Dad Shares Baby's Hair Tourniquet Ordeal

Ever heard of a hair tourniquet? Neither had I. But it's a thing. A dad recently shared photos of his baby's feet after a hair became twisted around her toe, cutting off the circulation. All this from a strand of hair... Crazy but true. 

Kansas parents, Scott and Jessica Walker couldn't understand why their 19 week-old daughter, Molly, had become inconsolable. The more she cried, the more she overheated. When they removed her socks to help cool her down, the Walkers discovered something surprising: a hair had twisted around her toe inside her sock, and was cutting off the circulation. Ouchie! 

Fortunately the Walkers were able to carefully remove the hair wrapped around her second toe. And since the hair tourniquet concept wasn't on Mr. Walker's radar, he decided to share his ordeal on Facebook, to inform fellow parents.

"It was a pretty scary situation," he said. "It ended very well, but it was scary enough where I wouldn't want anyone else to deal with something like that, so I wrote about it."

Though most parents may be unaware of the phenomenon, paediatric interns are actually taught to check the inside of socks when an infant or toddler is upset. 

"If you feel like your child is behaving in a way that's unusual, pay attention to it. You're usually right," said parenting and youth development expert, Dr. Debi Gilboa.  

"A hair tourniquet is a great thing to check for and it's not hard to spot. There's not really any way to prevent it, but they're not that hard to remove. Use something like a bobby pin, so it's thin and not sharp, slide it between the hair and the skin and it pops right off. If you feel uncomfortable call your doctor."

Hair gets everywhere - at least mine does, anyway - so this is not something you can totally avoid as a parent. Still, a little awareness goes a long way. 

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