Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

would you object to 14 month putting weebles in his mouth & walking round with drink

21 replies

thegardener · 24/04/2007 18:16

mil had a fit when dd put a weebles in her mouth whilst sitting on my knee. i usually let her put things like elc building bricks etc but mil thought it was awful.
dd is now walking so if she tripped with it in her mouth it could be nasty i suppose.
also dd usually has a drink in high chair but mid am/pm just give it to her where she is, i've never taken it off her if she got up to crawl/walk, but mil did.

what do you think is best to do with children at this age with these things?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

colditz · 24/04/2007 18:19

Er, what the hell is wrong with weebles? Was the problem that she was dribbling on it or that she would choke?

chirpygirl · 24/04/2007 18:28

thegardener, are you me?
MIL freaked out when she was here last as I was letting DD (14.5 months) walk around with a building block in her mouth (which MIL had bought her ffs!)
She also likes to walk around with drumsticks, spoons, and anything else she can find. I suppose it would be very dangerous if she falls but I don't shout at her and follow her around snatching it off her, I let MIL do that, I just make sure she isn't likely to fall over anything....

Original poster

thegardener · 24/04/2007 18:35

i don't know, you can't exactly choke on a wheeble, she did look funny though!

i don't know whether she is thinking that i should be refraining her from stuffing things in her mouth (un chokeable items i mean)as she has started to walk and could knock her teath out if she fell with whatever in her mouth but she's teething so these things are probably a comfort to her.

what do you think?

OP posts:

Othersideofthechannel · 24/04/2007 18:46

I'd probably be ok about the weeble but not the drink. If the cup doesn't have a lid, spills would be inevitable which is messy and in our house dangerous. (We have tiled floors which quickly become slippy.) Even with cups with a lid, I didn't/don't let my DCs wander around with drinks because I like food and drink to be taken at the table. But that's a personal preference and they are big enough to get up and down from the table now.

MIL having a fit sounds a bit OTT!

Aquababe · 24/04/2007 18:49

we had our first trip to hospital a month ago (dd is 16m) because she fell over with a cup in her hand (dh had given her) it was a very deep cut but were worried her teeth had gone through. looks like it'll scar.
I now take most things off her if she's walking around with them in her mouth.

Also my mum was telling me about a toddler who died when she fell over with a ruler in her mouth.

take care

FrannyandZooey · 24/04/2007 18:49

Children of this age constantly put things in their mouth for a reason. The mouth is the most sensitive part of the body (even more sensitive than our genitalia) and they can get a huge amount of information about objects from mouthing them like this. Children are much less visual than adults and need to feel things both with their hands and their mouths to learn about the world.

IMO stopping a child from putting things in their mouths is the equivalent of putting a blindfold over an adult's eyes. Make sure that the child can't choke or injure their mouths, obviously.

I don't really see how a weeble or a cup could injure a child even if they did fall while it was in their mouths. Personally I would discourage walking around with something pointy like a stick, pencil etc in the mouth, but something round and smooth and plastic? What is it going to do?

FrannyandZooey · 24/04/2007 18:50

Aquababe my post crossed with yours. Sorry to hear about your dd's injury - could you explain more how it happened, please, as I can't quite imagine it?

Aquababe · 24/04/2007 18:51

incidently it was a plastic picnic cup rather than a lidded baby one.

LIZS · 24/04/2007 18:52

I don't think you can stop it completely nor should you , however it may be better to encourage drinking and mouthing while sitting still, for the sake of her teeth as much as anything. It is really easy for them to tumble and knock an object against them. You won't stop all accidents but you can try to limit them.

Hillls · 24/04/2007 18:55

I dont let my dd walk around drinking drink or lay down eating etc. I also object to little ones holding things swallowable, my dd's are pretty clumsy so its for safety reasons.

Aquababe · 24/04/2007 18:57

the plastic had a bit of a sharp edge and cut from the outside and the teeth cut from the inside. she now has what looks like a little 'w' under her lip.
my dh keeps joking about it being like harry potters[hmmm]

I wish my daughter would stop trying to 'experience' stones, shells and woodlice in the garden

incidently the gardener when she's on your knee and a weeble does seem a bit extreme from you mil.

kittyhas6 · 24/04/2007 19:02

God no, that's fine!

pinknfluffy29 · 24/04/2007 19:43

my 15mth old dd has to taste and feel everything in her mouth and she wanders around with a lidded non spill cup. its what kids do and unless you have rules in your house like osotc (which is everyones choice) where food and drink stays at the table. kids will have bumps and grazes (when ds ran into door jamb at 16mths i felt like the world had ended) but now dd is a tough little cookie from playing with her big bro.

i think your'e doing fine the gardener and your mil just being a little too cautious!!!

Original poster

thegardener · 24/04/2007 19:44

thanks for your support, mil went on so much i said well maybe we shouldn't give dd things like weebles to play with, obviously when we see pil next the issue will return no doubt.

if she gasps with horror again should i just say i don't think dd can choke on it so dh & i are happy for her to carry on.

as for the cup it is a lidded one with a bit of a spout(magic cup i think)dd is always on the go now so it is difficult especially if we are visiting pil to drink sitting down unless i try & organise it so she has a snack at same time, that may work!

OP posts:

Original poster

thegardener · 24/04/2007 19:46

also will add the bit about their mouths are the most sensitive areas, they like it when you can give them a bit of a science lesson!

OP posts:

bambi06 · 24/04/2007 19:47

my friends kid fell over witha cup in his mouth and split his tongue open really bad..it was awful.so much blood too

Original poster

thegardener · 24/04/2007 19:57

that's awful what sort of cup was it?

OP posts:

FrannyandZooey · 24/04/2007 20:05

Aquababe how nasty for you all Glad she is ok

I know this doesn't alter the danger of having certain things in your mouth but a friend's child fell over last week and nearly bit her tongue clean through - it was literally hanging off and she has lost all taste and sensation in it

She had nothing in her mouth, she just fell. Just to show we cannot and should not remove all elements of risk from our children's lives.

Original poster

thegardener · 25/04/2007 08:38

my dh agrees with you pinkfluffy, mil is just being over cautious.

dh & i will just say it's ok to put things in mouth & walk round with lidded cup if wanted and leave it at that.

i know they mean well but it does feel a bit like you are being undermined at times by gp's.

OP posts:

powder28 · 25/04/2007 08:48

I don't like my ds's walking round with things in their mouths that are small enough to choke on. I don't let ds1 walk around with his toothbrush in his mouth either.

Original poster

thegardener · 25/04/2007 12:45

no i don't let ds walk around with a toothbrush in his mouth either or spoons but other items unchokeable ones i think are fine too.

OP posts:

Flip