Help with choking hazard toys and new baby?

[MamaMolly]

Lula was never a kid who put toys in her mouth, ever. I posted in another thread that at 2 years old she regualrly played with the coins from my coin purse and never once put one in her mouth. She didn't really chew her books or toys, either.

Flash forward to Dolly who puts EVERY*THING (!!!!!!!!) in her mouth. Carpet fuzz, crumbs, paper scraps, toys, barettes, sticks and bugs, you name it I've probably fished it out of her gummy little smile. Washable crayons, so much slimy purple fun! I am so not prepared for this it isn't even funny.

What do you do with the choking hazard toys from your older DCs? Did you toss them (as I'm inclined to, bad mommy, I know!) I don't relish the idea of spending my days as the small toy police. I stupidly bought a packet of Squinkies and didn't even think about it until I started to open the thing up at home. Uggggggggggggg! I hate those things with the heat of 10,000 suns. But you know~ they are cute, they are compact and thus great for travel, and Lula loves making up cute little play stories with them. A tiny part of me feels bad about tossing them.

So do I have collective permission to cull the toy herd of small items? Or did you have a strategy that worked for you?
Helllllllllpppppppp! :)

[Indianamom2]

Well, my DD is almost 5 years older than Ds, so she's very into Barbies and Polly Pockets (oh the tiny shoes and accessories we have!).

Much like you, DD never put anything in her mouth. Never. Ds, well, he put everything including dry dog food in his mouth.

We opted to limit playing with the small stuff while Ds was napping and also putting every tiny little piece into small containers with locking lids (like the Sterilite containers with little hinges on the ends that hook over the top of the lid.)

Ds is 19 months old now, and is pretty much over mouthing everything, so we've relaxed a bit, but that's still our general rule.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ds1 could play w/ dangerous stuff on tables or in his room.

Beth

[crl]

Ds is 7. Dd is 10 months. And she puts everything in her mouth. Yuck.

Anyway, I showed ds how to determine if something is a choking hazard (toilet paper tube test) and we tested most of his toys together. I did put away some chocking hazards that he wouldn't miss. The rest are stored in his room. He can play with them in his room or on the dining room table or on the floor only when dd is asleep. He has actually been very good about it. If I could just train dh as well (coins, wallet, remotes, half empty soda cans).

We also had a few weeks of choking hazard pay/penalty when dd was just about to become mobile. Anything of ours that was a choking hazard and ds found on the floor earned him a quarter in a jar to go buy ice cream. Anything that we found that was his got a quarter taken out of the jar. He really liked this system.

Catherine

[rin]

Ds is 7. Dd is 10 months. And she puts everything in her mouth. Yuck.

Anyway, I showed ds how to determine if something is a choking hazard (toilet paper tube test) and we tested most of his toys together. I did put away some chocking hazards that he wouldn't miss. The rest are stored in his room. He can play with them in his room or on the dining room table or on the floor only when dd is asleep. He has actually been very good about it. If I could just train dh as well (coins, wallet, remotes, half empty soda cans).

We also had a few weeks of choking hazard pay/penalty when dd was just about to become mobile. Anything of ours that was a choking hazard and ds found on the floor earned him a quarter in a jar to go buy ice cream. Anything that we found that was his got a quarter taken out of the jar. He really liked this system.

Catherine

Wow, this is such a good system! I love the toilet paper tube test, too. Never heard of that one. Thanks!!

[MamaMolly]

Ds is 7. Dd is 10 months. And she puts everything in her mouth. Yuck.

Anyway, I showed ds how to determine if something is a choking hazard (toilet paper tube test) and we tested most of his toys together. I did put away some chocking hazards that he wouldn't miss. The rest are stored in his room. He can play with them in his room or on the dining room table or on the floor only when dd is asleep. He has actually been very good about it. If I could just train dh as well (coins, wallet, remotes, half empty soda cans).

We also had a few weeks of choking hazard pay/penalty when dd was just about to become mobile. Anything of ours that was a choking hazard and ds found on the floor earned him a quarter in a jar to go buy ice cream. Anything that we found that was his got a quarter taken out of the jar. He really liked this system.

Catherine

Catherine you are a genius!!!!!! Thanks mama. Lula dearly loves quarters. :heartbeat:

[citymama]

DDs both put everything in their mouths at this stage - DD1 got over this stage at around 15 months maybe, but even then would put toys in her mouth. I'm glad you started this thread as I've been struggling with this at my home too. Ive told DD she needs to keep all the small things in her room but at 4.75 yrs, evidently she's not reliably able to do this. I find little stuff, including money, beads, stickers, plastic parts of toys etc in the living room, kitchen and our room all the time. Even the stuff that isn't a choking hazard is rarely something I'd be ok with dd2 putting in her mouth. Some toys/games ate just going to have to disappear during our move.

[crl]

Wow, this is such a good system! I love the toilet paper tube test, too. Never heard of that one. Thanks!!


