Mum Shares Shocking X-Ray Image Of Grape Stuck In Child's Throat As Warning To Parents

A mum has shared an X-ray image of a grape lodged in a child’s throat to remind parents about the choking risk posed of the fruit.

Australian mum Angela Henderson, who runs parenting blog Finlee and Me, re-shared a photo from a paediatrician in order to raise awareness.

“Attention parents - do you know what this X-ray is of? A grape,” she wrote on Facebook on Tuesday 4 April alongside an image of the scan.

“A grape that was lodged in the top of a five-year-old’s airway today.”

Henderson continued: “This sweet soul had to be operated on, under general anaesthetic to remove the grape.

“He is very lucky that part of his airway was open or else this could have ended badly. So please be mindful that not all kids chew their food [because they] are in a rush at school to get in the playground.

“Please be careful. And when in doubt just cut the damn grapes or baby tomatoes.”

The image, which has been shared more than 23,000 times in less than a week, shocked many parents who weren’t aware of the danger.

“Oh my gosh I need to start cutting up grapes,” one mum wrote. “Just never knew they could be lodged like this. Thank you so much.”

Another wrote: “This scares me. Already sort of knew they should be cut up but good to get a reminder like this.”

Many other parents just tagged friends and family members on the post to make sure more people had seen it.

In December 2016, doctors sent out a warning to parents about the dangers of children choking on whole grapes.

Writing in the ‘Archives of Disease in Childhood’, doctors said whole grapes were the third most common cause of food-related choking, after hot dogs and sweets.

But they said public awareness of the danger posed by whole grapes was not “widespread”.

“Any injury, accident and death is a tragedy but it is even more so when that injury, accident or death could have been prevented,” said Dr Julie-Ann Maney, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said.

“This highlights just how dangerous seemingly harmless items of food can be for young children if they are not eaten in the correct way.

“I would urge all parents to cut food up into small pieces to avoid a seemingly harmless situation turning into a deadly one.”

Before You Go

Eating Out With A Toddler

Never wake the sleeping giant(01 of05)

We’ve all done it – they fall asleep in the car three minutes before you get there and because you're not keen to to sit in a car park in silence for an hour, you tell yourself they’ve woken up (really they just coughed mid-nap), drag them out of the car, bleary-eyed, and plonk them in the middle of a busy café.

This is child cruelty – as is arriving an hour past their usual lunchtime. We combined both of these acts of cruelty. Never. Again. (credit:Stefan Kunz via Getty Images)

Clear the decks(02 of05)

Possession is nine tenths of the law in Toddlersville so allow your children to grab that steak knife for a mere nanosecond and as far as they're concerned it’s now theirs.

Wrestling it away can be as dangerous as wrestling a crocodile – all those serrated teeth. Instead CLEAR THE TABLE OF EVERYTHING before you sit down. (credit:abitofSAS photography www.abitofsas.com via Getty Images)

Bring the entire contents of your house(03 of05)

When I was heavily pregnant we went out for dinner with my mother-in-law, Sue. At the next table a toddler was watching videos on his Dad’s iPhone.

“That’s awful, isn’t it? Kids today can’t even sit through a meal without staring at a screen,” said Sue.

“I know!” I said. And I meant it. Then my son was born.

To hell with that – bring every electrical appliance from your house, including your 40in plasma, if you have one. Better still, find a pub with a massive telly on.

Distraction, distraction, distraction! (credit:Oscar Bjarnason via Getty Images)

Remember all parents go through this(04 of05)

One of the hardest things about dealing with the epic tantrum was doing it in front of the chilled-out family next to us, whose little girl just sat there smiling, silently eating her food properly with a fork.

As I carried my flailing child past them, I stopped and said, “Would you like to swap children by any chance?” For a terrible moment they just stared at us.

Then they laughed and the dad said: “Ha, believe me – we've got off very lightly today. You should have seen this one last week.”

Take heed: You’re not alone. (credit:Dimitri Otis via Getty Images)

Seek anonymity(05 of05)

Many parents believe non-parents should just suck it up when there’s a noisy toddler in the restaurant. But as someone who finds controlling a toddler about as easy as juggling jelly, I’d prefer to avoid the added stress of eyes burning the back of my neck.

My advice: Think of the last place on earth you would want to eat if you didn’t have kids (the kind where the menus have puzzles on the back and you get a balloon when you arrive), and eat there.

Better still – eat at home. (credit:PhotoAlto/Anne-Sophie Bost via Getty Images)