Babies cry. My 2 month old son is no exception. This past week my son has had a fussy period from about 10PM-12AM. Every. Single. Night. It’s quite frustrating to not know why your child is crying. He refuses both breast and bottle; swaddling, baths, skin to skin, walking, bouncing… nothing seems to soothe him.
At that point we’re often stuck holding him while he cries, which breaks my heart. But there’s one thing I always check.
His fingers and toes.
When my great-aunt was a baby, a friend knitted her some socks. Being a baby, she kept kicking the socks off, so my great grandmother put elastics into the socks so they wouldn’t come off. My aunt cried and cried all day long and no one could figure out what was wrong with her until her sock was taken of… and her toe was completely black. They rushed her to the ER, but by that time it was too late; her toe had to be amputated.
It’s called toe tourniquet syndrome. It’s when a string or hair wrap around an appendage cutting off blood flow. If caught early enough, it’s usually not fatal to the appendage, but it can be hard to spot, especially blonde hair on a light skinned baby.
My aunt is, of course okay now, but the story really resonated with me. Babies only form of communication is crying, and that cry can be anything from hunger, tiredness, pain, or simply an itchy tag in their clothing. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes. Some say I’m being paranoid, but I say being paranoid comes with the territory of being a parent.
Baby in distress? Check those toes! You can never be too careful.
This happened to my son with one of my hairs. I had random urge to change his diaper. When I took his sleeper off, I noticed his blue toe and my hair wrapped around it! I was in shock! You are not paranoid! It happens more than you think.
My friend’s son actually had this recently! Definitely worth checking.