Safe Cuts, De-construction manoeuvres and paediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation

When it comes to safe cuts in self-weaningprocedures to reduce food into sizes that do not expose the baby to the risk of choking.

I safe cuts - the complete atlas is available in the vertical video course edited by Dr Pilar Nannini, paediatrician - depend on several factors.

Which ones exactly? They count the type of food one is dealing with, but also the age of the child and the moment they are going through in their neurodevelopment.

At six months of age, the puppy has the handheld grip. This means that any object coming into contact with the palm of the hand triggers a reflex that causes the palm to close. 

At this age, it is important to bring safely cut food to the table focusing in particular on cuts resembling the shape of a chip or the finger of a woman's hand.

In this way, the baby picks up the food on its own with the palm, allowing the food to exceed about 1 centimetre.

The part in question will be the part that the child will bring to the mouth. As already mentioned, a good referenceboth as length that as diameteris the index finger of the mother's hand.

From 8/9 monthsthe child will begin to have the pincer grip, which allows objects to be picked up between the thumb and forefinger of the hand.

Cutting into strips will no longer be necessary, but dicing will become important. The faces of the ideal cube should have an area of about 1 square centimetre. 

As for the choking risk levels associated with different types of foodI refer to the downloadable poster from Dr. Nannini's video course.

Foods that increase the above-mentioned risk include small foods such as peanuts and blueberriesfoods that the puppy cannot handle properly in the mouth, risking sending them into the airways. 

Beware also of very chewy foods such as dumplings which, once in the mouth, can stick to the palate or tongue, inhibiting its natural motility.

Other dangerous foods are frankfurters as they are very slippery. For the sake of accuracy, let me remind you that they should be avoided in the first place because they are unhealthy.

Even the hard and dry foods, including carrotsshould be avoided or properly prepared before being offered to the child. 

In most cases, as already mentioned, adequate preparation allows risks to be set aside. Let's take a concrete example by referring to the pulses.

How to propose them safely to your child? Cook them, husk them - especially in the first year - and mash or mash them in a vegetable mill.

You can also puree them, thus ensuring that they are safely accepted by the baby.

As for the fruit - for example the blueberries o i raspberries – it can be offered to the baby in the form of a smoothie or extract.o, so as to minimise the risks associated with taking the grain in whole form.

Also the apple is a food that, in autosvezzamento, must be offered very sparingly if one intends to put prevention of choking at the forefront.

The apple, indeed, is a very crumbly fruit and, once peeled, is also dry. 

Once in the child's mouth, it may release fragments that are difficult for him to handle.

That is why it is advisable offer it grated or blended. It can be proposed as a whole, in thin slices, when the child is older, generally around one and a half to two years of age.

Of course, the individual child's chewing abilities must be taken into account.

Also the dried fruit can be offered to the child, but in an appropriate manner. Peanuts, walnuts, pistachios and almondsle, just to give a few examples, are foods of great importance for laying the foundations of a healthy approach to nutrition. 

As emphasised by experts from the Ministry of Health, should be offered in the window between 6 and 12 months of agea time interval to be used to the maximum to prevent the development of allergies. 

What are the tips for handling dried fruit so that you can offer it without exposing your child to choking hazards?

There are several alternatives to consider. One can opt for the very fine powderexcellent for adding flavour to dishes. Another succulent and safe option is the very liquid cream, to spoon out to the little one.

When preparing the cream in question, any consistency approaching stickiness should be avoided.

What can be said, however, about the pasta? What can be safely offered to the baby already from the first months of life. If the child has a palmar grip, sufficiently long pasta shapes can be used, preferably the same size as the mother's index finger. 

Which preferred formats? Those that manage to elicit the handheld grip, for example fusilli and penne.

Also the larger pasta can be offered to the smallas long as it is suitably cut.

A useful practical tip in this regard is to make a transverse cut in order to reduce the size especially in the longitudinal direction.