From the minute your child transitions from milk to solid foods, you'll have a whole new set of worries. Is this piece of food too big? Does your child have enough teeth to chew this? What did the tot one just pick up off the floor and put in their mouth? The toddler stage especially is one in which you’re constantly on high alert.
Toddlers get into everything, and choking is a very real and potentially fatal danger. With this in mind, one mom who also happens to be a mortician shared what foods she thinks everyone should avoid with their little ones.
The mom's advice is morbid but very helpful.
Lauren Eliza is a mom and a mortician. On TikTok, she shares videos about all types of ways you or your children could die via @lovee.miss.lauren. Although it is a bit morbid, the information is also incredibly helpful.
Lauren recently went viral warning parents about the dangers of water beads.
In November, Lauren made headlines for her list of toys that she doesn't allow her kids to play with. The one that caused the biggest stir? Water beads.
Water beads have been quite popular for the past couple of years now, largely thanks to their popularity on YouTube, but Lauren says they're a major choking hazard and could be deadly.
Her advice is shocking in part because she provides real anecdotes of tragic situations, and trust us — the water beads thing is scary.
Lauren says giving popcorn to small children is one of the quickest way to end up in an ambulance.
Lauren, who identifies herself as a "scarred mortician," shared that if something has made the list of things she won’t keep in her home, "you know it’s bad." She says giving children popcorn easily can lead to heading to the hospital.
And it’s not just Lauren’s experience that makes her feel this way. Her father, who was a paramedic, saw his fair share of children who’d choked on the snack and wouldn't let her eat it as a child either.
Popcorn kernels are particularly dangerous.
We all know that popcorn ends up everywhere: on the floor, in your teeth. It's a delicious snack but can also be a bit annoying to eat. It goes far beyond that, though.
Lauren says the kernels are so lightweight that even after you’ve swallowed them, they can be sucked back up into your esophagus where you can aspirate or choke on them.
Even supervising your children when they're eating popcorn is not enough.
Lauren says there are many cases where you cannot get the kernel out of the body once it's been lodged far enough down. She said even removing unpopped kernels is not enough because the irregular shape and dryness of popcorn makes it a prime choking hazard.
Peanuts and grapes are also on her list of dangerous snacks.
Lauren said the exact same thing is true of peanuts. She shared one horrific story about parents who put their child to bed not knowing a piece of peanut was in the little one's mouth. The child choked on the peanut in the night and didn’t wake up the next morning.
She concluded the video saying, “Don’t just assume that it is something that happens to other parents. Protect your children please.”
