I woke at 4am to find my hair wrapped so tightly around my son’s neck he was unconscious

A MUM has shared the moment her one-year-old toddler almost died after her hair strangled him as they slept.

The tot had jumped into bed with his parents and was sleeping in the middle of both of them when he started suffering from hair tourniquet syndrome.

The little boy was found with strands of hair wrapped tightly around his neck (Pictured: strangulation makes caused by hair)

The mum is warning other parents of hair tourniquet syndrome

The relatively rare condition is most common in babies and toddlers, and the risk increases when mums suffer from postpartum hair loss.

Sharing the story on the Tiny Hearts Education Instagram page, the mum said her son was “seconds away” from death when the parents realised what was happening.

“My partner woke up at 4am to find my hair wrapped so tightly around my son’s neck and my son going in and out of consciousness,” she wrote.

“[They] then started ripping my hair apart, trying to free our son.”

The little boy had fallen asleep with his head and neck on his mum’s hair and some strands had found their way around his neck and were cutting off his oxygen supply.

While the parents frantically tried to get the boy out of the tangled hair choker, things took a turn for the worst.

“He had stopped breathing, and we really thought he was gone for good,” she recalled.

But thankfully, in the next few moments, the little tot was freed, and his parents rushed him to the hospital.

The boy, who is now almost two, has since made a full recovery.

But at the time, he was left with deep strangulation marks on his neck, here the hair had dug into his skin.

His face was covered in broken blood vessels, which had popped while he was struggling to breathe.

“Doctors said that this was a near-death experience and that we are very, very lucky he is still here with us,” the mum explained.

She shared the story in the hope that other parents would be aware of the risks associated with long hair around children.

“This was the scariest moment of my life, and it’s not something I was ever warned about or even thought twice about,” the mum said.

Hair tourniquet syndrome usually affects toes and fingers, but in some rarer cases, it affects other body parts too.

How to keep your child safe

Parents must regularly check their child’s extremities – including fingers, toes and genitals – for hair tourniquets.

But, they should also be weary of hair getting caught around a child’s neck, especially when co-sleeping.

Nikki Jurcutz, first aid expert from the Tiny Hearts Foundation, suggested ways people with long hair can keep their children safe.

“The main thing you want to avoid is long strands that could wrap around their neck,” she said.

“I would say tying your hair up in a bun or a plait would help lower the risk of [hair tourniquets].”

Treatment

The NHS states that treatment begins with recognising the issue.

Experts say that an extremely close examination may be needed to find the hair and that you might need to use a magnifying glass or a bright light.

To treat the tourniquet, first aider Nikki previously explained that you can apply a small amount of hair removal cream for 10 minutes.

However, she said you can only do this if the skin around the area is still intact.

You should then rinse the area with warm water.

If the hair remains wrapped or the skin is broken or bleeding, you should take your little one to the nearest emergency department, she said.

The same applies if they have fallen out of consciousness or are not breathing.