Parenting

Mum warns parents of the dangers of long hair after a single strand nearly cost her son a toe


A MUM is warning other parents after discovering that her son’s toe had become swollen after one of her hairs got caught around it.

Taking to the Facebook group The Motherload, Kim Potter shared snaps of her baby’s toe which had turned a bright shade of pink and swelled in size.

 Kim Potter has warned other parents about the dangers of long hair after one of hers almost cost her son his toe

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Kim Potter has warned other parents about the dangers of long hair after one of hers almost cost her son his toeCredit: Facebook

She admitted to feeling guilty having not noticed the hair which was so tight it had “cut his skin.”

The tot had developed hair tourniquet syndrome, which mostly affects infants when hair becomes tied around their toes, fingers, tongue or umbilical stump.

She wrote in The Motherload: “In two minds if to post this or not, feeling very bad right now but I want to make others aware.

“When getting my little boy dressed this morning I noticed his toe was very swollen, when looking closer I found he had one of my hairs wrapped around his toe, that tight it had cut his skin.

 The hair had become so tightly wrapped around his toe that it swelled and became very painful

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The hair had become so tightly wrapped around his toe that it swelled and became very painfulCredit: Facebook

“I couldn’t get to it myself so went straight to the hospital, where two nurses checked him over and said nothing is there now it must have come away… all day checking his toe best I could because I wasn’t happy how it was still swelling.”

Convinced that the hair was still there, the mum then investigated again when she got home.

She said: “Of course mummy knows best and I was convinced there was a hair still there.

“So through him screaming at me I managed to get the tweezers and sure enough there it was.

What is tourniquet syndrome?

Dr Donald McGregor of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, previously The Sun Online tourniquet syndrome can affect a baby’s toes, fingers – even the penis.

“It’s one of the things I ask GPs and junior doctors to look for in the ‘crying baby’, if there are no obvious causes,” he said.

“When hormones settle down after birth there’s a bit more hair loss.

“We’re not entirely sure why they can wrap so tightly but hair is softer when wet and contracts and stiffens when dry so that might be a factor.

“The best way to prevent tourniquet syndrome is by raising awareness and asking parents to check toes and fingers if their baby is upset.”

Embedded in his toe that tight it was missed by two nurses!

“If I hadn’t of trusted my instincts I would have put him to bed tonight and tomorrow would have been a whole different story!

“Just be extra vigilant with your babas, who could have thought a single strand of hair could have lost my baby’s toe!”

Other mums were sympathetic, coming forward with their own similar stories.

One said: “Hope you’re OK. I completely know the emotions you went through it made me feel bad… now I’m obsessed with checking her toes even now she’s nearly two lol.”

A second added: “This is more common than people realise and has happened to a few people I know personally. Thank goodness your boy is OK.”

Another warned to look out for other body parts too: “My daughter had this! Never knew about it before and then see a thing on fb about it.

“Mums of boys to know hair can wrap around there penis too.”

In other parenting news, we reveal what happens to your child when you leave them in a hot car, minute by minute.

And a mum who admits that she has “digestive biscuit nipples and enormous piles” is praised for her very honest posts on birth.

Mum leaves the room for ‘a couple of minutes’ and comes back to find her kids have destroyed the sofa with nappy cream





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