Solids ‘do not pose choke risk for babies’

Babies given solids or who feed themselves with finger food are not at greater risk of choking, a new study found.

Many mothers fear that when their infants moves on to solids, there is a greater danger they could choke.

But the Swansea University study found weaning onto solids did not pose a choking risk and there was no ‘right’ way to introduce a baby to solid foods.

Researchers said parents should let a baby develop at his or her own pace and provide them with lots of different tastes and textures.

Although babies are skilled at eating a wide variety of foods and can chew foods well even without teeth, certain foods may pose a choke hazard. Children under five should not be given whole nuts while babies should not be given very hard foods that can snap into small fragments in their mouth, such as sliced apples or carrots.

Gelatinous foods, like pieces of sausage, raw jelly cubes or sticky sweets, should also be avoided.

But the study found a small increased risk of choking with very sticky foods such as thick chunks of bread that might get temporarily stuck in the throat, or large chunks of very slippery foods.