I just hope everyone thinks of this story when they let their kids snack on whatever in the back seat while the parents are focused on driving, or letting their little ones free range snack around the house from one of those cute little muffin tins filled with bite size snacks for easy toddler access.
Had a 2 year old gag choke on a diced peach today because she's a shoveler and doesn't like to chew her food. Not much I can do about it except stay on top of her and never let her eat out of my direct line of sight. But I know that isn't a guarantee she won't choke. Nothing is guaranteed except that accidents happen. I'm so sorry for the family's loss and that the little guy doesn't get to live his life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is the parent questioning why the child was given a meatball? That seems odd... was he not allowed to eat that food?

The grandmother released a video last night of the child recently eating meatballs at a family event. In her interviews last night, her question wasn't "why was he eating meatballs" it was "where was the supervision"?

The center has publicly stated that they immediately performed the hemliech maneuver and called 911. I have seen that performed in real life and it is horrifying when you cannot immediately dislodge the food. And it's not easy. Especially on a child.

I feel very badly for the family and also the teachers that tried to help.

It's tragic.

I spoke with our center director (at a completely separate daycare) this morning. I told her I was having a "worried mom moment" because of this, and she was so kind and understanding.

She reassured me that children are supervised at all times, and walked me through how they distribute and supervise lunches. She verified in her staff book that the teachers in my daughter's room are CPR certified.

It was just a nice moment of her reassuring me, and me saying that of course I understand that, no matter what, accidents can and do happen, both at home and at daycare.

It was very kind of her to connect with me, as a mother herself, and as a professional. And I hope I conveyed to her appreciation for the extra time and reassurance.

This is a terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, terrible tragedies happen every day. We all do our best. Let's renew our commitment to slow down, put safety first, and have compassion for one another. All we can do after hearing about something like this is to hug our kids, recommit ourselves to safety and care, and appreciate the parents and teachers in our lives who do their best for our kids.

I'm praying for peace for that little soul, that family, and that daycare community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel very sad for the teachers and administration - put yourself in that situation and the fear and needing to do something like the hemleich and it not working is devastating. People get frantic under pressure. I can't stop thinking about this incident, I talked to my daycare teacher to discuss the incident and what they are doing to monitor it (teaching children about chewing slowly, etc, check menu items.)

I agree. The Heimlich is not 100% effective by any means, even when administered correctly. We don't have all the facts, but it is entirely likely this was a horrible freak accident.

This. There was an incident a couple of years ago on an international long haul flight (12+ hrs) during which an adult male choked on a piece of meet. They had a doctor and ER nurse on board (as passengers) and the man still died because they couldn't help him. It's awful. The Heimlich maneuver is great, but not an absolute.

Exactly. Horrible, tragic deaths happen every day. That doesn't diminish the pain they leave; it's a shitty fact of life. Not everything is preventable.

My heart goes out to the family, and to the teachers as well. The whole situation is heart-breaking.

If I had a child at this daycare, I would be looking for an alternative.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel very sad for the teachers and administration - put yourself in that situation and the fear and needing to do something like the hemleich and it not working is devastating. People get frantic under pressure. I can't stop thinking about this incident, I talked to my daycare teacher to discuss the incident and what they are doing to monitor it (teaching children about chewing slowly, etc, check menu items.)

I agree. The Heimlich is not 100% effective by any means, even when administered correctly. We don't have all the facts, but it is entirely likely this was a horrible freak accident.

This. There was an incident a couple of years ago on an international long haul flight (12+ hrs) during which an adult male choked on a piece of meet. They had a doctor and ER nurse on board (as passengers) and the man still died because they couldn't help him. It's awful. The Heimlich maneuver is great, but not an absolute.

Meat. Hard to choke on meet. Sorry about that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel very sad for the teachers and administration - put yourself in that situation and the fear and needing to do something like the hemleich and it not working is devastating. People get frantic under pressure. I can't stop thinking about this incident, I talked to my daycare teacher to discuss the incident and what they are doing to monitor it (teaching children about chewing slowly, etc, check menu items.)