Catherine you are a genius!!!!!! Thanks mama. Lula dearly loves quarters. :heartbeat:

Thank you! So nice of you both. :love-retry:

Catherine

[crl]

DDs both put everything in their mouths at this stage - DD1 got over this stage at around 15 months maybe, but even then would put toys in her mouth. I'm glad you started this thread as I've been struggling with this at my home too. Ive told DD she needs to keep all the small things in her room but at 4.75 yrs, evidently she's not reliably able to do this. I find little stuff, including money, beads, stickers, plastic parts of toys etc in the living room, kitchen and our room all the time. Even the stuff that isn't a choking hazard is rarely something I'd be ok with dd2 putting in her mouth. Some toys/games ate just going to have to disappear during our move.

Yeah, I think I do have a huge advantage on this because ds is 7. He is just that much older. Also, personality-wise he is a huge rule follower, which also helps with this kind of thing. I would definitely disappear somethings in the move if I were you.

Catherine

[Uno-Mom]

I work with adults who have pica (they put everything in their mouths, similar to babies in the oral phase). I use the TP tube technique to train their staff how to keep the environment safe.

Then, when I got into baby product fever, I saw they actually market those little plastic tube thingies and charge, like, $10 for them! What a rip-off. It totally cracked me up...

That's a good idea, to involve the older kiddo. Makes him feel responsible and respected about the whole thing. I'll steal the idea when we have a 2nd.

[citymama]

Re the TP tupe - isn't that too big to rule out baby choking hazards? Pennies and small wooden toys would easily go through the TP tube but they would be choking hazards. Or am I missing something?

[tmahanes]

Re the TP tupe - isn't that too big to rule out baby choking hazards? Pennies and small wooden toys would easily go through the TP tube but they would be choking hazards. Or am I missing something?

If it goes through the tube it is a choking hazard. If it does not go through it is good. :)

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[jgenie]

Re the TP tupe - isn't that too big to rule out baby choking hazards? Pennies and small wooden toys would easily go through the TP tube but they would be choking hazards. Or am I missing something?

If it goes through it is a choking hazard.

[HannaAddict]

We are in the same boat, and have the two older kiddos (almost seven and four and a half years old) trained to be on alert for choking hazards. We've talked about the toilet tissue tube but I should do a demo, good tip. And great idea for monetary reward, they love getting money these days. All small Legos are put away though for now, though the big Legos are actually popular with all involved, who knew. I also wish my husband was as good as the kids at being vigilant, he spills money out and my little one has had a couple of quarters fished out of his mouth by me. Scary and still have a long way to go before we are out of this phase.

[MoJo]

My Ha is JUST like your Dolly in her love to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. . . and my JellyBean is like your Lula in that after her tag-tasting phase at six months, she stopped putting thins in her mouth very quickly. She's had a coin purse since she was 18 months.

Unfortunately, this is the one time my close spacing is a problem. I've tried most of the techniques suggested here over the past two months, but JellyBean just isn't old enough. So I'm the bad mommy taking away the coins, the barrettes, the puzzle pieces. The only good thing is most of her toys don't have small pieces yet.

[gatorsmom]

Greenbean was like that. He put everything in his mouth. Until he was 18 months old, I'd put him and his sister in a big playyard that we had set up in the family room. It was one of these: http://www.amazon.com/North-States-Superyard-Classic-Gate/dp/B00020L78M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298131444&sr=8-1

I added extra pieces to it to make it really roomy for them and put them in there. Essentially, one half of our family room was in this playyard with all the twins' toys, and the other half had our sofa and toys for the older boys. We spent all our family time int hat room so the twins always felt like they were with the family but they were blocked from eating the boy's little toys. I'd regularly switch out toys for them and it wasn't until they were walking pretty well that they started clamoring to get out.

There is just no way with an older child that you can try to keep up with the tiny stuff that will end up on the floor. You could spend all day and not find everything that Dolly could. At least, that was my experience. hth!

[Pinky]

...
We also had a few weeks of choking hazard pay/penalty when dd was just about to become mobile. Anything of ours that was a choking hazard and ds found on the floor earned him a quarter in a jar to go buy ice cream. Anything that we found that was his got a quarter taken out of the jar. He really liked this system.

Catherine

Love this idea!

[crl]

If it goes through the tube it is a choking hazard. If it does not go through it is good. :)

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:yeahthat:

Catherine

[MamaMolly]

There is just no way with an older child that you can try to keep up with the tiny stuff that will end up on the floor. You could spend all day and not find everything that Dolly could. At least, that was my experience. hth!

This is exactly my problem, I'm afraid. I will do the toilet paper tube trick, make a jar of quarters for a prize she wants (heck, she may just want quarters!!) and then when they are both asleep I'm chucking the Squinkies. Which is a shame because the daggum things really are cute. Oh well.

Lisa, thanks for the idea of the play yard. I may try a baby gate. Good idea!

[citymama]

If it goes through the tube it is a choking hazard. If it does not go through it is good. :)

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Oh right, duh! Where is my brain?

I'm going to invest in a good play yard too.