I was just talking to my Mum about this at the weekend. We decided people are terrified of babies choking (rightly so), but do indeed describe their normal retching as choking. If you can take a step back from it, it seems obviously that if littlies try and swallow something too big then they'll cough, move it to the front of their mouth and spit it out. And if they are Minky, they will then pick it up and give it another go. Although my Mum was wise about this, she is obssessed with me putting a "little bit of brown sugar" on Minky's porridge!