To be horrified by the volume of choking reports about Sophie the Giraffe?

[sheswallowedafly]

A friend just posted the following:

8dfa0e38152f7e9263eee1370ba4dc8e125acca2.googledrive.com/host/0BzyCfKtE0ODaVDhGTi1BZ3JGQmc/#/article/50b20162

AIBU to wonder why the hell it is still being sold? There are countless similar stories all over the net. Does a child have to die before anyone will take action?

I saw about this on Facebook, someone I know actually posted it with the comment "it helps my boys teeth and I always watch him so I dont care what other people say" it's just amazes me how stupid some people are

Your link doesn't work. I can't find anything at all recent about this.

How can the retailers justify selling it? There's clearly a danger to babies. My friend's blog post is just frightening.

In such a litigious age you'd think they would be taking it off the shelves??

Never heard about this. Can we have a clickable please?

Really? That was both DC's favourite toy and still would be now the oldest is almost 5 if I hadn't hidden it because of the demented squeaking.

I honestly had no idea about this. I don't think they let you have a baby in France without Sophie.

Trying again with the link

The link worked for me, I copied and pasted it into the addres bar

Oh ffs. I've seen this on FB posted by a hysterical mother who clearly doesn't get the difference between a rather dramatic gagging incident and full on choking. Unless a child developed some pretty full on gnashers and manages to chew off an entire giraffe leg and breathe it in, a baby is highly unlikely to actually choke.

My son couldn't stand his Sophie, it's laying on the office table as we speak having been moved around the house for eighteen months. I initially thought babies were choking on the squeaker or something. Really shocked they can choke on the legs, wouldn't have occurred to me at all.

It's the second post I've seen on fb about blue babies in the last three weeks....I would no call that hysterical .

Perhaps it's ok if it's not your child, eh Signora?

Ours is in the bin.

Oh what?

Do you have a link that is to a news report, or actual statistics on the number of children choking on Sophie, rather than a hysterical account from one person?

Well I agree with her last sentence. Don't leave your baby unattended with any toy, yup, that's kinda standard stuff innit.

I so want a sophie if ever im lucky enough to get pregnant for babylondon. Serious question for someone with a sophie how hard are the legs to chew off. I take it paign was a child with a full set of teeth to manage to get the leg off? Is there any other reports.

How is an anecdote from one person reason to stop shops selling them? The design hasn't changed, bits aren't suddenly falling off them.

Or did I misunderstand, did the baby chew the leg off?

My Granddaughter has a Sophie, my DN did, as well.

They shouldn't be marketed as a Teething Toy, becsuse that gives the impression that the baby can be left unsupervised with it.

I (and the patents I know) treat it like the High Chair, or Bumble, it's a piece of equipment that the baby (4-10 Months) needs supervision with.

It doesn't say the leg came off, I got the impression it got stuck in the child's throat while still attached to the body because of the length of the leg?

"Bumbo"

""Did the baby chew the leg off""

No, the bent leg got angled Into her throat.

There are countless similar anecdotes - possibly it's ok though, if it's not your child?

Clearly IABU to think it's not safe, given the pages and pages of first hand accounts online about the legs getting stuck down babies throats... don't let that get in the way of a bit of blood sport though ladies!

Surely the baby was just gagging on the long leg rather than actually choking. Scary, might make the baby sick but not life threatening.

Babies of that age shouldn't really be left unattended anyway. Sophie doesn't strike me as any more dangerous than any other toy.

It's not like the leg comes off ffs.