Whole grapes at children's birthday party

[LucyJones]

Right or wrong?
Opinions please!

was told today that DS polished off ALL the grapes at a birthday party last weekend . and then asked for more ..

the only time I've cut a grape was when my children were under a year old and even then not all the time

and yes I know the horror stories ..

I am usually slack mother, but I have a thing about grapes and send ds2 into reception with cut grapes. I know that looks pansy, but it's the one thing I'm OTT about. Only because my Uncle was at a party where a 3 year old did choke to death on a grape, so I have a grape fear.

ive always cut my dd's grapes in half, its the skin that causes the prob as most foods dissolve quicker, i know bad things happen all the time but if i know of a known hazard, why wouldnt i prevent it?..p.s grapes always seem to go down well at parties(after the chocolate fingers have been devoured!)

Oh, I was going to say exactly what Jimjams said, how weird. I am completely laid back about lots of things that most people on here are very hot on, but I always cut grapes when mine were little, even before the cases in the paper. They are exactly the right size to choke a toddler.

my daughter's feeding and swallowing therapist said always to cut up grapes even with quite old children who don't have any difficulties with feeding and swallowing

are the worst things imaginable apparently; just the right size to choke on, and there are various cases of it happening

I can't believe I keep coming back to this thread to see what the latest person has said. . MN is DULL tonight.....

they are almost impossible to get out once trapped in the windpipe - they are soft enough to reshape which closes the whole windpipe.

hot dog sausages (spew anyway)
whole nuts
cherry toms
meatballs

apparently those hot dog sausages are almost the exact size of the passage that needs to be blocked to stop breathing. Horrid thought.

I cut grapes up for my 2yo. Grape choking-to-death just seems so common in toddlers -- virtually every time I hear of a toddler choking to death (as opposed to chokingh-but-being-OK-in-the-end) it seems to have been on a grape. As tamum says, they are exactly the right size to choke them, and exactly the right shape and consistency to be very difficult to shift once lodged.

AFAIK no one has suggested banning grapes / not having grapes at a party, just cutting them up.

read this and thought - what age was it that i gave mine a grape in the supermarket, and popcorn at a party was that wrong, couldnt cut them. I have seen a very greedy child pop a whole sausage (cocktail size) in her mouth, I was mortified, but she was fine.

I do take on board the very bad experiences that are here. So if i had my time again when they were young, i might have offered different party food.

ah yes I'm quite funny about hot dog sausages as well and always cut them lengthwise. Hmmm I think choking must be my thing (probably because ds2 and ds3 can choke on anything). I'm slack about everything else!

I'm shocked at my total disregard for my childrens safety - have never even considered chopping up a grape.

In fact its my ds 3rd birthday party - at parties I also do cheese and grapes on cocktail sticks but now i'm in a panic! My god, they could fall of the chair choking on a grape and stab themself with the stick!

I choked on a stolen malteser once. No word of a lie. I am now careful to bite them in two. Especially stolen ones!

I used to cut grapes for DD and DS until they were about 4 I think - I have had to put my first aid training into practice when DS nicked a grape (we come from a long line of criminals) whilst I was putting the shopping away.

I hadn't noticed and I heard a choking noise from the other room and there he was standing in the middle of the room unable to swallow or get a breath. Boy did I whack him on the back - grape shot across the room!

I wouldn't tbh. But then I had to leave the room at toddlers recently with shoulders shaking at the sight of plates of painstakingly chopped grapes going out.

Grapes cut widthways .

I read somewhere that grapes choke more children than anything else. Children also do a lot of running aroound at parties so might be more likely to choke.

serve them whole and learn first aid for choking

was at a party at the weekend which was joint for 4yrolds and 2yr olds. Whole grapes. I think they should have been cut - party situation very exciting - bouncing, talking and running very likely to happen with grapes secreted in toddler hand, even with parents attempting to clamp child to chair while eating.

but since mother was preparing joint party for 25 toddlers herself as partner was away until 2 hours beforehand, I don't blame her for not getting round to it.

depends on the size of teh grape and if i am supervising their eating properly

i once choked on my own saliva

I heard somewhere recently (but I'm buggered if I can remember where so can't back it up ) that the skin of the grapes "sticks" to the throat and is hard to dislodge; but if a grape is cut in half then there is a "slippery" side to aid its progress.

You may if you wish

I always cut them up for 18m old ds (or bite them in half first!), mainly because he is a greedy so and so who swallows them whole

Grapes are the no.1 killers of small children when it comes to choking.

Like a couple of others on this thread, I'm laid-back about most things. Not grapes.

Should they be cut lengthways?

No need to Miao! There was a case recently of an under-2yo who pinched his big sis' grapes and choked on one. He survived but is suspected to have brain damage. Anyway, the grape skin combined with the shape means they can be nigh impossible to dislodge, even if you use the Heimleich maneouvre.

Hate to be a scaremonger, but chopping grapes is hardly a laborious chore.

Cut them. They are lethal things. So are boiled sweets.

eh? my ll month old chomps through loads of whole grapes.

wartywarthog, i'll be the Interfering Mum tonight - I really would think about cutting grapes if I were you.

Apart from anything else, biting them in half means you can eat half of them yourself.