You will only need your thumb and index finger to move away possible dangers.
A food that has difficulty passing through, an object chewed by mistake… Who has never worried about the thought of their child choking? To avoid this catastrophic scenario, a healthcare professional wanted to share a simple and effective trick to detect objects at risk.
We don’t teach you anything, anything lying around the house can potentially end up in your child’s mouth, especially if you have young children. This is why Charlotte Young, pediatric intensive care nurse, indicated that there was a method, free and accessible to all, to check if an object was dangerous for your child. She explains that it only takes two steps to give you the information. The first is to ask yourself this question: “Can this object fit between my thumb and index finger in a circle?” Then, ask yourself: “Is it shorter than the length of my index finger?”
Indeed, according to the nurse, anything that measures less than 3.1 cm in diameter and 5.7 cm in length presents a choking risk for a child under three years old. That is, most hands form a circle 3 cm in diameter when the thumb and index finger meet, and the average length of the index finger from knuckle to tip is 6 cm. So, based on these measurements, this tip allows you to quickly and constantly check whether an object should immediately be removed from your child’s hands.
To give you an idea, here is a non-exhaustive list of items considered dangerous for your toddler: coins, magnets, button batteries, bottle caps, LEGO pieces, certain jewelry, bobby pins, screws, bolts, small round candies, etc. So, stay vigilant and take the time to share this tip with parents!