to let 6 mo DD play with a carrier bag?

[lilmrschatty]

Hi all, my first aibu so please be nice! I was wondering what other people's thoughts were on this.

My DD loves the crinkly noise plastic makes, so if I am in the same room as her, playing with her and my toddler, I have let her have a bag to play with. If I go out of the room at any point I take it away from her, and its only been for short periods, she doesn't have much of an attention span!

My DH saw this once and immediately took the bag away from her and told me never to let her do this again. I asked why, explaining that I never let her have it unsupervised. He said that she could inhale it into her lungs and suffocate. Is this true? I can't see how it is possible, I thought the only problem was if the bag got caught over the babies head, which obviously wouldn't happen if I was watching. My FIL saw her playing with it today and told her she shouldn't be playing with it as well.

So AIBU? Obviously if there is a genuine reason for her not to play with it with me watching then I don't want to put her at risk. I just can't see what could happen!

Thanks.

YABU and stupid.

Get her a toy that makes the same noise. Would you let her sit in the middle of the road if she liked to look at cars? FFS.

When I was a kid I thought plastic could spontaneously shrink wrap itself round your head and suffocate you. Somebody was obviously very vehement on the 'plstic bags are not a toy' message. But at least I knew never to play with them - I was too scared. I don't think you should teach her that they are fun things to play with.

I used to give dd an unopened bag of crisps to play with when she was little (with no teeth to bite into the bag). Same noise, no danger.

Fine if you are there. It is just a phase and will fade soon enough.

I somehow managed to raise dd 7 and ds 4 to this age without having to tell them it is dangerous to play with paper bags.

As well as the obvious dangers I would be very concerned that your toddler is learning that plastic bags are to be played with.

Not a good idea!

Get her a space blanket. You will still need to supervise but it wont encourage her to play with bags later on.

Babies become mobile all of a sudden. You will not know she can get hold of your stash of bags until she does it (when you are othewise engaged).

I dont think you are an idiot/foolish/stupid etc but its not worth the hassle of weaning her off plastic bags later.

YABU.

Inhaling it into her lungs sounds far-fetched, but she could easily suffocate by putting the bag over her face. You supervising her now will be irrelevant the day she finds one and plays with it alone because she thinks it's a toy.

Some stuff is too dangerous for children to play with. They cannot distinguish between safe to play with when mummy's around, and safe to play with when mummy is not around. They just think "ooh crinkly noise toy I always play with this". As babies, you need to keep them away from the dangerous stuff.

TBH I'm surprised that your DH and FIL didn't get more cross than they did.

You can get toys that make crinkly noises, the DDs had one from ToysRUs.

Wondering at all these obedient toddlers who would not play with an object because mummy/daddy did not ever let them or at some point told them not to.

Surely it is the novelty that is the attraction. Far better to let them get it out of their system under supervision.

I HATE ballons around small children. They are fine when inflated but as soon as the burst they are a bloody menance. I am really not a cotton wool covering , helicoptering parent (honest).

I have had quite a few party bags with those tiny water ballons in them. Why on earth would you do that? They are just the right size to put in a child's mouth, the child to suck instead of blow and whoosh, down the throat.

I do sound a bit neurotic dont I

blueshoes. Spot on!

Yabu, crisp packets are far crinklier

Blueshoes, paper bags and plastic bags are two different things.

Also, the new degradable plastic bags could if at the 'wrong' point in their existance, fall into small pieces and could I suppose, be inhaled into the lungs.

It's not something I'd encourage at all.

"Wondering at all these obedient toddlers who would not play with an object because mummy/daddy did not ever let them or at some point told them not to."

Nothing to do with being obedient - thing they aren't allowed to play with get taken away/moved out of reach/locked away.

and just to be extra irritating: 'simples'

DeVere - I know what you mean! At my nephews 1st birthday there were balloons everywhere The older kids had popped lots of them, leaving little bits of plastic all over the lawn for the toddler to pick up and inhale (just as easily as the dogs that were also there)

I spent 2 hours picking up bits of coloured plastic, grr

Jareth, I fear you might just be a bit OTT.

blueshoes, really?
Which bit am I OTT about?

blimey am a bit [shocked] at the responses. I let my DS play with plastic bags when he was littler, he liked the crinkly sound too and he did have crinkly sounding toys but seemed to prefer the good ol' plastic bag. At 19 months he ain't bovvered about plastic bags no more, I don't think he's learned the lesson that plastic bags are good for suffocating yourself with, I just think he's realised there is more stuff out there to explore, (like bleach and knives and all the other dangerous stuff - joking!!) like cars.

As long as they're adequately supervised, I see little or no reason not to allow a baby to play with sensory items, including plastic bags. Mine does all the time. I even let her inspect plugs, adaptors, wires etc (all off grid obv) because saying no seems to make her more determined to do so. Of course a 6 mo could not inhale a whole plastic bag. The worst she's likely to do is tear bits off with her teeth and swallow them, emerging the next day in her nappy. Your DH hasn't thought this through enough imo.

Anyway, if you tie up the handles of the bag before giving it to her, it still makes the same noise and minimises the chances of head in bag.

I should mention that I have somehow managed to rear my older three children to be 13, 15 and 17 without suffocation etc despite allowing them to use all sorts of everyday items under supervision when they were small. They are now bold young people, very involved in many different kinds of adventurous pursuits. Poor children.

Ime, children get through phases and out the other side fairly quickly. (apart from my son's infernal habit of tying stuff together Heath Robinson stylee when aged about 3- that seemed to go on for ever, although it may only have been 6 or 9 months; picture me opening his bedroom door and the drawers across the room falling out.)

thanks zapostrophe

blueshoes - bad form to pick on a single person on a thread, when several are saying the same thing.

Of course a child will be OK playing with a plastic bag when in direct contact with their parent.
Parents get distracted/are sleep deprived/underestimate risks. Oh yes, then the older child comes along and wears the bag as a hat.

Don't tell me I'm OTT, you judgemental cow.

Jareth, I believe DeVere admitted she sounded neurotic ...

no, she said 'i do sound a bit neurotic'

I don't want to drag her into this (really devere)

Yes, balloons are fucking dangerous for small children. Small pieces of popped balloon can be inhaled causing choking. Add that to a bunch of kids in a large paddling pool, bits of balloon floating in it, horrible accident waiting to happen.

My mum got some clear plastic wrap from the florest (50p) and scrunched i into a pillow case and knotted it for DS he loved it. When he was lieing on the floor i would put it between his feet and the sofa for him to kick