I received this email from a reader a few days ago, with a question about some of the wooden toys for babies on the CottonBabies website:

Dear Jenni,

I’ve been reading the Cloth Diapers blog and enjoying it a lot–thanks! I really love my bumGenius diapers, and I am interested in some of the wooden toys you recommended on the blog that are sold on the Cotton Babies site. My only concern is that some of them appear to have very small pieces, either wooden balls or bells. Without seeing the toys in person, I was concerned about a possible choking hazard if my small daughter were to chew on them or tug on them. Do you have any insight into this? (I’m particularly interested in the Flori, Pixie’s World, Piro, and Triola.)

Thanks for any thoughts you have if you have the time to respond!

And thanks for the blog–I always enjoy it!

Best,

Tara

Thank you Tara, for the email and the compliments (as well as for your permission to use this here!)

I have the Flori and the Triola of the ones you listed. My biggest worry about these before seeing them was the bells. I worried that the metal might be sharp and a little baby tongue could get pinched in there. So I tried it out to see if I could do it. It sounds crazy but I tried to get my tongue caught in one of those little bells and I couldn’t do it!

After getting your email, I took a second look at one of the other ones, the Pipapo (which seems to be my daughter’s favorite). Because it is held together with elastic like some of the others, I think I will keep it out of the heat, but I could not even access the knot that connects the elastic to itself. It is secured inside one of the beads.

So yes, they do have some small parts, but I think as long as you watch the condition of the elastic (none of mine seem to be having any problem) there is not much chance of the baby getting the small parts off. I couldn’t do it with just my hands and mouth! I have another toy with similar elastic and as the toy wore out, the elastic never broke or seemed to become weaker, it just stretched out and the toy got loose.