Popular Baby Rattles Recalled Over Choking Hazard

 (Toys R Us)

Oballs are the first toy many babies play with. Even if you don’t know they’re called “Oballs,” everyone has probably seen those brightly colored plastic balls that are basically made of holes. They’re great for babies, because newborns are too floppy and uncoordinated to play with toys when they’re first born. It’s usually weeks before a baby can control its hands enough to actually interact with an object, and that’s when Oballs are perfect. They’re very easy for tiny newborn hands to grip, so a kid that can’t yet manipulate a traditional ball or even a rattle on a stick can get their hands around one and wave it about.

Oball’s infant-friendliness is why it seemed like such genius when someone decided to stick a little rattle into one of the holes. It makes a noise, which babies love, and it’s easy enough for a baby to actually manipulate with their floppy baby hands. The Oball Rattle is the first rattle a lot of babies ever used. They’re very popular, but now the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall, because Oball Rattles pose a choking hazard to babies.

According to News 10, Oball rattles have a  clear plastic disk with beads in it to make the rattling sound. But there have been several reports of that disk breaking, and the beads coming out. Some of the beads were even found in the babies’ mouths, because babies will stick everything that is not glued down in their mouths.

The recall does not affect regular Oballs, but parents are advised to take the kinds with the rattles in them away from children and return the rattles for a refund. Affected rattles come in pink, blue, green and orange with model number 81031 printed on the inner surface of one of the plastic discs. They were sold at Target, Walgreens, Amazon, Diapers.com, and other stores, so if you purchased or were given one in the last year,  please return it.