health

Cot danger warning after boy gets stuck.

A mother of 18-month-old twins has shared a frightening experience to warn others about cot dangers.

When Alison Johnson positioned her babies’ cots side-by-side, she never thought she was creating a potential trap.

Last week, when the twins were due for a nap, Alison found her son wedged between the cots struggling to hold himself up.

“This morning I put Caleb down for his nap. Shortly after he started to cry. After a few minutes, I went in to check on him. He had climbed out of his crib and was stuck between his crib and Libby’s crib, ” she said.

“His body fit through, but his head wouldn’t. He was using every ounce of energy he had to hold himself up by his little arms.

“If they had given out, he would’ve just been hanging there by his head,” she said.
The cots were positioned next to one another. Image via Facebook (Alison Johnson)

 

The discovery was a lucky one, as Alison would have normally been in another room.

"What's even more scary is that like many mums, I generally use nap time as an opportunity to shower. Had I done that today and checked on him after five minutes, he would have literally hung himself."

Alison said the experience was "traumatising" but she braved "mother judging" to share her concerns.

"I'm glad it's raising so much awareness. I'm also pleasantly surprised with the response," she said.

"Before I shared it, I totally prepared myself for the mean comments.

"People can be so terrible on the Internet, especially when it comes to mom judging, but I figured if our experience could possibly save a life, I'd take the grunt of it from the Internet trolls.

"Surprisingly out of nearly 40,000 shares, I've seen very few negative comments."

Alison has inspired mothers around the world to think about cot safety.

"People have been so thankful for the information, as it's just something they never would've seen as dangerous.

"I've received hundreds of messages from twin mums thanking me because they had their nursery set up just like this and have changed it now," she said.

Alison's appeal to share her post gained media attention and over 50,000 shares on Facebook.

Many friends have posted well wishes after she admitted to being "totally shook up" by the experience.