A mum slammed for sending her six-year-old daughter school with choking hazards

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‘My daughter knows how to chew’: Mum who was slammed for sending her six-year-old to school with ‘hazards’ in her lunchbox defends her food choices

  • A mum has been slammed online for sending daughter to school with hazard 
  • Mums spotted the choking hazard in a picture of the six-year-old’s lunchbox
  • Grapes are a choking hazard and should be cut in half or quarters for children

By Belinda Cleary For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

A mum has defended herself after being slammed for sending her six-year-old daughter school with ‘choking hazards’ in her lunchbox.

The mum posted a picture of her daughter’s lunchbox on a Facebook group, showing off the individual containers she uses for each food.

But some commenters on the post zeroed in on the unsliced grapes and warned they are an ‘extreme choking hazard’.

‘Please chop those grapes, awesome selection though,’ one woman wrote. 

‘You need to chop grapes in half lengthwise due to choking hazard,’ said another.

A mum has been slammed online for sending her six-year-old daughter school with choking hazards in her lunchbox

Another woman said grapes are a leading hazard for children under five. 

But the mum defended herself and said her daughter ‘knows how to chew her food’.

‘My daughter is six and has successfully eaten whole grapes since she was four without choking, I didn’t realise my parenting of my own child was everyone else’s concern,’ she hit back. 

‘She took this to school and did not choke because she knows how to chew her food.’

She added the little girl doesn’t like them to be cut because it ‘ruins the crunch’. 

But other parents doubled down – one woman said she still cuts grapes for her teenagers.    

‘It’s not just toddlers that can choke on grapes I have known older kids to as well and not ended well maybe just me but i still slice grapes for my teens,’ one woman said.

‘I still chop them for my 8 and 6-year-old, mainly out of habit but also because they shove a heap in their mouth and run off to play.’

Others defended the mum and agreed she knows her child best and others shouldn’t be dictating how she parents. 

Paramedic Nikki from Tiny Heart's education says anything that can fit through this ring is a hazard

She demonstrated with grapes and said they should always be cut for children - she quarters hers

Paramedic Nikki from Tiny Heart’s education says anything that can fit through this ring is a hazard.  She demonstrated with grapes and said they should always be cut for children – she quarters hers

‘I’m sure, as the child’s mother, she would know if her child was capable of chewing a grape or not. Unbelievable that other mothers would call her out on this,’ one woman said.

‘This never use to be a thing I have 3 kids and was lucky obviously cause we never had a problem but I’m pretty sure an older kids would be fine without them sliced can’t be cutting your kids food into bit size pieces for ever,’ said another. 

Recently a former paramedic and mum-of-two pointed out how to minimise choking hazards from food. 

The paramedic pictured some common choking hazards

The paramedic pictured some common choking hazards 

Nikki, who posts under Tiny Hearts Education, revealed she cuts grapes into quarters to reduce the choking hazard.

She grates ‘hard food’ which might be a choking hazard and adds bread crumbs or coconut to the outside of slippery food like avocado and mango. 

She said anything that can fit between your thumb and index finger when you make an ‘O’ shape can be considered a choking hazard. 

The facts on choking and what to do revealed

Choking is what happens when something gets stuck in a person’s throat or windpipe, partially or totally blocking the flow of air to their lungs. 

In adults, choking usually occurs when a piece of food enters the windpipe instead of the food pipe. Babies and young children can choke on anything smaller than a D-size battery.

Sometimes the windpipe is only partially blocked. If the person can still breathe, they will probably be able to push out the object by coughing forcefully. Be careful not to do anything that will push the blockage further into the windpipe, like banging on the person’s back while they are upright. 

If the object cuts off the airway completely and the person cannot breathe, it’s now a medical emergency. The brain can only survive for a few minutes without oxygen. 

The symptoms include clutching the throat, difficulty breathing and blue lips. 

With children and adults over one year and choking, you should try to keep the person calm. Ask them to cough to remove the object and if this doesn’t work, call triple zero (000). Bend the person forward and give them up to 5 sharp blows on the back between the shoulder blades with the heel of one hand. After each blow, check if the blockage has been cleared.

If the blockage still hasn’t cleared after 5 blows, place one hand in the middle of the person’s back for support. Place the heel of the other hand on the lower half of the breastbone (in the central part of the chest). Press hard into the chest with a quick upward thrust, as if you’re trying to lift the person up. After each thrust, check if the blockage has been cleared. If the blockage has not cleared after 5 thrusts, continue alternating 5 back blows with 5 chest thrusts until medical help arrives.

Source: Health Direct