I agree. The Heimlich is not 100% effective by any means, even when administered correctly. We don't have all the facts, but it is entirely likely this was a horrible freak accident.

This. There was an incident a couple of years ago on an international long haul flight (12+ hrs) during which an adult male choked on a piece of meet. They had a doctor and ER nurse on board (as passengers) and the man still died because they couldn't help him. It's awful. The Heimlich maneuver is great, but not an absolute.

Anonymous wrote:I feel very sad for the teachers and administration - put yourself in that situation and the fear and needing to do something like the hemleich and it not working is devastating. People get frantic under pressure. I can't stop thinking about this incident, I talked to my daycare teacher to discuss the incident and what they are doing to monitor it (teaching children about chewing slowly, etc, check menu items.)

I agree. The Heimlich is not 100% effective by any means, even when administered correctly. We don't have all the facts, but it is entirely likely this was a horrible freak accident.

I feel very sad for the teachers and administration - put yourself in that situation and the fear and needing to do something like the hemleich and it not working is devastating. People get frantic under pressure. I can't stop thinking about this incident, I talked to my daycare teacher to discuss the incident and what they are doing to monitor it (teaching children about chewing slowly, etc, check menu items.)

I had a child at DOL and it was very well run. Administration was very organized and they were always very attentive to ratios. I have had my child in a lot of different care scenarios and it was by far the most organized/professional one. Personally though I don't think 3 yr olds should be given meat balls at all but I may be in a minority.

Anonymous wrote:Why is the parent questioning why the child was given a meatball? That seems odd... was he not allowed to eat that food?

The grandmother released a video last night of the child recently eating meatballs at a family event. In her interviews last night, her question wasn't "why was he eating meatballs" it was "where was the supervision"?

The center has publicly stated that they immediately performed the hemliech maneuver and called 911. I have seen that performed in real life and it is horrifying when you cannot immediately dislodge the food. And it's not easy. Especially on a child.

I feel very badly for the family and also the teachers that tried to help.

Do we even know if DOL uses Good Food Company? A DOL parent mentioned a cook on site.

Our daycare does use Good Food Company. Meatball sandwiches have been on the menu before, though I haven't seen them recently.

Why is the parent questioning why the child was given a meatball? That seems odd... was he not allowed to eat that food?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOL daycare provides all food.

Does anyone know whether DOL uses Good Food Company for their catering?

FWIW, I work at a center that uses Good Foods and we don't have meatballs on our menu.

I was involved in the selection of Good Food for another child care center and meatballs are definitely not on the menu. Our contact tab good Food is responsive and we've found the menus to be age appropriate. It is bad enough that posters are looking to blame the child care workers without any information but absolutely horrible that posters are trying to find a way to blame Good Food. It was a terrible accident; [/b]it was not the fault of the food vendor[b].

You may very well be right. I would even go so far as to say you are probably right that the food vendor was not fault. But I don't think you can definitively say at this point it was not their fault. Maybe there was a foreign object in the meatball; maybe it was unreasonably large (I assume things are portioned in a way to not normally require teachers to cut food); maybe there was something else. We simply do not know enough to say who was or was not at fault at this stage or if it truly was just a freak accident.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOL daycare provides all food.

Does anyone know whether DOL uses Good Food Company for their catering?

FWIW, I work at a center that uses Good Foods and we don't have meatballs on our menu.

I was involved in the selection of Good Food for another child care center and meatballs are definitely not on the menu. Our contact tab good Food is responsive and we've found the menus to be age appropriate. It is bad enough that posters are looking to blame the child care workers without any information but absolutely horrible that posters are trying to find a way to blame Good Food. It was a terrible accident; it was not the fault of the food vendor.

I want to point out that I work at a daycare center, having done it for many years, and we serve Good Food. Good Food DOES have meatballs on their menu. We serve them. Do understand that Good Food has many options in which the director can choose to pick from Good Food.