Baby Lego Duplo

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Everardo Frost

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:46:36 PM8/3/24

to foazenttholme

I've tried looking around a little on google regarding the potential choking hazard and didn't really find anything. I bought my daughter three different Duplo sets that arrived yesterday and I'm kind of disappointed. Maybe she just has a huge mouth but the small squares, flowers and several other pieces can easily fit into her mouth. Unfortunately she still likes to test me by sometimes purposely putting small objects into her mouth (believe me I try to make sure everything small gets put up but stuff drops). She knows she's not supposed to but she's 2.

Right now I'm not comfortable leaving the room for even a minute for fear of her wanting to test me and accidentally getting it lodged down her throat. This sucks. :( But I haven't found anything online yet of a child choking on anything Duplo and you would think if there is even a risk they would put a warning on the box, right? Especially since some of their stuff is geared at the youngest ages being 1.5-2 years.

Could you just take out the small blocks and flowers for the time-being? My daughter loves her duplos. I haven't heard of any choking hazards with them, and just assumed they were safe since they were 1.5 yo+.

After I made this post I decided to take away the small squares and anything else small enough for her to actually put into her mouth. I don't want to have to worry. I don't know a whole lot about the anatomy of the mouth/esophagus but I'm thinking that even though she can get the whole piece into her mouth it may be too big to actually go down her throat (if that makes sense). But I still don't want to chance anything. I bought quite a lot so even though I've basically taken half of her blocks away it still leaves her with enough to build things with.

I contacted the Lego company and they claim they are 100% safe for the age bracket for which the toy is made for (all of the Duplo I bought are age 2-5). She also told me that there is an "international" choke ring and the Duplo toys don't go through it, therefore making them safe. HOWEVER, after researching a little bit on what's small enough for a toddler to choke on several websites said if it can fit through a toilet paper roll it is small enough for a small child to choke on and all of the stuff I removed from the boxes fit right through a toilet paper roll (and she demonstrated personally that the small squares are small enough to fit into her mouth.

We just went over to a friends' house last night and she apologized that her house isn't baby proof anymore. Of course I told her it wasn't a problem, and that I totally envy her for it. I can't wait until I don't have to worry about my kids choking on things, or chewing through electrical wires. However, I already know that with age come other risks. We'll never get out of the worrying!

Yeah my neighbor doesn't understand why I don't let my daughter over to play with her kids (without me being there). I've repeated multiple times that she still will put things into her mouth and they have hundreds of tiny toys everywhere. I think she's forgotten what it's like but I told her politely I don't expect her to watch her literally the whole time she'd be over there (and I don't trust that she would, lol). But yes I've heard from a lot of older parents that you're going to worry about your kids until the day you die no matter how old they are. That's part of being a parent. Lol.

I can't find anything on line about toddlers choking on the smaller pieces either. I know they say they are for age 18 months and older but my 2 1/2 year old just got the 1 inch brick stuck in his mouth this afternoon. It took several minutes to get it out and he was gagging and crying. Some of those shovels and police car lights are pretty narrow as well as some other pieces. There will be some culling of the lego pieces going on tonight.

I contacted the Lego company and they claim they are 100% safe for the age bracket for which the toy is made for (all of the Duplo I bought are age 2-5). She also told me that there is an \"international\" choke ring and the Duplo toys don't go through it, therefore making them safe. HOWEVER, after researching a little bit on what's small enough for a toddler to choke on several websites said if it can fit through a toilet paper roll it is small enough for a small child to choke on and all of the stuff I removed from the boxes fit right through a toilet paper roll (and she demonstrated personally that the small squares are small enough to fit into her mouth.

I really think that decision should be based on your particular child. My daughter was never big on putting things in her mouth and so we would let her play with things that were smaller in size - but even then, when we introduced toys she was always carefully supervised. She's three now, and she's been playing with "regular" LEGOs probably since she was under a year. They're everywhere in our house, so we just took the time to train her not to put them in her mouth and supervised her closely at first until we were sure there was no danger for her. Some kids might not listen well, or may be more curious and that might cause you to be a little more cautious.

Just a tidbit I learned from my wife who has her degree in early childhood education: In the US, at least, anything that is considered a 'choking hazard' must be labelled 'Ages: 3+.' So standard system sets fall into that category due to small parts that can be a choking hazard. Since Duplo is for 'Ages: 2+', the concern isn't choking since the parts are too large to become lodged in the windpipe (although a child may be able to jam a duplo part into their mouth, it would be extremely unlikely to block the windpipe).

The ages for infant/toddler toys (anything for ages under 3), have more to do with development. Children under 2 would struggle to manipulate Duplo bricks in the intended fashion. At that age they are more about throwing, mouthing, or exploring the textures.

We did duplo pretty early on with my daughter. They even have a line for toddlers that have more basic shapes and patterns. I think those may be better for a 7 month old and for you at this point (no expectations about putting Ariel in the boat) but I think you'll be surprised at how quickly she figures it out. It wasn't long before she had the train of alphabet letters running around the house, carrying the dog and pig and cat. AND THEN you'll be surprised at how quickly she is done with all that and only wants to play with your lego.

My kid _just_ turned 2 and is playing with only the System-scale lego now. She loves the Friends Minidolls and switching their legs and hair back and forth. They swoosh around the house in space police fighters. Here she is playing with the Jabba's palace. (evidently now Heartlake Hutt Palace*TM)

Again - always supervised - but I've found nothing but positive correlation between her motor skills, color recognition, and confidence as she plays with LEGO (of all sizes) The only thing to worry about is frustration levels - don't push her and let her figure out what she is able to, and wanting to do.