Baby pulled my toddlers hair out :-(

[Sawa75]

Sorry this may come across silly but my 19 month old is minded at home and no brothers or sisters. I bring him to playgroups etc brought his this morning. He was sitting on the ground playingand a 9 or 10 month old latched on to him and starting touching his hair (he has a nice head of hair) she grabbed and my son didn't move away or hit back, he's not expecting to be hurt or attacked, she pulled and he started crying and I rushed over and the baby had a load of hairs clasped in one hand, didn't see the either other hand. My son was upset but ok after a minute. He has no bald patches but I know from my own hair and waxing that pulled hair doesn't always grow back. I'm really sad that this happened because I mind my son really well and this was one time I decided not to rush in and let it play out as he needs to socialise with other children but I feel like I let him down.

It's just one of those things that happens. You didn't let him down. His hair will be fine

Why didn't you intervene?

I did this to my big sister. Mum says I actually pulled her across the floor by her hair. I ended up with a fistful of hair that looked like a palmtree. Obviously even then she was blooming irritating. 😄 Her hair grew back just fine and she always had long, thick, lustrous hair. So I wouldn't give his tonsorial future any more thought. 💐

I guess I naively thought my son would move or the baby would stop. And I wasn't right beside them I was sitting at the edge of the room and they were in the middle.

Thanks everyone for your comments:-)

Apparently my sister used to do this to me quite regularly when I was 3/4. I have loads of hair, don't worry! It's quite a common injury for small children.

Wait until they go to nursery 🤣

My daughter used to pull her own hair out as a toddler... nothing permanent has come of it. I'm sure they'll be fine but I wouldn't assume a 10 month old will let go of anything.. or that a 19 month old would know how to sort out such a situation.

I mean this kindly, this is a case of PFB 🥴 hair gets pulled out every day, brushing it, washing it, styling it, etc etc. It's really nothing to be worried about. Waxing is not the same as getting a few hairs pulled out by a baby!!!!

Yes, it seems a bit of an OTT reaction! DD1 won't stay away from DD2's grabby hands no matter how many times I tell her so is forever getting hair pulled out 🤷‍♀️ He's a child, it will grow back.

I really wouldn’t give it a second thought. If you are going to go to parent and baby/toddler groups then this kind of thing is going to happen. However, the benefits of this type of group far outweigh a few pulled hairs.

My 23 month old got pushed over last week at one. The mum was mortified…my son was not bothered. She text to apologise even though she already had…I’d already forgotten it had even happened. I’m sure worse happens at nursery!

Thanks everyone, I needed to hear this, never heard the term PFB before but its probably accurate.

I know things will happen at groups and the benefits outweigh, like we've all got sick multiple times from bugs caught there and actually my son was pulled down backwards by his hood by an older child literally after the hair pulling incident and from an onlookers perspective that looked alot more aggressive/serious but it didn't bother me. It's just the thought of longterm hair loss that has me upset, I've never felt such a strong maternal protective rush, definitely he's grown up abit and become more sturdy I've been quite chilled.

Im expecting another baby in April so maybe abit of hormones in there too!

Anyway thanks again for your replies :-)

*definitely since