Parents' bedtime warning after toddler nearly strangled to death by mum's hair
A mum has warned parents of the deadly risks of sharing a bed after her toddler was nearly strangled to death by her own hair.
Madi Jones and Dylan Smith faced every parents' worst nightmare just two days into the new year after their 21-month-old stopped breathing in the middle of the night. They quickly realised their tot Isaac Smith had rolled over in his sleep - and were shocked to discover his mum's hair had somehow become wrapped around his neck.
As their little one struggled to breathe, Dylan and Madi, both 23, were left in a state of sheer panic as they desperately tried to free their toddler's neck from the hair strands, which were tightly wrapped around his throat. The horrified parents believed for one moment that Isaac had died - before Dylan ripped Madi's hair from her head to release him.
The tot was hospitalised for two days due to the deep strangulation marks on his throat from the 28cm length of hair, but has now thankfully made a full recovery. The couple, who live in the state of Victoria, Australia, have been left feeling grateful their toddler is alive - and now want to warn other parents about the dangers of co-sleeping.
Madi, a stay-at-home mum, said: "My heart literally felt like it fell out of my body, my mind was racing I was in so much panic and shock and was frozen with fear. If I moved it would pull the hair tighter and put Isaac at more risk or I could try to assist Dylan and try to get him free. I honestly couldn't keep up with my own thoughts."
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The 21-month-old stopped breathing in the middle of the night, as marks show where the hair had wrapped around his neck (Kennedy News and Media)
The tot was hospitalised for two days due to the deep strangulation marks on his throat (Kennedy News and Media)Describing the events of that night, Dylan, who works as a heavy machinery operator, said: "Isaac has co-slept with us since he was about six-months old. He was in his own room and came into our room at around 11pm which happens most nights. About 4am I woke up to him crying and didn't think much of it and I looked at him and saw Madi's hair wrapped around his neck.
"He always sleeps as close as he can get to his mum as possible. He must've kept rolling around and rolled the hair around his neck. I started panicking and Madi woke up. I was trying to pull her hair out and he was crying. Madi said get the scissions then when I was getting up he stopped crying and stopped breathing.
"So I just had to yank the hair off and as soon as it was off his neck he started crying again. There was about ten seconds where he wasn't breathing. When he stopped breathing, I thought he was dead. I could see in his face he wasn't breathing. I was just shocked. I was just trying to do everything to keep him alive."
Isaac has now made a full recovery (Kennedy News and Media)Quick-thinking Dylan ripped a clump of Madi's hair from her head in a desperate bid to help his son breathe again. Dylan said: "When I made that last rip of Madi's hair and heard him cry, it was just a big sigh of relief. After that he cried for about five minutes and there were no marks around his neck. Then the next morning, Madi called me balling her eyes out and showed me his face. There were marks on his neck and broken blood vessels on his face and neck."
Dylan and Madi have now stopped co-sleeping with their son, and are warning off parents who make a habit of it. Dylan said: "We don't co-sleep anymore, we just get him to sleep in his own room. We'd say to other parents push through the hard stage and don't co-sleep, you might not be as lucky as us. You might not wake up and hear them crying like we did. Anything can happen so quickly. We feel very lucky." Madi said: "I count my lucky stars every day since that night. Someone was really looking down on us that night.
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