A toddler had to be rescued by firefighters after getting her head stuck – in a pink TOILET SEAT.
Little Kyla Smith was sitting on the special chair to use her potty on Saturday night (28/11) when the drama unfolded.
The two-year-old put the plastic seat, which has a big hole in the middle, on her head when her mum Teresa, 37, left the room.
But the toddler quickly started shouting for her mum when she realised the chair was stuck around her neck.
Mum-of-three Teresa ended up dialling NHS Direct and then 999 after she failed to free the seat using washing up liquid.
Four firefighters rushed to their home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., and used industrial scissors to free Kyla’s head in five minutes.
Today (Tue), mum Teresa said: “As she came up the stairs she was screaming ‘Mummy I’m stuck‘.
“I didn’t know what else to do apart from smother it in washing up liquid.
“That’s how I’d usually get rings off if they were stuck on my finger so it was all I could think of.
“I felt ridiculous calling 999 as she wasn’t choking, there was plenty of room around her neck.
“Kyla was frightened that I couldn’t get it off. She started trying to hold it down so I couldn’t mess with it.
“I didn’t want to yank it myself but I didn’t want to shove her into a taxi to get to a fire station so I called 999 and within five minutes a crew was here.
“It was quite a sight, I’d never heard of something like this before.”
Kyla’s brother Liam, 15, added: “She doesn’t usually do stuff like this, she’s never got trapped in anything before.”
The firefighters, who came from Hanley Community Fire Station, initially tried to wiggle the toilet seat to get it off the tot’s head.
But they were forced to turn to their industrial scissors, which are nicknamed ‘tin snips’, to cut it free when that failed.
Firefighter Guy Volpe said: “Luckily the plastic seat was nice and soft so we managed to snip it off and had the incident sorted within five minutes.
“It’s not unusual for toddlers to get themselves trapped in things, but seeing the potty around Kyla’s neck was a first for most of us and an horrific sight for the mother.
“It highlights that mothers need to be vigilant when babies are using chairs and potties because with toddlers accidents can all too often happen.”
Little Kyla stayed calm as firefighters cut her head free and was running around looking for her toilet seat immediately afterwards, her mum said today (Tue).
Teresa bought the special chair from Home Bargains for #5 and the toddler had been using it for three months before the incident at 6.30pm on Saturday (28/11).
The full-time mum-of-three, who also has a son Liam, 15, and daughter Katelyn (corr), 13, said: “It is quite funny now looking back at the pictures but at the time I did panic.
“I knew it wasn’t hurting her because there was a gap around her neck but I couldn’t get it off myself no matter what I tried.
“The firemen even tried changing positions and pulling it this way and that way but it just wouldn’t budge.
“They ended up using these things that looked like wire cutters but they were a lot bigger than normal ones.
“I was worried the plastic might cut her if it broke but Kyla was really calm and wasn’t fazed at all even when they were cutting her free.
“She was completely fine afterwards, she was running around looking for it straight away.
“I had to chuck it away because it was broken and I have bought a normal potty now so she can’t do it again but she has also started using the big toilet too.
“So hopefully we’ll avoid a repeat of the situation in future.
“She won’t thank me for it but I’m sure in years to come it’ll be a good story to bring up at her 16th birthday party.
“I hadn’t envisaged a problem like this when she first started potty training. I never thought she’d manage to get her head stuck in a toilet seat.”
