When Scott Walker’s baby girl suddenly went from cranky to inconsolable during a family lunch, he and his wife Jessica were shocked to find the simple reason behind her distress.
Having removed little Molly’s socks to cool her down, the parents spotted the problem: a single strand of hair had become wrapped tightly around her toe.
The worried dad took to Facebook to warn other parents of the danger:
“Had a small scare this afternoon with Ms. Molly.” Walker said. “What happened was new to me, but apparently not totally uncommon, so I figured I’d share with my fellow parents out there.
I was with the family over lunch and Molly was cranky and screaming–nothing out of the ordinary. As worked up as she was getting, she started to overheat, which prompted Jess to remove her socks and cool her down. That’s when we saw her toe. This is called a hair tourniquet, which is literally a strand of hair that, while inside a sock, unexplainably wraps around a toe so tight that it can cut through the skin and potentially cut off blood circulation.”
Luckily Molly’s mum was able to remove the hair with tweezers and a magnifying glass within a few minutes.
“This picture was taken about 45 minutes after the hair was removed. Unfortunately, the hair managed to cut all the way through Molly’s skin, completely around her toe, but it could have been worse had it gone much longer untreated, or if the hair wasn’t accessible.”
“The doctor told me, for future reference, to always check the toes if the baby is inconsolable. Just an FYI to any parents or care takers out there.” Walker concluded.
The post has since been shared more than 22,000 times all over the world, with many other parents sharing their own ‘hair tourniquet’ experiences in the comments, including more than one mum who reported cases of a strand of hair becoming wrapped around a child’s penis.
While it is extremely rare, it is possible for a child to lose a digit (or worse) if the blood supply is cut off for too long.
Have you ever discovered a ‘hair tourniquet’? Let us know how you dealt with it on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
