A Reddit post about a mysterious object being removed from a toddler’s mouth has raised awareness of the unlikely choking hazard.
After a parent discovered a thin piece of plastic lodged in her son’s throat after picking them up from daycare, commenters, including a caregiver, identified it and wrote that they had seen it happen before.
What is in the child’s mouth?
r/banana1608 posted the photos to Reddit sub r/whatisit on Monday, claiming they found them on the back of their son’s throat.
“After picking up my son from daycare, I pulled this thing out of the back of his mouth/throat,” they wrote. “It’s very thin and, as far as we know, doesn’t have a sticky side.”
Commenters (many parents themselves) recognized the object as a label on a baby wipes package. The label seals in moisture until someone opens the package, but obviously poses a choking hazard if accidentally thrown away.
OP met with the daycare staff and they admitted the mistake and committed to implementing additional safety protocols.
“The new policy is that all items will be opened, inspected and removed in the staff area outside the classroom,” parents reported in the update. “It should be 100% infant-friendly before entering the classroom.”
The Reddit user seemed pleased with the results, knowing that kids can be exposed to just about anything, but this isn’t the first time these tags have caused serious alarm among parents.
One carer said the labels could cause serious panic
In a popular comment, paramedic r/Krampus_Valet recalled a time when they received a call from a similar object. Someone’s child was choked, but when the ambulance arrived, everything seemed fine.
Regardless, the caregiver insisted on taking the child for a checkup, which turned out to be a wise decision.
“On the way to the hospital, she gagged, stared at me, opened her mouth and revealed something,” they wrote. “I didn’t even have time to put on new gloves, I just dove in and grabbed it with my ungloved fingers.”
“It turned out to be a piece of plastic from the wipes container that had been folded up and had been hidden somewhere in her mouth, and no one was able to see it when we arrived. The short story is that these labels and other similar pieces of plastic have a precedent of leading or potentially leading to very bad outcomes.”
This comment and others helped the OP identify the problem and get the daycare to implement a solution. Still, this leaves many child caregivers unaware of the potential dangers of necessary baby products.
Multiple parents have come forward to say they too have been horrified by the wipes label.
“Had this exact experience with clear wipe tags,” r/Either_Charge_4872 said. “I wish they were illegal.”
“I left my son in the playpen and went to make him a bottle,” r/cap-scum wrote. “I came back after a while and he was literally drooling and choking and I had to save his life.”
“I didn’t know what he was choking on, but I realized I had changed his diaper before I left to get him a bottle, which was the plastic piece from the wipes container.”
The internet is confusing, but we’ll break it down for you in a daily email. Sign up for Daily Dot’s newsletter here.
