Dad Warns Parents About Dangerous Hair Tourniquet in Babies Socks

Hair tourniquet syndrome is when a strand of hair or a thread gets wrapped extremely tightly around a toe or a finger. Unfortunately, the hair can cut off circulation if it gets tightened too much. Often an unnoticed loose thread or errant hair in babies socks can create this dangerous condition, as in this family's case.

One dad shared his own story on Facebook about the day when his baby daughter, Molly. was becoming increasingly agitated while out to lunch with her parents. As their baby continued to cry miserably, she became overheated. Her mom took off her baby's socks to help cool her down, and that is when they saw the scary reason why their baby was inconsolable.

There was a thin strand of hair wrapped around the baby's toe. It was wrapped so tightly that it was cutting through the skin, potentially cutting off circulation.

Thankfully everything turned out okay for Molly and her parents. Molly's mom is a nurse who removed the hair with tweezers and a magnifying glass within minutes.

In the photo Molly's dad posted, you can easily see the mark from the hair around her toe. In fact, it looks like the hair is still around her toe, even though the picture was taken 45 minutes after the hair was removed.

"Unfortunately, the hair managed to cut all the way through Molly's skin,  "It was completely around her toe, but it could have been worse had it gone much longer untreated, or if the hair wasn't accessible," explained the new father.

His post has since been shared more than 16,000 times and liked more than 27,000 times.

According to Parenting and youth development expert, Dr. Debi Gilboa, who spoke with Today, a hair tourniquet happens because a lot of parents have long hair and babies tend to grab it or a piece of it can end up in places like their diaper or sock without you evening noticing.

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

An excellent reminder from one caring parent to other new parents to check for hair tourniquets when a baby is crying, miserable and inconsolable.