To minimize the risk of a baby or toddler choking, follow these safe feeding tips:

• Be careful of big globs of food, such as golf ball-sized, pasty globs of white bread or spoonfuls of peanut butter. Even though these foods are soft, babies can choke on them. Don't spread peanut butter too thick, and monitor how quickly the bread gets packed into the mouth. The more whole grains in a bread, the less likely it is to form a pasty glob.
• Check the chunks. Once baby's molars appear (usually around the middle of the second year), chunky soft fruits (such as fruit cocktail-type size and texture) are safe.
• Allow toddlers finger foods only under supervision. Be sure they stay seated as they eat and are not lying down or running around. Choose snacks for the car carefully.
• Hold the hot-dogs . Since hotdogs are neither nutritious nor safe for baby, you can scratch them from the diet. If you are fortunate enough to find a healthy hotdog (nitrite-free, low in salt), slice it lengthwise in thin, noodle-like strips. Don't let your toddler bite chunks off a hotdog, since a hotdog chunk is about the size of a baby's windpipe.
• Avoid raw fruits and vegetables that snap into hard chunks, such as carrot and celery sticks and firm apples.
• Peel and slice grapes. Whole grapes can cause choking.

• cherries with pits
• meat
• chunks
• candy, hard
• nuts
• hot dog, whole chunks
• popcorn kernels
• raisins
• raw apples, pears, carrots, beans
• stringy foods
• whole olives
• whole grapes