It’s a requirement for our kids in preschool to bring a water bottle and it is recommended for our older kids who are in elementary school. Each year, we take the kids to choose a new water bottle, typically with their favorite character on the front and these bottles tend to be metal. I have never thought anything about it. And then of course, the good ol’ Internet gives you a dose of “WAIT, the product you just purchased is DANGEROUS!”
So what’s the deal with the metal bottles being dangerous? According to Today.com – kids are getting their tongues stuck in the metal water bottles. Nope, this isn’t a joke – no early April 1st post here. Kids are sticking their tongues in the bottles as they drink. The narrow opening can create a suction and swelling of the tongue. The tongue gets stuck and that just doesn’t sound like a fun trip to the ER.
My kids typically use the bottles with the sippy cap. They are always sticking their tongue to the sippy cap and making funny noises, so I can totally see them doing this playing around.
Honestly, most of the time I roll my eyes. Yes, it’s unfortunate that some kids are hurt from products and my sympathy goes out to the child and parents, but there are thousands of other kids using the products safely. But I found this statement by Dr. Chad Whited, a doctor who removed a bottle, to give me pause.
“A lot of parents watching this (are) saying: ‘My kids drink out of these water bottles all the time; nothing has ever happened, and it won’t ever happen to me,’
“Just like anything, any product that you give a kid, 99.99 percent of the time it’s fine, until something happens to your kid,” Dr. Whited said.
That’s correct. If anything happened to my kid that hurt them, even if it was not a product manufacturer’s fault, if I could prevent other kids from getting hurt, I would tell the world…
Read More: Molly Thornberg, babble.com
