Just days after a Colorado family installed a new washing machine in their home, a toddler got locked inside the front loader as the water started to fill, Good Morning America reports. Lindsey McIver shared on Facebook how she awoke last week to her 4-year-old son "crying so hard he could barely talk."
Luckily her husband Alan understood what their child was saying: Their 3-year-old daughter Kloe was trapped inside the appliance, and the machine had started to run. When they sprinted down to the laundry room in the basement, the couple saw their child tumbling inside the drum.
"I could tell she was screaming, but the machine's airtight,” Alan told GMA. "I yanked on the door. I pulled so hard I moved the machine from the wall, but it's locked. You can't get it opened."
Luckily, McIvers quickly managed to stop the cycle and get Kloe out. Aside from small bumps and bruises, she was okay. "After going through all the 'what if's' and 'could have's we know we are very blessed," Lindsey wrote in the viral post.
The mom almost didn't publicly share their terrifying ordeal knowing that other people would shame her for the honest mistake, but she decided to reveal what happened knowing that she — and many other parents — didn't realize the "danger of this machine."
Lindsey and Alan had purchased and installed the model the day before, and hadn't gotten the chance to investigate the safety settings yet. Even though they had warned their children not to touch it, the parents couldn't imagine that two of them would figure out how to start the machine less than a day later.
"We are continually surprised at the new, inventive ways our kids come up with to try and die," Lindsey wrote.
How to Keep Your Children Safe
Unfortunately, front-loading machines have posed a serious hazard before. In 2009, a 4-year-old girl in Southern California died after she climbed inside a washer and her toddler brother hit the start button, AP reports. Small children aren't the only family members you need to worry about.
"Pets like to go in there, too," adds Carolyn Forte, Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Appliances & Cleaning Products Lab.
Her advice: Kids should never be in laundry rooms unsupervised, and parents should take advantage of the child lock setting. "It's designed to disable the controls so the machine can’t be started and some even lock the door," she explains.
Since the setting on Lindsey's LG model doesn't clamp the door, she has also since installed a physical child safety lock on the outside as well.
"We applaud Ms. McIver for telling her story and share in her efforts to make sure that consumers are aware of the child safety lock feature," LG responded in a statement to ABC News. "We encourage people to use this important safety setting and to contact our customer support team if they need any assistance. LG customer support can be reached 1 (800) 243-0000."
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The mom of three acknowledged in her post that they could have avoided this accident, but thousands of commenters reaffirmed that she wasn't the only one to make this mistake. "This is a wake up call for many of us," one parent wrote.
"Thank you for sharing this," another person added. "You most likely saved another child by doing so."
