‘I woke up to my toddler screaming - he was being strangled by his mum’s hair’

The Melbourne parents were co-sleeping with their 2yo Isaac when they heard a deperate gasp for air.

A Melbourne mum has issued a stark warning after her son nearly choked to death on her hair.

Two-year-old Isaac has been co-sleeping with his parents, Madi and Dylan, since he was six months old. 

But in the early hours of the morning of the 2nd January, the Victorian parents heard their two-year-old boy crying and gasping for air. 

Waking up, they were horrified to discover a lock of hair tightly wrapped around their son’s neck, strangling him. 

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Madi's hair was wrapped around Isaac's throat. Source: Kennedy News and Media

Toddler had mum’s hair wrapped around his neck

During the night, Isaac had rolled over in his sleep, accidentally tangling himself up in his mother’s hair. 

“He always sleeps as close as possible to his mum, and he must've kept rolling around and rolled the hair around his neck,” his dad, Dylan, said. 

“I started panicking, and Madi woke up,” he continued. “I was trying to pull her hair out, and he was crying.”

Madi’s mind began racing when she saw her son tangled in her hair, so she urged Dylan to grab a pair of scissors.  

“My heart literally felt like it fell out of my body,” she said. “I was in so much panic and shock and was frozen with fear.” 

In an attempt to free their toddler from strangulation, Madi tried pulling the hair out, but it only made the hold tighter. 

“When I was getting up, he stopped crying and stopped breathing,” Dylan said. “I thought he was dead. I could see in his face he wasn't breathing.”

Without hesitation, Dylan grabbed Madi's hair and ripped it out. 

“When I made that last rip of Madi's hair and heard him cry, it was just a big sigh of relief,” he continued. “After that, he cried for about five minutes, and there were no marks around his neck.” 

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Isaac stopped breathing but has since made a full recovery. Source: Kennedy News and Media

“Anything can happen so quickly”

The following morning, Isaac’s parents were horrified to find broken blood vessels on their toddler’s face, prompting them to make a dash to the hospital. 

Due to the deep strangulation marks on his neck, the toddler had to spend two nights in hospital to let his lungs recover. 

Thankfully, Isaac is back home and on the mend, but it hasn’t stopped horrific flashbacks creeping into his parent’s minds. 

“Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is what happened that night,” Madi said. 

Since the terrifying incident, they’ve sworn off co-sleeping and now make their son sleep on his own at night. 

Now, the Melbourne parents are urging other parents to re-think co-sleeping, as “anything can happen so quickly.” 

“We'd say to other parents, 'Push through the hard stage and don't co-sleep - you might not be as lucky as us',” Dylan suggested. 

“You might not wake up and hear them crying like we did … We feel very lucky.”

Originally published as ‘I woke up to my toddler screaming - he was being strangled by his mum’s hair’