Tips to Prevent Children from Choking | UCLA Health

Most parents never dream that their children’s favorite foods can pose choking hazards.

It happened to Landon Jones when he was 15 months old. He was walking around eating a handful of nuts when a cashew became lodged in his bronchi (wind passage to his lung) causing wheezing and coughing.

“At the time, Landon had a cold so it was not obvious if the coughing was related to his illness or choking,” recalled his mother, Ula Jones.

Eventually, the nut in his bronchi was detected by his doctor and had to be removed in a delicate surgery under anesthesia. Thankfully, the toddler made a full recovery.
“Landon's situation is surprisingly common,” explained Landon’s surgeon, Dr. Nina Shapiro, a professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “In many kids, the food object passes down to their bronchi where it gets lodged and they present with coughing, wheezing, or even what might appear to be pneumonia. At first, it is not always clear that the child has had a choking incident.”