February 27th 2024.
With Easter just around the corner, parents are starting to think about what kind of chocolate treats they'll be getting for their little ones. But before you fill up your shopping cart with all the goodies, there's a warning from a charity about one popular chocolate snack that may not be as safe as you think.
According to the Child Accident Prevention Trust, Cadbury's Mini Eggs may pose a hidden danger to young children. These bite-sized treats are the perfect size to get lodged in a child's throat and block their airway, making them a choking hazard. Unlike other small foods like grapes that can be easily sliced into smaller pieces, the hard sugar shell of Mini Eggs makes it difficult to do so.
This is especially concerning because young children have narrower airways and are still learning how to properly chew, breathe, and swallow. As a result, they are more likely to choke on food. To reduce the risk, the charity recommends cutting grapes into halves or quarters lengthways, creating thin strips. However, this is not as easy to do with Mini Eggs due to their hard shell.
To make Mini Eggs safer for small children to eat, the charity has shared three useful tips. First, they suggest hiding the treats from children and eating them yourself (good luck with that!). But if your little ones are determined to get their hands on them, you can try putting the eggs in a sealable plastic bag and smashing them into small pieces with a rolling pin or crush them using a pestle and mortar. And if all else fails, you may want to opt for a different treat altogether, such as larger, hollow eggs that are less likely to cause choking.
But it's not just Mini Eggs that parents need to be careful about. The charity also highlights other common foods that can pose a choking hazard to young children, such as popcorn, marshmallows, round hard sweets, jelly cubes, peanut butter, whole grapes, and lollipops. To reduce the risk, they recommend cutting up any foods that are hard, chunky, round, doughy, or stodgy into smaller strips.
While it's possible for a child to choke on anything, some foods are riskier than others and should be avoided altogether. And even with these precautions, it's always important for parents to stay with their children while they're eating and to encourage them to sit still and eat slowly to reduce the risk of choking. So before you fill up your Easter baskets, make sure to keep these tips in mind to keep your little ones safe and sound.
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