Choking is the leading cause of injury for small children, especially age 4 and under - and the culprit is often food. Dr. Richard So, a pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic Children's, says there are some foods you should always cut up for young kids.
"You gotta to be careful with, with hotdogs, grapes, chunky meats, alright? and chunks of cheeses but even as you get older, for example, in those younger kids you don't want them chewing gum, you want to be careful with popcorn and nuts," explained So.
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The pediatrician says when you cut up food for small children, the pieces should be no bigger than the child's fingertip because that's about the size of their windpipe. He says it's good to keep in mind, the smaller the child, the smaller the food pieces.
One study shows hard candy causes the most choking episodes, followed by other candy, meat and bones.
It's also recommended that kids under 4 are not given raw vegetable chunks or gobs of peanut butter.
You don't have to deprive kids of all of these foods, but a little extra prep and caution will be necessary.
"If you're going to give a younger kid grapes, I'm not saying you can't have the grapes, cut them in slices," said So. "If you have hotdogs, cut them in strips. Cheese? Instead of giving them chunks, let them have fun with string cheese."
So says another way to prevent choking is to have kids sit quietly while they're eating - if kids are running around or laughing while they're eating, they might inhale the food and choke.