He was choking on it!

[talon]

Well, I am an advocate of the dummy for settling my son at night. He has been using it since he was about 3 days old. I have always let him have a dummy at night time and throughout the night he generally will find it himself.

But this morning he was on the couch with me and was trying to get it into his mouth the right way (it is a NUK dummy - so they only go in one way) and all of a sudden he started to make choking noises. I looked over and the dummy was COMPLETELY inside his mouth and he couldn't get it out!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Luckily it wasn't stuck fast and I fished it out myself. I am scared to leave him alone with it now in case it happens again.

I am going to report this to NUK. I mean they do say to use it supervised but he WAS with me on the couch and it still happened. This is really dangerous. Maybe they should change the design of the bit with the handle to make it a bit bigger or something.

[Harmony83]

Oh my goodness! Definately report it! Thats so scarey... Poor bubba must have got quite a fright!

[belinda]

oh my god thats horrible i would be complaining too i use a bigger sort of dummie i was never to fussed on nuk ones..

thats so lucky that you were with him and could get it out.. you poor thing i too would be worried to give it to him when he is alone....

hope they do something about that

[Taddy]

That is scarey.

We have never had any problems with our sons dummy. I can't remember the brand though, oh yeh its Tommie Tippee and he has that brand since 3 days old.
He did have a nuk one but I didn't like it so we just put that away incase we did need it.

[nemosmum]

OMG Kriscee very scary :eek: maybe its time to wean him from the dummy or get a different brand.

[mummycloud]

:eek: that's a definate risk...needs to be reported. (((HUGS)))

[JessandKirra]

We have happy baby dummy. Cheapest and was most reccomended(sp?) by a few midwives. They are huge and round. Heinz baby dummy seems to be good with the weaning process as they are cherry shaped and she has trouble keeping it in, gets bored with it and doesnt bother, but they may be same shape as nuk's. not sure.

How scary. :eek:

[Nickster]

That was a bit scary for you, Kriscee! :eek: Poor bubba!

I used to use the nuk dummies, but because they only go in one way, I figured I'd start to use something different - more symmetrical - so she could find it herself and put it in herself. We switched to the tommee tippee ones, they have a really good cushy, puffy teat she loves to chew on. We also have the happy baby dummies, but she always prefers the t.t. dummies ( I hold them up for her and let her pick at nap time!). :)

Throw that nuk dummy out! Nasty thing!

[kimmy]

OMG reading this scared the hell out of me, that most of been horrible for you & bub. I am now going to watch Chloe more closely with hers or i might just take it off her completely & go cold turkey.

[xkwzit]

We've always used avent dummies and they have two holes in the front plastic part - so you shouldn't choke, even if you shove the whole thing in.

Just another note as well that freaked me when I was told. I've always liked the silicon teats more than the rubber teats (lst longer and look cleaner) and so searched for these for DD2 (now 18 months). When I finally asked a chemist why silicon teats were hard to find in the bigger sizes I was told that they don't make then anymore, because once bub has teeth they may possibly bite off the end of the dummy. With silicon, once they've made a hole, it is likely that the whole end will come off (could be a choking hazard), whereas with rubber, it is less likely that the whole end will come off. Now I buy rubber dummies. Don't want to freak any of you, just trying to help. I wish someone had told me - oh - A YEAR AGO!

Cheers

[talon]

thanks for the responses gals!

hi xkwzit - yep - it has the holes in the handles.

just wanted to update you on it all. i have been googling to find a contact email address for NUK (harder then I thought) and came across this article on choice.com.au. I couldn't believe it - this is the EXACT same dummy that DS is using - except his is the right size for his age.


Kerrie-Ann Parsons of Townsville wrote to us about an alarming incident when her son was using a NUK Starlight Silicone Soother (dummy). She went to check on six-month-old Alexander, who was settling down to sleep, and found him choking on the dummy, which he’d managed to get fully into his mouth.

We’ve since come across another case involving the same model of dummy: six-month-old Jonah Hedges of Melbourne was found with the whole dummy in his mouth, and though he wasn’t choking it gave his mother Gayle a fright.

We examined the dummy against the Australian standard and found the shield doesn’t meet certain requirements designed to prevent this sort of thing happening. The standard isn’t mandatory, however, and the company doesn’t make any labelling claims about meeting the Australian standard.

NUK says Alexander was at, or slightly past, the recommended age for the size 1 dummy he was using (which is for 0–6-month-olds), and should have been using the next size up (size 2, for 6–18-month-olds). Jonah was also using a size 1. However, the shield has the same dimensions for sizes 1 and 2 (only the teat gets larger), so the areas where the dummy didn’t meet the standard’s requirements remain the same. We don’t think a larger teat would be enough to prevent the whole dummy going into a baby’s mouth.

The company argues that the dummy has two small holes in the shield, so if it blocksed the throat, the baby would still be able to still breathe air flowing through them. We suspect most parents won’t want to take the chance.

The main lessons to be learnt from Alexander’s and Jonah’s experiences are:

- Buy a dummy that meets the Australian standard (look for the logo on packaging).
- Get one with a large shield (though not so large it hurts your baby’s nose or cheeks).
- Make sure the ring sits away from the shield so it can be easily gripped to remove the dummy.
- Don’t leave young babies unsupervised if they’re unable to remove a dummy themselves.
- There are no reports we could find of babies choking on their thumbs!

Here is the link is you want to visit the webpage...

http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=103865&catId=100509&tid=100008&p=3

I have since purchased the biggest, most unswallowable (word?) dummy I can find - it is a Tommee Tippee glow in the dark one! Cool. ;)

[xkwzit]

Hi Krscee
Wow, that article is eye opening, isn't it? I need to make sure DD2 can't fit her dummy in her mouth. Not sure how I'm going to do that though!

Good on you for following through.

Cheers

[Maggiesmum]

OMG how scary for both you and your bubba! Thanks heaps for that article! I go aussie standards all the way! Mags only has a dummy when we are out of the house, and then when I give it to her she doesn't seem to want it and gags on it! She has such a big mouth, (she gets both fits in) I would definatley be scared to leave her alone with a dummy!