‘My heart felt like it fell out of my body’, says mum whose tot stopped breathing when her hair wrapped around his neck
A MUM feared she had accidentally killed her toddler when he stopped breathing while being strangled by her hair.
Little Isaac Smith was sharing a bed with Madi Jones when he rolled over in his sleep.
Strands of her hair became tightly wrapped around his neck in the middle of the night, leaving the 21-month-old gasping for breath.
"Frozen in fear", Madi and her partner Dylan Smith, both 23, then faced every parents' worst nightmare as they desperately tried to save their toddler's life.
Both were terrified they had lost Isaac when he fell silent - but Dylan finally ripped the locks away and released him.
The tot spent two days in hospital due to the deep strangulation marks on his throat, and to help his lungs recover.
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Madi and Dylan, from Victoria, Australia, now want to warn others of the dangers of co-sleeping so no other family experiences the same sheer panic they did - or worse.
The mum, who works in accounting, 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 I was frozen with fear.
"Every time I close my eyes all I can see is what happened that night."
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Isaac has slept in his parent's bed most nights since he was about six months old.
On January 2, 2024, when the horrifying events unfolded, he had been in his own room until about 11pm, when he joined his mum and dad.
There, he fell into a deep slumber alongside Madi and Dylan.
At about 4am, his dad woke up to the sound of him crying - and alarm bells started to sound.
"I didn't think much of it [at first], then I looked at him and saw Madi's hair wrapped around his neck," said Dylan, who is a heavy machinery operator.
"He always sleeps as close as possible to his mum, and 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 scissors', then when I was getting up he stopped crying and stopped breathing."
'I thought he was dead'
Dylan said his son was mute for about 10 terrifying seconds before he "yanked the hair off" and Isaac immediately started sobbing again.
"I thought he was dead," he said. "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.
"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."
The next morning, Madi called her partner "balling her eyes out".
She showed him Isaac's face, and there were "marks on his neck and broken blood vessels on his face and neck".
The couple rushed the youngster to hospital, where he was admitted for two nights due to his injuries, caused by 11in (28cm) of Madi's hair.
My mind was racing. I was in so much panic and shock, and I was frozen with fear.
Madi Jones
Isaac has made a full recovery, but Dylan and Madi have sworn off co-sleeping for life.
"We just get him to sleep in his own room now," Dylan said.
"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 added: "I've always said to myself, 'Nothing will happen if I co-sleep', and now it's really opened my eyes to how this can happen to anyone.
"Looking back on that night it seems so surreal. My baby is my world and I'm so grateful he is still here with us today.
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"I count my lucky stars every day since. Someone was really looking down on us that night.
"I just want to spread as much awareness as I can, as I've never heard of something like this happening until my experience."
The dangers of co-sleeping
EXPERTS at The Lullaby Trust warn of the dangers of co-sleeping.
"To reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the safest place for a baby to sleep is in their own clear, flat, separate sleep space, such as a cot or Moses basket," the charity said.
But it acknowledged that some parents will co-sleep with their at some point, whether it's planned or unintentional.
The Lullaby Trust advised parents to keep pillows and adult bedding well away from their babies, and to make sure they sleep on their backs.
It's also best not to nod off with a little one on a sofa or in an armchair.
Having your baby in your bed as you sleep can be especially dangerous if you've had anything to drink, or you've taken medication that makes you feel sleepy, the charity warned.
It's also important that babies born prematurely or weighing under five and a half pounds when born have their own sleep space, it added.