A Reddit post about a mysterious object pulled from a toddler’s mouth is raising awareness about an unlikely choking hazard.
After a parent found a thin plastic tab lodged in their son’s throat following daycare pickup, commenters—including a paramedic—identified it and wrote that they've seen this exact situation before.
What was in the kid's mouth?
On Monday, r/banana1608 posted these photos to the Reddit sub r/whatisit, claiming they found it in the back of their son's throat.
"Pulled this item out of the back of my son’s mouth/throat after picking him up from daycare," they wrote. "It’s very thin and doesn’t have a sticky side from what we can tell."
Commenters, many parents themselves, recognized the object as the tab from a package of baby wipes. The tabs seal in the moisture until someone opens the pack, but can apparently create a choking hazard if not tossed out with care.
The OP had a meeting with daycare staff, who admitted fault and committed to imposing additional safety protocols.
"New policy is all items will be opened, inspected and tabs removed outside of the classroom in the staff area," the parent reported in an update. "It should be 100% baby proof before it ever enters the classroom."
The Redditor appears satisfied with these results, knowing that kids can get their hands on just about anything, but this isn't the first time those tabs caused serious parental alarm.
A paramedic says the tabs can cause serious scares
In a top comment, paramedic r/Krampus_Valet recalled a time when they responded to a call that resulted from a similar object. Someone's toddler was choking, but by the time the ambulance arrived, everything seemed fine.
The paramedic insisted on taking the child in for a checkup anyway, which proved a smart decision.
"Halfway to the hospital she gags, stares at me and opens her mouth, revealing something," they wrote. "I didn't even have time to put on new gloves, I just dove in and snagged it with my ungloved fingies."
"Turns out it was this exact piece of plastic from a wipes container that had folded over and had been hiding somewhere stuck to the inside of her mouth and nobody had been able to see it when we all looked upon arrival. Short story is that there is a precedent for these tabs and other similar flaps of plastic to cause or potentially cause VERY bad outcomes."
This comment and others helped the OP figure out the problem and get the daycare to implement a solution. Still, that leaves a lot of child caregivers unaware of a potential danger attached to a necessary baby product.
Multiple parents came forward to say they'd had their own wipes tab scares.
"Had this exact experience with transparent wipes tab," said r/Either_Charge_4872. "I wish they were illegal."
"I left my son in his playpen while I went to make him a bottle," wrote r/cap-scum. "I came back moments later and he was literally drooling and choking and I had to save his life."
"I couldn’t figure out what it was he choked on but I realized I’d changed his diaper right before I left to grab him a bottle and it was that plastic piece from the wipes container."
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