

Food in small pots on a table. One pot contains popcorn, one contains cut up carrots and cucumber, and another is filled with nuts, raisins, and dried banana. There is also a packaged cheese string next to the pots.
The mum was told of the dangers of giving her child popcorn and nuts

Dealing with children who are particularly fussy eaters can be a nightmare at mealtime, especially when it comes to preparing lunch ahead of time.

But one mum has been slammed for giving her “picky toddler” certain foods to take to nursery, as it was pointed out that the child’s lunch was full of choking hazards.

The woman, named Tamika, posted a picture of her daughter’s lunch on Facebook and showed off pots of popcorn, nuts with dried banana and raisins, and chunks of raw carrot and cucumber.

Alongside the picture, the mum, from Australia, wrote: “This is lunch and snacks for my picky toddler (13 months old) at daycare tomorrow.








Popcorn was previously included in a list of choking hazards put together by Tiny Hearts
(

Image:

Facebook)



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“She will have protein for dinner.”

Tamika’s post immediately divided opinion online, with only a handful of people rushing to defend the mum for her food choices against the hundreds who told her it’s “dangerous” to give a young child popcorn.

One person wrote: “Popcorn isn’t recommended under five years of age, and it’s especially not recommended to a 13-month-old.”

While another added: “Popcorn, whole nuts and raw carrot really is the trifecta of very high-risk choking foods for a young toddler.”

But one commenter defending the mum insisted: “You should all be ashamed of yourself, leave the lunchbox alone.”





And one mum even shared her own horror story involving popcorn, as she claimed she had witnessed her own child choking on the popular snack.

She wrote: “I watched my child choke on popcorn right in front of me (she was fully supervised).

“It’s the makeup of popcorn that’s the problem, not how the child chews. It is light and it’s carried into the airways very quickly. The added bits on the outside of popcorn aid with the choking, which is why adults can so easily choke on it too.

“Some kids might be fine with it, but others might die like my child almost did. Awareness is the key, because if I’d have known it wasn’t recommended for young children, she wouldn’t have been eating it.”

This isn’t the first time parents have been warned against feeding popcorn to young children either, as another mum previously said her three-year-old daughter “nearly died” after choking on it.




Cheree Lawrence, from Brisbane, Australia, said: “I didn’t think twice about give my three-year-old popcorn … She had eaten popcorn before; all my kids have grown up having popcorn in their lunchbox.

“I had no idea how dangerous it is for young children to aspirate on, or that children under five shouldn’t have popcorn at all.

“The popcorn had caused some damage to her lung because it sat there for five long weeks and slowly started breaking down.

“To this day, Sophie [who’s now five years old] still has asthma associated with the popcorn and is on two types of medication to assist her.”





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