Mum of baby boy who died after choking at nursery didn’t want to ‘appear pushy’ by asking staff to cut up his food

A MUM whose baby boy died days after choking at a nursery feared appearing 'pushy' by pressing staff to blend his food.

Nine-month-old Oliver Steeper couldn't chew and died in hospital in September 2021, six days after he choked on food at the Jelly Beans Day Nursery in Ashford, Kent.

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His mum Zoe had assumed staff would blend Oliver's food, but found chunks of pineapple in her son’s vomit when he was sick days before the incident.

Zoe told an inquest that nobody at the nursery had sought her permission to start giving Oliver non-pureed food.

She considered emailing the nursery immediately to remind them that he couldn't eat solid foods but she didn't staff to feel she was "being pushy", the hearing was told.

The jury inquest heard that during a trial session at the nursery with his mother, baby Oliver had been offered some pear but "didn't really know what to do with it" and just "squished it between his fists".

Zoe said: “We assumed that food would be pureed. He wasn’t able to chew. That made us extra cautious.”

The nine-month-old only had two front teeth and ate blended food at home - nursery workers had assured Zoe that the same would be the case at Jelly Beans.

Oliver's parents Zoe and Lewis first became concerned that their little one wasn't being given blended food when they found chunks of pineapple in his vomit after he became unwell on September 16.

The couple "wondered how he had managed to eat it".

But they put off checking in with the nursery as they didn't want to "rock the boat".

Zoe told jurors at the inquest: “He had been given fruit salad at nursery. It was clear it wasn’t pureed.

"I said I was going to speak to the nursery the following week.”

Oliver spent some time off nursery with tonsillitis.

Zoe said she attempted to raise the issue with staff while dropping Oliver off the following week - September 23 - but recalled feeling "rushed".

“I felt rushed because I was dropping him off late.

"The lady I gave him to seemed rushed. Another child was holding her leg.”

That same day, Zoe received a call from nursery staff, who said Oliver had been “involved in an accident and had choked on his lunch”. 

She arrived at the nursery to find Oliver in a paramedic's arms and receiving chest compressions.

He was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital before being transferred to Evelina Children’s Hospital, in London.

Brain scans showed that he wouldn't survive and Oliver died six days after choking.

Kent police investigated the incident, but no further action was taken.

Meanwhile, Jelly Beans Day Nursery shuts its doors after Ofsted suspended its licence, citing 'serious safeguarding concerns' in the wake of Oliver's death.

The inquest Oakwood House in Maidstone is expected to last for two weeks.

Since their son's death, Zoe and Lewis almost faced a horrific repeat with their second son Jake, who stopped breathing in December last year after waking up with a fever.

Lewis used a LifeVac suction device to clear Jake's throat of Calpol and mucus. The tot was able to make a full recovery.

The couple set up The Oliver Steeper Foundation to distribute LifeVacs.

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