When can I stop cutting grapes?

I stopped cutting them at the end of last summer. My ds is the same age as yours. He hasn't choked yet! In fact, now he grabs the grapes right off the stem and eats them, sometimes before I even have a chance to wash them (yuck)!

DS is 15 months and can eat whole grapes with no problem. Why not just give him one and see how it goes?

Thanks for the input. I have wondered the same thing, too. DD is 22 mo. It is only recently that I stopped cutting grapes into fourths and started cutting them into halves!

My brother was three when he choked on a whole grape and almost died. He was the fifth child and my dad had not cut them until after that day. I was there, I called 911 while my dad tried to get it out of his throat. It was terrifying and very real. I don't like to be scared of things and try to let my DS have a lot of freedom to run, play, jump, etc. but I saw this one close up and I always cut grapes.

I don't cut my dd's grapes usually, but I get the smaller thin skinned grapes. If I get the regular ones from costco then I cut them because they are huge!

I've never cut grapes.

They are the one thing I cut. That and olives. Actually, I stopped cutting them for a while when he was around 15 months old, but then I read some horror stories about kids choking on grapes and started doing it again. Apparently there is something about the size and texture of a grape that makes it really dangerous if it were to go down the wrong way. Very hard to get back out.

DS is 20 months now, and I'm not sure how long I'll do it. Honestly, I know he's fine eating them whole and he handles food really, really well, but I'll do it at least until he's two...maybe longer.

I still cut them. I have an acquaintance who lost a child to choking. The child was three and choked on a Brazil nut. I'm pretty careful about choking hazards and grapes are a big one. Plus, my child is really bad about stuffing her mouth full of food.

4 kids ( 1 just starting foods) Ive never cut a grape in my life

I'm not sure when it was. She was over two and before three though. I've almost choked on a grape before and can imagine how easy it would be for a little one to do it. So many choking hazards are OK'd after three, so I would guess you are supposed to cut them that long.

No real benefit to not cutting grapes, other than saving a little bit of time.

When we laugh, or move our bodies suddenly, that can be enough to get something into our windpipes. It's the shape of grapes, hot dog weiners and brazil nuts and the speed they can move, that makes them high risk items not easily removed due to their ability to lodge and create a tight seal in the airway. A paramedic I know is still traumatized from having to see a 3 yr old die at a birthday party from choking on a weiner.

Don't feel you're being overprotective if you continue to cut them. Better to have the peace of mind if you have any doubt.

People cut grapes?

Somehow my two survived...

I stopped cutting grapes when DD was about 12 months and could ninja them from her sister and daddy. She's a grape addict and nothing was keeping her from putting them in her mouth before they were cut!
The one thing I still cut for her is hotdogs because my sister choked on a hotdog when she was little and it terrifies me. But realistically, she can probably handle anything uncut even now, and she's 18 months old. I'm sure your LO can handle it!

I'm not a grape cutter, either.

But I think it just depends on your comfort level (like, I give my toddler popcorn and I know many don't).

I did til he had molars, because I figured there was no way to break the grape without them. When I worked in daycare, they stopped cutting them in half at age 2.

I stopped cutting grapes at around 18 months for ds1, haven't given them to the baby yet.

I still usually cut grapes for DS. I am so crazy about it that I don't just halve them, I quarter them. DS does grab the occasional one whole though and he does just fine. The one rule we do have though is things that are choking hazards stay at the table, and you sit to eat them. He is allowed to have a cracker or a fruit leather to run around with occasionally though. I think that sitting calmly while eating is a huge help in preventing choking.