Yesterday, during a diaper change, I found strands of my shedded hair wrapped very tightly around my 2 month old's teeny tiny toes! I don't know how it was able to get wrapped around so tightly. I was able to remove it, and she is fine, but her little toes were very swollen from the hair, and I feel terrible! I've found hair tangled on little fingers before, but this was a first with the toes. I can't believe that my hair actually hurt my baby. She still has red marks on her toes from it. It's one of those things that I never ever thought to worry about. I looked it up online, and apparently this is not an uncommon problem, and can actually lead to tourniquet syndrome! Who knew? I have never heard of this before!
Did you know that your hair can actually harm your baby? Has this ever happened to you? Any stories to share, or any other stories of things that you never thought could happen?
My old boss had that happen with her daughter. Her DD is a dancer and in college now, so no permanent harm done.
We were warned of that in one of our pre-baby classes. When kiddo was inconsolable, after checking the obvious - diaper, hungry, hot/cold, that was the next place we looked. So scary! It never happened to us, thankfully. I'm glad your little one's little toes sound like they are on the mend.
One of our pediatricians actually warned us of this possibility...one more thing to check if baby is crying. Very possible with footy pj's. Sorry you had to find out the hard way.
I brought my son to the er because he wouldn't stop crying. That was the first thing the doctor checked for! To turns out it was an ear infection but that was the first time I had heard of it. Now I catch myself always checking there little fingers and toes!
The hospital Birth Class covered it.
my daughter would have this happen i would just give her a once over in the morning and at bed.
Oh yes. My husband's niece was about 3 months and would not stop crying. No matter what we did, she was screaming like crazy. I went to change her and when I took off her sleeper, I saw her poor toes were really red. I found one of her mom's hairs twisted around 3 of her toes really tight. She stopped crying within a few mintues of taking that hair off. When I had my own kids, I always checked their toes for any kind of lint or hair. That kind of freaked me out since you wouldn't think that could happen.
Yes, it's pretty common. Most parents I think notice it pretty early on and then keep an eye out for it.
It wasnt hair, but my first born had gotten some threads from a knit blanket around her toe. She really was fussy and I thought it was gas, so I was going to give her a warm bath and massage. When I got her completely undressed I realized that there was fuzz on her toe. I tried to pick it off and saw it wrapped so tightly I couldnt even break it or cut it. I rushed her in to ER. they were able to get at with a tiny blade. It had not done any damage but her toe looked pretty sore and purply for a while. I was inconsolable for some days. ER docs told me its super common.
I worked for a animal shelter and we would get pregnant animals in. We had a mom cat that used to cover her kittens with her towels in her cage, no one seemed to notice that one of them had a string around its foot till it was too late. We had to amputate it. Its just one of those things you never think would happen till it does.
The only reason I knew is my mom told me about 1,000 times when my twins were born. Well, my daughter who is seven months got one wrapped around so tightly about a month ago that it cut into her skin. I noticed extra "rolls" on her toes and knew right away what it was. The doctor was surprised I knew about it (I brought her in to make sure it was all gone and since it did cut into her skin). My husband didn't know but checks all the time now.
Do not wash your clothes with the baby’s clothes, this is where your hairs sneak into her clothes. Also wash all of the baby’s clothes that have feet inside out including socks. This way you can check them after the dryer. If her toes are still red and swollen you really should have her checked by a doctor, cutting off circulation for any extended period of time can cause damage.
