Babies Choking On Food

2026-06-18

Everyday when I pick up our kids from day care we give them a snack. On this particular day I was picking up only my youngest, I dont remember where my oldest kid was, but I had picked up the youngest kid and put him in the car. He is 1.75 years old. And I think he was in a good mood, I dont really remember the details very much. But we drove and I was picking up boba tea and fried chicken for myself and my in laws.

We get out, I go inside the boba shop with my youngest, I get the food and drinks while holding the toddler, we go back to the car. I put him back in his car seat and give him a snack, they are called tractor wheels, they are little soft bake oatmeal cookies with a whole in them. They are organic, healthy, and stuff, Sneha buys good snacks and does research. And I sit in the front seat and eat fried chicken, it is best eaten hot, and I hear the baby choking in the back. I get out and check what is up. He is choking on this little biscuit, he has shoved the whole thing in his mouth and it it was stuck to the roof of his mouth, and he had started choking. I put my hand in his mouth and pulled out the glob of half eaten biscuit and he felt better.

And then I realized, how do toddler survive? This kid was choking on a biscuit that was made for babies. I know this is silly but horses can come out of the womb and walk, puppies seems pretty helpless but they are cute. I dunno, it was just at this moment that I was flabbergasted at how helpless babies are and how we have survived as a species. I think adult humans are strong and smart and it makes sense how we, as a species, took over the world, but man babies and toddler are so so fragile.

But for next time I will break apart the snack into thirds and give him one piece at a time. He doesn’t like it when I break his snacks but I think it is better than him choking.

-Gary