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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to let 6 mo DD play with a carrier bag?

71 replies

lilmrschatty · 02/09/2010 18:11

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.

OP posts:

IMoveTheStars · 02/09/2010 22:52

tzatziki - that sounds like a great idea!

booyhoo · 02/09/2010 22:58

there is a warning on most plastic bags for a reason OP.

baloons are awful especially before they are inflated. kids running round with them in their mouths sucking and blowing. down their hroat in a flash and sooo hard to get out.

blueshoes · 02/09/2010 23:00

Splitting hairs, Jareth?

I'll leave you and others to your accident demons.

IMoveTheStars · 02/09/2010 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

SiriusStar · 02/09/2010 23:16

Tie a couple of knots in the carrier bag before you let him play with it.

IMoveTheStars · 02/09/2010 23:17

children can undo knots!

arses · 02/09/2010 23:29

A 6 month old is not going to remember at 2 that they have played with a bag. They have no memory to speak of..

Treasure baskets which are quite the thing in Children's Centres are full of items which would be considered by my grandmother to be grossly unsuitable for baby play.

I wouldn't be a fan of using a plastic bag in regular play but the odd couple of minutes of sensory play under supervision isn't inevitably the Path to Certain Doom. I would wager that a child who has never played with a plastic bag is just as likely to put a stray one over his or her head in the event of being left alone in the room with one. Babies have the memories of goldfish. Before the age of about 2-2 and a half, whatever you teach, their impulse is to explore and touch and entangle themselves in random objects if they are unsupervised. This is why we babyproof. If people think that because they have said 'no' and not allowed their young baby access to cables/plastic bags/plugs/fireplaces/ovens etc that they are somehow safe without supervision, it is a very misguided assumption.

duchesse · 03/09/2010 21:21

Hear hear, arses.

I loves a good heuristic playgroup, me. Can't wait for our children's centre one to restart next week.

cremedelacreme · 03/09/2010 23:23

Arses, not sure I agree with the comment about pre-2 yr olds - my DD is younger than this and for a while now has told me off for leaving the bedroom door open (it's first floor, with balcony bars and additional baby gate across it, but I've always told her to come find me if ever she finds it open).

cremedelacreme · 03/09/2010 23:24

Sorry, I know that was OT and not helpful reply to the OP. Ignore me!

ChippingIn · 04/09/2010 01:17

You aren't doing any harm letting DD play with it supervised, eventually the novelty will wear off and they can be consigned to a safe place.

As for your DH saying it could be inhaled into her lungs - does he always come out with this kind of BS to make you seem incompetent (when in fact, he's talking twaddle??).

She isn't going to look back on this stage of her life and go 'Oh Mummy let me play with this when I was a few months old, so it must be safe to put it on my head'.

But you have had some good suggestions of things she might enjoy instead that wont require you to be so vigilent.

Oh and to whoever was rattling on about them being as bad as balloons - what tosh, deflated balloons are unsafe even under supervision, carrier bags are not.

SallyinSwitzerland · 04/09/2010 10:52

Too much fussing going on on this thread IMHO

arses · 04/09/2010 17:04

Cremedelacreme, you have a daughter who is less than 6 months old who tells you off if a door is open? I don't get it. How? Can she speak?

QuickLookBusy · 04/09/2010 17:22

The op says "playing with her and my toddler, I have let her have a bag to play with"

It is the OPs toddler I would be worried about.

She is learning that it is ok to play with a plastic bag!

whoISshe · 04/09/2010 18:15

Exactly Quicklookbusy .
Op what if the phone rings or the doorbell or your toddler falls & you forget about the plastic bag ? irresponsible to let a baby play with a plastic bag IMO

arses · 04/09/2010 18:30

Is it irresponsible to facilitate toddlers to play with water, then, given that they can drown in 3 innches? Really, should we bathe children, because it's really quite a dangerous activity?

I understand why people choose not to let their children play with bags, I don't think I would really, but I don't think it's quite as serious an infringement of responsible parenting as it's being made out to be here.

If you know it's a risk and you treat it responsibly, I think it's as safe as anything risky we do with kids e.g. playing in soil or mud, with treasure baskets, having a bath, pouring water in a water tray etc.

arses · 04/09/2010 18:30

inches, obviously

homeboys · 04/09/2010 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

cremedelacreme · 06/09/2010 00:40

Sorry, I wasn't clear. My DS is under two, but much older than 6months and can speak! Still not relevant to OP's question but wanted to respond to Arses question.

ragged · 06/09/2010 06:24

It's dry-cleaning bags that extra flimsy thin plastic that are risky and complete no-gos, most plastic bags aren't at all like that.

I was super paranoid about plastic bags with PFB, but 3 DC later, have learnt that the occasional plastic bag in baby's/toddler's hands for 10 seconds is not worth worrying about, probably less risky than a piece of gravel or a stick. I wouldn't let playing with bags become a regular habit and would usually take it off tot to encourage a different play thing -- but it's not a big deal. The spare plastic bag drawer in our kitchen is stuffed to over-flowing, accessible to all and yet DC are alive and unharmed.

BonzoDooDah · 08/09/2010 14:50

Putting it in a sock is a great idea. Then she gets the noise but not the bag.

I love the idea of playing with different textures and encourage it as much as possible - but as someone said - they cannot distinguish between safe play with mummy and safe play alone.
FWIW I'm super careful with plastic bags and always tie them in a knot as soon as they are empty so the DC cannot play with them. But one day I was emptying our organic veg bag into the fridge while DD (2yo) watched. I turned round to DD saying "look at me mummy tee hee hee" - she had grabbed the bag off the table and had it over her head and was prancing around

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