Every parent will be familiar with the time spent cutting and slicing their children’s food to ensure they can eat with no issues.
No matter how hard you try, there’s always a chance their wandering hands will pick up something they shouldn’t and potentially put them in danger.
Seeing a little one begin to choke can strike fear and panic into any mum or dad as you quickly attempt to help dislodge the thing blocking their airways.
A nursing unit has shared an incredibly powerful photo to demonstrate just how easy it is for a child to choke on food, and gave advice on what parents can do to decrease the chances of it happening.
Nursing CPD uploaded an image to Facebook showing the lungs of a small child who died of suffocation after choking on a peanut.
It said: “Peanuts and other nuts are the size of the airway of a child younger than four to five years.
“The risk of death from suffocation is real, but it is avoidable.
“Please do not offer to small children: whole dry fruits, popcorn, nuts nor any food that may resemble the size of small candies.
“Death cannot be reversed. It is best to prevent.”
The image has since been shared more than 9,000 times and attracted more than 2,000 comments from other parents who said the ‘scary’ real-life example had made them think twice about the food they give to their children.
The page then shared a diagram of how to cut food to help reduce the risk of choking, showing a grape which had been cut length-ways rather than across the width to make them less obstructive.
One commenter said: “Okay, definitely smaller pieces of food from now on!”
Another wrote: “I see this stuff all the time. It’s why I’m crazy.”
You can click here to see a guide on the steps you should take if you child begins to choke.
