Keep kids safe around party food

Key facts

• 200 children hospitalised with food or objects stuck in their airway in ten years.
• Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, cashews and peanuts most common.
• Children under five should not eat nuts.

I just turned my back for two seconds to make some coffee and in the blink of an eye, Jordyn had shoved a fist full of nuts into her mouth.

Two-year-old Jordyn almost died after accidentally inhaling a nut at a family gathering.

It’s something that’s happening more often according to doctors, prompting a warning as we head into Christmas.

Jordyn’s mum Rose said it happened so fast.

“I just turned my back for two seconds to make some coffee and in the blink of an eye, Jordyn had shoved a fist full of nuts into her mouth,” Rose said.

“Mum said Jordyn you’ve got too many nuts in your mouth and she basically gasped and sucked one back in and it went down the wrong pipe”.

28 children admitted to ICU

Research by the Epworth Centre for Paediatric Allergies found 28 children were admitted to intensive care in a decade, after food or another object was lodged in their airway.

Epworth consultant allergist and immunologist Dr John Ainsworth said children under five should not have whole nuts.

“While it is important to introduce peanut and other tree nuts to young babies to prevent food allergies, it is vital to continue offering these and other hard foods in a soft or paste form until they’re at least five, to keep them safe from a potentially deadly outcome,” Dr Ainsworth said.