My German in-laws visited and brought these for our 11 month old baby who puts everything into his mouth to play.

I’m not sure if I’m overreacting but I don’t feel like this is age appropriate for my baby. I’m super concerned that he is swallowing all the dust bits whenever he puts it in his mouth.

My husband thinks it’s fine and said all the German babies played with things like these.

Please tell me if I’m being the crazy mum???

by sunrise-8888

49 comments

  1. I am not an expert but this also seems unsafe to me. Babies put everything in their mouth and bits of bark/wood/whatever will come off and the baby will swallow it… which doesn’t have to be a problem but why risk it?

  3. Just pieces of wood. As long as they are not mouldy or so I wouldn’t worry to much about it, just the size perhaps (missing a banana for reference).
    Then again bringing that as a “present” seems weird to me.

  4. Safe as long as supervised. It’s not healthy to keep babies in a sterile environment, they need to experience the real world… just make sure the pieces are too big to swallow!

  5. I’m German and I’ve never seen stuff like this before. I think I’d be concerned about the bark.

  6. Well it’s not a German thing, so idk why they brought it. Maybe for teething? They look washed, I think it’s okay, unless they’re too small bc of chocking

  7. Never seen or heard of a baby playing with just pieces of wood.
    The bark can and will at some point break off and land in a babys mouth.
    Some pieces also seem a bit small. Get some proper wooden toys

  9. No, they are not safe.
    The outer bark is not healthy to consume, and your kid will put those in their mouth and ingest parts of it.

    The wood itself would be fine.

  10. your baby is not a dog wtf, i would be afraid of splinters

  11. Birch wood is not poisonous, so that’s not an issue. Would I have been excited to see my kid chew on generic pieces of wood? I don’t think so. Better than having the child taste test cat litter in a playground, sure. You do what you feel right, it’s your child. Not the parents in law.

  12. How large are these pieces? The box is not a good measurement. If it’s the size we have from IKEA, they’d be absolutely safe and the bark also doesn’t look like it’s going to split off easily.

    However, it’s super odd. We’re German and nobody gifted our child pieces of wood and I wouldn’t know anyone who did.

  14. They look dry and have smooth ends and no grades. Also it’s birch, so not toxic at all.

    Seems to be some sort of building blocks.

    If you don’t feel good with it, maybe just wait another 1-2 months.

  15. > I’m super concerned that he is swallowing all the dust bits whenever he puts it in his mouth.

    And that’s not necessarily a bad thing: babies habitually eat dirt almost as if they’re programmed to, and the current theory seems to be that it gives their immune systems a proper work-out. It certainly seems to be the case that as we have striven to make our environments antiseptically clean to protect our children, the number of children with allergies and other problems with the immune system seems to be on the rise. (Whether there’s anything in that I can’t say.)

    As long as those bits of wood are reasonably clean, and they look reasonably clean, the risk of harm is probably close to zero, and certainly not much greater than if we were talking about store-bought plastic blocks. Obviously you have to use some common sense: a child putting a handful of soil in its mouth is likely to be fine, but a child eating handfuls of dog poop is quite likely to get very seriously ill. There is a sliding scale rather than a definite cut-off point.

    All that said, if you are worried, talk to a paediatrician or even your GP: they’re way more qualified than I’ll ever be.

  16. This looks like birch wood. This is non-toxic. If the pieces are larger than the mouth itself, it is harmless. It just shouldn’t fit in the mouth. or in the nose 😅

  19. It’s not a German thing, never seen or heard about this. But dust is not dangerous. Babies and toddlers lick the floor if you let them and unless there’s some dangerous chemicals spilled, they’re fine. The size is hard tell from the photo, but generally speaking: Don’t let babies and toddlers alone with stuff they can swallow. 

  20. I see kids even younger than 1, put everything in their mouth in the play ground. Most parents wont stop them unless Play ground is not clean.

    This wood seems to be clean. Better than any plastic your kid might explore.

