A DISTRAUGHT mum woke up to find her hair had wrapped itself around her baby’s neck while they slept in the same bed.
The tot was rushed to hospital after being strangled by the strands.
GettyExperts have warned about the dangers of co-sleeping with your child[/caption]
Thankfully, the baby from Jonesboro, in the state of Arkansas in the US, survived the terrifying incident.
It’s not the first time this kind of accident has occurred, with mum Emma Lewis Chipili, 35, sharing a chilling moment when she woke up to find her long hair tightly wrapped around her 16-month-old son’s throat.
She called it “the scariest thing that ever happened” to her and shared how her husband had to rip her hair out to free her child.
A study published to Pediatric Oncall warned that hair tourniquet syndrome – where hair wraps around a baby’s neck to strangle it – was a rare but potential risk of children co-sleeping with their parents.
Dr Lowery Beck, a paediatrician in Jonesboro, acknowledged how hard it can be for parents faced with a baby’s cries.
It can also seem easier to co-sleep if your child is waking up in the night hungry and you need to breastfeed them.
But Dr Beck urged parents not to bring their little ones into bed with them.
“The baby is going to be safer in their crib sleeping on a baby surface, instead of an adult bed with an adult,” he told K8 News.
He said co-sleeping is a problem he often sees with first-time parents in particular and stressed that it could result in all kids of accidents.
“The danger there is having the airway cut off where they are no longer breathing or something is around their neck strangling them, causing airway obstruction that will lead to death pretty quickly if it is not taken care of,” Dr Beck said.
Dr Beck said the blankets could smother a child or the parent could accidentally roll over and sleep on top of the child.
It comes as experts warned of thousands of baby products sold online that are putting tots’ lives at risk, calling them ‘accidents waiting to happen’.
The Lullaby Trust warned UK parents about the dangers of co-sleeping.
“To reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) the safest place for a baby to sleep is in their own clear, flat, separate sleep space, such as a cot or Moses basket,” the charity said.
But it acknowledged that some parents will co-sleep with their at some point, whether it’s planned or unintentional.
The Lullaby Trust advised you keep keep pillows and adult bedding well away from your baby and to make sure they sleep on their backs.
It’s also best not to nod off with a baby on a sofa or in an armchair.
Having your baby in your bed as you sleep can be especially dangerous if you’ve had anything to drink or you’ve taken medication that makes you feel sleepy, the charity warned.
It’s also important that babies born prematurely or weighing under five and a half pounds when born have their own sleep space, according to the Lullaby Trust.
SIDS, also known as cot death, is the sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby.
About 200 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly in the UK each year, according to the NHS, with most deaths happening in the first six months of a tot’s life.
It emphasised that SIDS is rare and the risk of your baby dying from it is low.
GettyIt’s best for babies to have their own sleep space like a cot, experts say[/caption]