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?

My DD had this on her FB a while ago.

Just to answer a question.

My Nephew still liked his at a year old and had chewed on it with teeth.

My German Shepherd got hold of it (left in the garden) and it stood up to a fair bit of chewing.

I'm pretty sure, if you looked hard enough, you could find a dramatic "OMG she nearly DIED" story about pretty much every toy out there.

Babies/toddlers can choke on pretty much anything if they try hard enough, even their own fingers. We don't advocate making them wear boxing gloves to avoid the risk though; we use our common sense and keep an eye on them.

how hard are the legs to chew off?

Impossible. I'd struggle and my back teeth are full of metal fillings so I have an advantage.

Also, this blog doesn't even have a name- how do we know its not a 55 year old man with a grudge against the company. It sounds like a piss take tbh.

Oh have a dear! I've been about too long to wet knickers over a bit of armchair brawling... do enjoy yourself though if that's what it takes...

We had an incident with DS1 when he was a baby. He was at the point where he could roll onto his front, but not sit up yet. He was on his back chewing on the leg and then whilst it was still in his mouth he rolled onto his front. He lost his balance and his head went down and the leg of the giraffe went into his throat. He gagged for a few seconds before I got to him (I was at the other side of the room at the time). Whether he would have choked I don't know, but I'm glad I was there.

There are just so many countless toys like this one that could possibly end up with a child choking. That is why you don't leave them unattended.

People just want to love it anyway, because it's cute.

It's an overpriced piece of Francophile shite.

**

I had a Google, and whilst I can see a few people panicking online about having read an account of a parent saying their baby's choked on it, I can't actually see that many reports of it happening. Technically all the posters could be reading the same blog/FB post, I suppose.

I don't really understand how it's any more risky than any other tether or toy, though? Babies of that age chew absolutely everything - I'd have thought it'd be safer to chew something rubber like Sophie (I can't believe any teething baby has teeth sharp enough to chew a bit off) than put a toy not designed for the purpose in their mouth. Wouldn't there have been a recall if it was a genuine hazard?

A quick google shows that there were a few choking stories circulating which led to many shops (eg toyrus) withdrawing them from sale pending investigation in 2010. They've since been reintroduced as the investigations showed they were safe.

Surely it's all about managed risk? I am just watching my 2.5 yo dd doing roly polys all over the sitting room. I know she could hurt herself but is the risk high enough for me to ban her doing them?

Personally, I encourage her to do them on the floor (rather than on the sofa or bed which is a favourite) and stay with her if she is in a poly mood.

I would have thought Sophie was the same. at the age when they are chewing on everything it is surely sensible to never leave them alone with stuff they put in their mouths

""Surely the baby was just gagging on the long leg rather than actually choking.""

In all fairness, the baby was chocking because it was stuck, an older infant would pull it out.

The baby was being supervised, so what happened can be described as chocking, because of the angle, the gag reflex was worthless.

That's why the Marketing needs to change, at six months you can leave them on the floor with some toys (whilst you put washing out etc), they shouldn't be left alone with Sophie at that age.

Pushing them in a parent facing pram, with the toy etc, it's fine.

So leg was still attached? (Relaxes). Can i have your binned sophie please op. Im feeling sorry for her..all alone with just potatoe peelings for company. Seriously it sounds like a frightening event f or paigns mum. However bearing in mind sophie has been sold for x amount of years and still being sold common sence re not leaving baby alone with sophie should be ok.

Poor Sophie going in the bin. There were recalls years ago with a faulty batch I think but I can't see anything recent.

"Wasn't being supervised"

Op, please tell your friend that her dramatic post is lacking in any grammar skills and therefore is not a good little read.

I notified the distributor (who indicated that they would pass the feedback on to the manufacturer) of the incident in 2008 and still have the email I received back. They basically said that it was an isolated incident and that they hadn't heard of anything similar occurring.

Welcome to Mumsnet OP, Have a Nice Day!

Oh and thanks for the link to the fascinating mommy blog. I was just thinking the world doesn't have enough of those.

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

^^ Absolutely this. Where were the parents/carers while baby was ramming Sophie's legs so far down their throat that they 'choked'?

Nope, she's staying there and rapidly heading for landfill!

I will readily admit to not being able to fix my beady eye in my DD 100% of the time so I'd rather take Sophie out of the equation.

Why leave a child unsupervised with a toy anyway? Isnt that just common sense?
I couldn't find any actual reports of babies chocking on this giraffe.
Why so aggressive op?
People don't agree so what!

OP it is a litigious age, you are right.

Personally I wouldn't start accusing products of being lethal on the internet based on one? report on Facebook by someone who left a child unattended. I would be worried I might be exposing myself to risk of legal action.

Why leave a child unsupervised with a toy anyway? Isnt that just common sense?

I would be willing to bet that lots of parents leave their child unsupervised with a toy and a great many probably don't have much common sense either.

Limp baby turning blue = one that can't breathe due to her airways being blocked by the giraffe's leg. NOT one gagging. Qualifies as a choke hazard then.

It's impressive how quickly babies can do things, and they react a lot more quickly to things like choking (and drowning) than adults because of their size of course. So the mother might not have been away from her baby for more than 2 minutes.