These foods not till 4yrs old?!?!

I was just thumbing through something that Gerber sent me and this is their list of NO foods - due to choking hazard?? Really?? Ok some of these are obvious, but I assume if you cut them up small enough most of these are okay.

Raisins and whole grapes
Popcorn, nuts and seeds
Hot dogs, large chunks of meat and poultry
Spoofuls of peanut butter
Hard fruits and veggies - such as uncooked peas, raw carrots, bell peppers, apples, plus unripe peaches, pears and plums
Chewing gum and hard candy

 

Yep, I'm still pretty careful with most of those. Grapes are okay if cut, as are most fruits & vegetables. Popcorn & hot dogs are HUGE choking hazards. And I don't allow hard candy or chewing gum until they are much older.

 

My 4 year old was choking on a hotdog two months ago, luckily it didn't completly block her airways (she could weeze) and we were able to hymlich it out without too much panic, but it was a scarry moment.

 

I guess I thought most of those were 3yrs so I'm not too shocked, but I do have to admit to giving my boys whole grapes and blueberries as well as raisins. Popcorn scares the begezzus out of me so I know mine won't be eating that for a LONG time.

 

We give hot dogs and grapes and the like, but only if they are quartered. I see no need to give them spoonfuls of peanut butter. No popcorn, no peanuts. I'm paranoid.

 

I've already given mine grapes...but they are cut into very small pieces. Will probably do hotdogs sometime in the 2nd year...again cut up into small pieces.
popcorn scares me
I'm not quite sure why a young child would need a spoonfull of peanutbutter,lol...but we will do peanutbutter in the 2nd year
candy and gum-they dont need it

 

DS1 is over two, and we didn't start popcorn until just recently, and it still makes me nervous so we watch carefully and have stressed "only one piece at a time, use your teeth, chew it up", etc. Still no nuts, and it won't bother me to wait for awhile to start those.

I've seen a small child choke on raw shredded carrots, which was a bit suprising. Chips are never on those lists (maybe because they are unhealthy), and that was another one I was not sure about. Cheetos Puffs always seemed safe, but I was very hesitant to introduce any others.

 

I'm not especially paranoid... we did:
Raisins at about 18 months (maybe that was dumb but it didn't do any harm
Whole grapes around age 2 (though I cut up the really big ones until about age 3)
Hot dogs sliced lengthwise until age 2.5 and now just whole
(They don't eat large chunks of meat & poultry, ditto for nuts and seeds or spoonfuls of PB, so n/a!)
Hard fruits & veggies -- around age 2.5 (they weren't really interested till then -- they only started eating raw veggies recently)
Whole blueberries -- really early, around 15 months?
Popcorn -- just recently, they've only had it once or twice

We still don't do chewing gum and hard candy. Partly b/c of choking risk, but also because it's just junk, and I don't like it, so we don't have it in the house.

Anyway, the way I see it, kids (or adults) can choke on anything. There's no age at which the risk is zero. Know whether your kids tend to bolt their food, teach them how to chew properly, and use your judgement.