Becoming a parent has completely transformed me as a pediatrician. And I think it has a lot to do with perspective.

When I was finally able to walk in the shoes of the parents I talked to everyday, I saw the advice that I had been giving in a new light. My words connected more because of my new perspective as pediatrician and parent.

So I understand that as parents, we have all given our child some food that we probably shouldn’t have. The many nights that I served ice cream right before bedtime come to mind.

But time and time again, I have seen four foods given to toddlers that most parents understandably wouldn’t know were dangerous. And when I saw children end up in the hospital with severe complications after eating them, I wanted to make sure all parents knew about them.

So I wanted to take a few moments of your time dear fabulous reader to tell you about 4 surprising foods to avoid giving to your toddler and the reasons why:

1. Popcorn

Image via Yastremska/bigstock.com

Seriously, who doesn’t love popcorn? With the right amount of butter, popcorn is totally addictive. But the popcorn kernel is a high choking risk for your toddler. Because a toddler’s windpipe can get as small as a diameter of a straw, it’s easy for small pieces like popcorn kernels to get lodged in your child’s respiratory system.

2. Grapes

Image via PicLeidenshaft/bigstock.com

Grapes are kind of awesome. But whole grapes are not awesome for your toddler. Children younger than 4 years of age are still learning to chew properly before swallowing. Therefore, they often end up swallowing whole or un-chewed pieces of food. Whole grapes can easily get stuck in your child’s respiratory tract. The best way to give grapes to a child is to cut them length wise into small pieces no longer than half an inch. Or better yet, just avoid them.

3. Hot dogs

Image via Vankad/bigstock.com

Hot dogs are one of the leading causes of choking in children. Not only do they have poor nutritional value, but a hot dog is the perfect size and shape to block a child’s airway. If you are going to give your child a hot dog, make sure to first cut it into very small pieces before hand.

4. Nuts

Image via dionisvera/bigstock.com

Nuts are hard enough to chew for adults and even harder for toddlers. And even after some initial chewing the sharp edges from the small pieces of nuts can lead to coughing, and a risk for aspiration. For this reason, I would not offer any kind of nuts to children younger than four. The risk just isn’t worth it and can lead to a nightmare trying to get all the small pieces out of the airway.

At the end of the day, no matter how careful we are, we simply cannot watch our children constantly. That is why I recommend that parents get CPR training so that in the unfortunate event that your child is in distress, you will be able to take life saving measures while calling 911.

The toddler years are a constant struggle to try to prevent them from eating everything in sight. But can you really blame them? That’s me on most days 🙂

(Image at top via famveldman/bigstock.com)