Heather Fricke/Facebook
Heather Fricke, a mother from Michigan, has taken to her social media pages in a bid to warn other parents to watch out for stray strands of hair after her 10-week-old son almost had his two toes amputated.
Taking to Facebook, Heather wrote: ‘My son Jacob is 10 weeks old and he never cries except for his basic needs, well today after his diaper change I put him down for his standard 2 hr nap.He woke up, I fed and changed both his diaper and clothes for a party we were going to.’
‘I handed him to his dad Tommy to put socks on him when Tommy realized his two toes were blue and tied together with a strand of hair!!!’ she continued. ‘I immediately took off what I could and had to take him to the ER where we spent an hour and a team of 5 doctors trying to get the rest of MY HAIR off his two toes.’
Heather further explains, ‘Doctors said if I didn’t take off the hair that I was able to get off that his 2 toes they would’ve had to be amputated.’
The image above, posted by Heather, shows her 10-week old’s toes 12 hours after her hair was removed. The indents are still clearly visible.
Heather hopes that by posting the image she can urge other parents to be vigilant about checking their children for the medical condition known as hair tourniquet, which is particularly relevant for newborns.
‘CHECK YOUR BABYS TOES AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN!!!’ Heather urges in her Facebook post.
Heather’s post has already made a significant difference, and has been shared over 230,000 times. Plus, other parents have weighed in with their own experiences.
One mother commented, ‘This happened to one of my children when they were a baby. Thank God I was able to get the hair off. I was so panicked. It had scared me so bad.’
‘This happened to my daughter’s finger,’ added another parent. ‘She wrapped her own hair around it while she was sleeping and it was just lucky I checked in her before I when to bed as her finger was already blue.’
Read Heather’s full warning below.
This article originally appeared on New Idea.
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