To ask when you are supposed to stop cutting up grapes

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

V dumb question really but I still do this for my eldest (5) and my Dzh laughs at me, it's mainly because they are for packed lunch and I can't trust her not to rush her lunch at school

[Pendulum]

Mine are 9 and 6 and I still cut grapes and cherry toms. I probably won't stop until they leave home!

[CrapBag]

"If Iknow it's a hazard and it ends up being fatal, it would be impossible for me to live with that"

This exactly. Would anyone really be able to live with theirselves and their blasé attitude towards choking hazards (and I am not referring to the ones that was unaware of the risks)?

For me its the same as not using car seats in a car. I have friends who just say they are doing a short journey so it doesn't matter. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that one time, it did matter.

[Pozzled]

TartyMcTart Watching your child eat does not prevent them from choking. It can happen in a split second.

I never used to cut up grapes, until my good friend almost lost her son to a choking incident. They were lucky- he is fine, but it could easily have been different. And my friend was right there, watching him eat.

[Pendulum]

Deflated or popped balloons also v dangerous. The latex coats the windpipe and can't be removed. You'd hope that a school age child wouldn't put a popped balloon in its mouth but the same isn't true of babies and toddlers.

[BeCool]

I don't cut them - I've taught both DD's to bite a grape when it goes in their mouth, only put one in at a time, and to eat sitting down.

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

So true Crapbag, it's not as if I send her to school with a jar of purée, she has all the normal things including sandwiches etched, all involving chewing!

[mycatlikestwiglets]

TartyMcTart you can be thankful that you have neither lost a child, nor had to watch other parents lose their child in your presence, nor known someone who has lost a child, to choking on a marshmallow. You would undoubtedly be less blasé about the issue if you had.

Even paramedics can't remove a marshmallow which has swollen up and filled a small child's throat. It's an horrific choking risk which seems not to be at all well known.

[PeazlyPops]

Good grief. People cut up grapes?
My family have these amazing things called teeth.

Wow, good for them!

[CatsAndTheirPizza]

'Cannot BELIEVE the idiocy and arrogance of some people on here today' I'm with you on that I heart. This: 'Life is to short to cut grapes' - well, it could be.

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

Kids just get so excited when they eat together all it takes is for one to make the other laugh for them to suck a grape n to windpipe, of course I too have taught my DD to chew, sit down whilst eating and not talk when mouth full but I'd be naive not to realise that surely some of this goes out the window when they are together. I don't chase her around with a blender

[MildDrPepperAddiction]

I never chopped up grapes for mine and they have lived! If they are old enough to eat food unsupervised then they are old enough to have whole grapes.

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

That's good I am really glad, do I think that your child will choke if they eat a whole grape, honestly probably not and that's great but it's just something I can't do, does that make me a better mother No it just makes me me x

[mycatlikestwiglets]

These "my child lived" anecdotes are heartwarming but totally irrelevant. Other children haven't lived - that's the point.

OP, nothing wrong with taking the least risky option for as long as you feel comfortable. YANBU to ask the question.

[MrsJohnHarrison]

I did until at 13m, DD got into the fridge and helped herself. Was mad at DH for not locking fridge, but she is a really good chewer iyswim.

[Angelodelighto]

DF link

Telegraph

[BeCool]

I took the view that I don't/can't control everything that goes in their mouths. Therefore the best route was teach them how to bite & eat properly.

[CrapBag]

My children are good chewers, whatever the hell that is suppose to mean.

And when they have got hold of grapes whole, they have not died. Still doesn't stop me taking that chance though.

[CrapBag]

I also watched my 3 year old brother choke when I was 11. My dad was doing back blows and luckily he just threw up everywhere. He was going blue though and it was horrible. I have never ever forgotten watching that. It wasn't grapes, it was a sweet, a soft haribo type sweet.

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

BeCool one does not negate the other, yes I chop grapes up and yes I have taught my children to bite and eat properly, my 5 year old uses a knife and fork as I have said.

[Feminine]

I am surprised to read here , that some nurseries don't cut?

The one place I'd have expected to get the memo.

At my children's school there are little ones walking around with little lunchboxes with massive grapes! I want to warn the parents, but I know that would be wrong.

I mentioned yesterday on the party thread (staying) that this is one of the reasons why I do. Too many choking risks.

[ScrambledSmegs]

I don't bother if I know that someone responsible is going to be supervising DD1 eating them. She's 3. Nursery don't cut up grapes which makes me very but they've got government guidelines and studies that they've shown me, so I suppose they know what they're doing.

But in a lunchbox? Yeah, I'd cut them in half.

[TheCutOfYourJib]

I never chopped grapes and mine lived!!

Yes and you could probably go out without your seatbelt on and not die but statistically you are more likely to.
Do you not understand statistics and facts?
Your survey of one does not prove anything.
Some lazy and ignorant people on this thread!!

[Feminine]

scrambled do you think its worth a mention to the nursery?

I'd be so worried. Why don't they realize...?

[ScrambledSmegs]

It only takes one accidentally inhaled grape to kill. Doesn't matter whether they were good at chewing or not

[ScrambledSmegs]

I have mentioned it to nursery. They've taken part in official studies etc, and they've been given advice not to cut up but to supervise carefully. Something to do with child development I think. They have a lot of guidelines, I swear they don't get up in the morning without reading a government study on it.