Choking Hazard Story- Explained

[aliki]

See here for poll: http://aliki.livejournal.com/497071.html

While Brian and I agree on quite a few of them, such as no candy, gummy, nuts, popcorn, etc... we completely disagree on two.

I despise the idea of giving Erika hotdogs. Like janehex, I think they are kind of disgusting. Along with the idea

Comments

[janehex]

That is very silly (re: raisins). She has teeth and has been chewing food for over six months. If it's that big of a concern, I guess you could soften the raisins in warm water to make them easier to chew.

The choking hazard with toddlers actually stems mainly from one thing: running while eating, and falling. Or, laughing hysterically while eating, which can cause a big inhale with food in the mouth. If you discourage both of those things, the risk goes way way down.

Does she eat peas? That's the same thing as a raisin, size-wise.

[devilgrrl]

We fed the kids in daycare both these things. I voted for raisins because I kind of despise them and because they clump/are sticky. That feels like a worse hazard to me. I'm of the same opinion of Craisins, though.

We have a hot dog compromise: we get the good ones from Whole Foods or, barring that, kosher and fat-free.

[tediousandbrief]

I didn't answer the poll since I don't have a kid and don't react that often with 1 year olds unless I see my cousin's baby, but I'd think nothing of giving a kids rasins. I'd not have a big problem with hot dogs, though I usually stick with just the turkey ones nowadays.

[_evalution]

i am really, really picky about the meat my kids eat, as a former vegetarian and now sort of localvore, i usually only buy veggie dogs or the nitrate/nitrite free organic ones. i think i read something once that said you should only eat (regular) hot dogs once or twice a year. they are truly awful as a "food" and have been linked to cancer in lab rats, i believe. plus nitrates and nitrites (also found in most lunch meats) may be linked to alzheimers. but i'm very uptight about food in general, especially when it comes to what my kids eat, but thats sort of another topic all together. i am vigilant about label reading, and don't buy anything with nitrates/nitrites, or HFSC, especially if my girls will be eating it

[janehex]

I agree with everything in this comment. The nitrites are far worse than the "meat parts" in hot dogs. It's a big reason we avoid hot dogs in general and plan to avoid giving them to Freya for as long as possible. We also keep high fructose corn syrup out of our house (not as difficult as people claim it is).

It's depressing how blase some people are about what they feed their children. Like giving cake and candy to babies and toddlers, as if that food is "for them" when really it's just highly addictive garbage. I feel the same about juice, which is seen as a kid's drink, when it's really just sugar water with no nutritional value. I feel lucky that my daughter loooooves drinking water. I gave her watered-down apple juice when we were traveling last week and she was not into it at all.

/soapbox

[janehex]

THAT SAID, I am not going to be the kind of mom who never allows her daughter to have any sweets or treats. I know that this leads to seeing that stuff as "forbidden fruit," and then bingeing on it at friend's houses, and sets up a relationship with that kind of food that can be tricky into adulthood. (ie, if I eat that cookie, I'm "being bad" etc)

But she will be educated about food, and when we make cookies or treats we'll make them together so she can see what goes in there. And I do want her to have fun and love all kinds of food, in moderation.

That still doesn't mean we'll have processed crap in our house, tho.

[aliki]

We get the nitrite-free hotdogs.

I don't think we have anything that has high fructose corn syrup in our house either. Our maple syrup is not from Eggo, it's from a farm in Vermont. And the Coca Cola in our house? It's imported from Mexico with real cane sugar. We think, if nothing else, corn syrup tastes NASTY.