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

DD1's nursery (council run, London) never cut grapes either - grapes were available most days for the DC to help themselves to.

I have never cut up grapes - but if you think that your child won't chew them properly then keep cutting them up until you think that they will.

I'm lucky that 2 of the staff at DD's pre-school are medically trained. An ex-nurse and a paramedic!

Still in shock that it is not routine in nursery though.

I get what you mean about guidelines ...:)

LunaticFringe! You just made me scare my baby by laughing out loud 'toothless grape guzzling freak'

We went to a play date where everything was cut into tiny pieces, couldn't work out what some of it started life as, it was like gravel. I felt pleased we'd met a play it safe mum, until she let them all go into the garden to play on the trampoline with no enclosure that was placed on the patio!

TheCutofYourJib - why the name calling? People have different ideas and opinions to you - get over it.

what is it about threads like this that make people so annoyingly defensive?

1very I didn't suggest one would negate the other at all. IMO (which you asked for BTW) I decided not to cut grapes but to teach each DD how to bite them, chew and eat them safely. One of the important factors in my decision was I do not supervise all their meals. Also there was grapes (yes whole) on offer at nursery, and I's guessing they will get offered whole grapes on other occasions.

I am not lazy or ignorant - in fact I made an informed decision.

I do agree with you, LunaticFringe. Which is why I've taken first aid classes for infants and young children. DD1 choked (properly choked) on some broccoli when about 1yo, it was the most terrifying and frantic moment of my life.

It's a worry, but DD1 loves grapes, but hates them being cut. So I supervise, and expect her to be supervised properly when at nursery too. They're not allowed to run around with food, and have to sit and eat under supervision, so I suppose it makes it slightly better. But not much. I wish there was a general consensus out there about this very thing, but when she's given uncut grapes elsewhere it makes it really difficult for me to insist on them being cut all the time.

She doesn't get them at home that often though, for this very reason.

It's the implication BeCool, I asked for advice on whether I should cut up grapes and your advice is that they should be taught to bite/chew implying they haven't. I don't think you are lazy or ignorant, I don't know you

I think the advice given about 'popping' grapes would be a good alternative to those that don't like them cut?
In reply to your question Op I think 5 is probably about right but I do think you make your own judgement based on whether they sit when eating or pop the whole thing in their mouths.

It's not my implication - it's yours.
Again it's a very defensive response and I wonder why?

You asked when are you "supposed" to stop cutting grapes. My reply (along with a few others here) is I don't cut grapes (well not once the DC had teeth). I never suggested your DC can't bite or chew - you imagined that. Again defensive.

Then there are the responses from other posters "what an outrage/lazy/dangerous/ignorant person" etc who doesn't cut grapes. There are many valid reasons for not chopping grapes and we are all free to make our own decisions.

Thanks Buzzardbird

Why would I be defensive? Maybe because I secretly purée everything perhaps?? What could possibly be my secret. Yes other posters.

All these people who say their children are "good chewers". Do you think the rest of our kids gulp their food down like a starving labrador, or else we provide it liquidised so they can suck through a straw? We don't cut grapes because of our children's inadequate mastication skills, but because there is strong evidence that they are a higher choking risk than other foods and all kids (even the champion masticators) can laugh at the wrong moment etc.

I stopped at eighteen months.

My sister is a doctor and has attended numerous unsuccessful paediatric rescucitations for grapes / sausages / marshmallows. Apparently as others have said the problem is the small amount of springiness in the skin and firmness - it allows these things to get completely wedged into the shape of the childs oesophagus whereas something softer could be dislodged and slip out and something harder would hopefully not fit the oesophagus so exactly so it'd be easier to dislodge.

Also I choked on a marshmallow as an adult, fecking scary and needed repeated heimlich manovers to get it out and my oesophagus will have been much bigger so fortunately I am still here.

Goodness I ve never chopped grapes for my 2 or 4 year old but after reading sone of this thread, I will from now.

I was asked by pre-school, for ds2, to cut them. I had not come across this recommendation before. So, for the last 9 years, I had not been cutting, totally oblivious.

I still do for dd1 who's 7, dd2 doesn't really like grapes. It only takes a minute to cut them up, so why not?

Highest risks for choking are whole nuts, sweets, grapes and sausages. It's not precious or overprotective to take a little extra care when giving these to young children.

Rike its also marshmallows too because of their squishiness, chance of them budging if stuck is very very slim.

There was a story in the paper a couple of years ago, a 9 month old reached over and took a marshmallow out of his mums hot chocolate in a pub. It swelled and got stuck in his throat and he died, they just couldn't get it to shift.

DS loves the bloody things but I always tell him to chew well because of the choking hazard.

I have found that DD (2) chokes on the skin of satsumas. A few times I have given them to her only for her to be choking and gagging on them. My friend who is a nurse said the skin is even harder for them to chew and digest than grape skin. I'll just wait until she is older.

God AngeloDelighto I just read the links you posted, how awful those poor mothers

Never cut up grapes... Didn't know I should! They chew them.

There is enough evidence on this thread to show caution should be used. All children chew...even the ones that are sadly no longer with us.