  21. I am old and  German and never saw/heard of this before for babies.

    Normal wood without a bark, yes, if it is smooth and sanded and can’t splinter, like light wooden building blocks.

    Normal wood sticks to play with if they are toddlers is also fine.

    But they have to be taught to not put it in their mouths. 

  22. These are definitely a choking hazard. 

    Not only are some too small, but bark can and will splinter off. 

    There are lots of proper wooden toys out there. 

  23. As a father of two, now grown-ups, I can say: I would have let them play as a baby with it, while my wife wouldn’t let them play:) I know that doesn’t resolve your question, but just saying, at some point it’s just a gut feeling. And usually, a mom gets it right 🙂

  25. I would be concerned about the baby hurting its gums on splinters and rough edges

  26. Ah this brings back memories. Christmas 89, I open the present and scream filled with joy “Birkenklötzchen! Sogar noch mit Rinde!”.

    It was the tastiest Christmas I ever had.

  27. It’s fine. Just remove the very small pieces because of choking hazard, and watch while they play with it.

  28. Canadian here, those are called beaver chips. A natural product, great for beavers and babies.

  29. I guess not because the kids might swallow it especially the small one

  30. I don’t know any German baby that’s ever played with these and I’m starting to question the intelligence of your husband.

  31. As a german: I have no idea what your husband is talking about. I have never heard of that and I actually got curios and asked some friends from other regions and noone had ever heard of something like that. Maybe it’s a thing in his family, but not a general German thing at all.

    Personally, I wouldn’t risk it tbh.

  32. Depending on the wood type eating it isnt a problem, but there are ofc some poisinous ones and you dont know wich animals allready pissed on that trees

    I would be more worried about splinters etc, wooden blocks for playing are cheap and have no risk of splinters, piss etc

  36. Any bits from that are much less harmful than the bits of microscopic plastic from other toys I’d say.

  37. The dust bits just are wood. Humans can’t digest it and thus just poop it out. If there are very small parts, they could be a choking hazard and splinters might be a problem. Just clean it once to get rid of all chemicals and stuff that the tree was exposed to.

  38. Working in a german kindergarten. Can confirm we (and many other kitas here) have natural wood building elements as composed to the manufactured wooden building blocks. It’s totally fine if the wood isn’t toxic itself.

  39. You should be more worried about plastic than wood…

    EDIT maybe remove the smallest ones, like other comments are saying.

  40. Birch bark contains essential oils, which is also why it’s good to start a fire with it. The concentration is probably too low to be harmful, but afaik, generally speaking you should avoid babies getting exposed to strong essential oils such as eucalyptus, tea-tree or thyme. Not sure about birch though, I’d be more concerned with splinters and just keep an eye on that when the baby is playing with it.

  41. I would first test out how easily the bark or small pieces in general come off and how high their potential to become a choking hazard is.

    Most comments seem to just focus on whether the wood is toxic or not, but babies and toddlers choke on things all the time – it’s the reason so many small toys are rated age 3 and up.

  42. What rolls down stairs
    Alone or in pairs
    Rolls over your neighbor’s dog?

    What’s great for a snack
    And fits on your back?
    It’s Log, Log, Log!

    It’s Log, Log
    It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood!
    It’s Log, Log
    It’s better than bad, it’s good!

    Everyone wants a Log!
    You’re gonna love it, Log!
    Come on and get your Log!
    Everyone needs a Log!

  43. I wouldn’t mind my kid putting a piece of wood in their mouth, but these seem small enough that the kid might choke on it. They should be big enough that they don’t fit completely into the kid’s mouth.

  44. Doesn’t wood have anti-macrobial properties? And the reason why wooden cutting boards are preferred instead of plastic ones?

  46. I would probably boil them and then leave to dry, so that they wont have any tennants inside. 😅 Other that that, supervised play time is always advised, so these wooden sticks are as good (or bad) as wooden blocks from any toy store. I would argue they are better, because they are not painting in hell knows what.

  47. I honestly just a had a thought that these are incredibly beautiful pieces of wood. I wish someone gave me those to play with

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