Falls, Bops, Topples and Tumbles

I was taking my older child to a girl scout meeting in the school cafeteria. My 2 year old (or was she 3 already) was being defiant, so I put her in a time out and told her to sit in a regular kids school desk chair. She wiggled a lot and I told her to sit still. She did... but then started up again a few seconds later and caused herself to fall right on her head- FIRST... no other body part hit the floor at the same time, so all her weight went on her head and that darn cement floor! I got so worried I drove her to the fire dept. that was only about 1/2 a mile away. They checked her out. It was a big echoing bump, and I was scared. YECK. awful!!

She was totally fine... except she is still defiant at times and QUITE independent at the age of 4 1/2. My most independent of my four girls.

That was the worst one.... we have had many bumps and falls before and many after.

My friend's child used to bang his head -HARD- on things when he got mad to get her attention. He noticed he really got a concerned response from her when he did that. TRUE STORY: once when he was in her bedroom he got really mad at her (he was about 1 1/2) and tried to bang his head on the carpet -he stopped himself from doing that- and then crawled over to her bathroom and banged his head on the tile floor instead, for a larger impact, of course! He's almost 4 now, and he doesn't do that anymore, I'm so glad for her that he is out of that stage!!

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I have 4 kids and our daughter was a bit more prone to falling. We use Arnica Montana topically and orally for the pain and bruising. We were in Tahoe and she was a little over 1 year old. She tripped in a small patch of broken concrete and fell face first, hands back. I picked her up and she had a HUGE goose egg on her head that was turning purple. I applied arnica gel and within 5 minutes, it was flat and NO discoloration. We use it for any injuries.

I don't react. My mom screams, "OMG, are you ok?" I decided to do the opposite. I am quiet and let them figure things out. I comfort them and tell them I am there and that they are ok. I don't do it in an apathetic tone, but rather just a loving statement. My kids don't freak out when they get hurt.

We also take the kids to a chiropractor, especially after falls. Our son was 2 and fell down the stairs. He appeared fine...but we took him to get checked. He had 4 ribs out and his neck was messed up pretty bad. I'm glad I didn't let it go and then when he's 50 has shoulder and neck issues from that fall. I'm almost 37 and have been adjusted since I was 2 days old. I have no body aches and rarely ever sick. My kids haven't had so much as a runny nose in almost 3 years. Keeping the body functioning has helped our family tremendously.

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We try to remain very calm and remember falling and so on is part of the learning and exploration process so we don't guilt trip ourselves. For the most part we ask our 11 month old if that was the outcome he expected when he falls. If he cries, then we know it's serious and we pick him up for comfort/checking out. Otherwise, he dusts himself off very well. We have taught him two phrases 'be careful' and "feet first." The first reminds him to slow down and he's learned to rethink what he is doing when we tell him that. It isn't foolproof but it helps. The other helps remind him not to head dive off things.

In terms of injuries he has face planted on the hardwood floors, resulting in a bloody nose and a black eye. That episode was bad and he cried for a good long while. No doubt his nose really hurt. He has opened countless doors on himself, resulting in bruises and head bumps. He has pushed a chair across the floor and then lost his balance. When he fell sideways, he gave himself a black eye. At least once we asked ourselves if we should take him in public because of an injury. We all know how people can be. So far we haven't had any major injuries. Hopefully he doesn't take after me since I am very accident prone.

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I remember nearly having a heart attack when my oldest was a baby & got his first goose egg (from running into the rounded corner of an entertainment center) This same boy ran into the end of a slide (plastic) at McDonalds & required 3 stitches. Last week he was on our treadmill, he had been running full out @ level 10, slowed it down to a level 4, took a misstep & sailed off the back! Unfortunately, the treadmill backs up to a wall so he got a bit of a tread burn before I could shut it off. The emergency pull isn't long enough for him to wear without it pulling every other step...guess I need to make the string longer!
Our middle child used to bonk her head into things constantly! She's finally stopped doing that but still has bruises & scraps all up & down her shins from climbing & playing. Her ped. said she likes to see those types of "booboos" as it shows the child is actually playing hard, exploring & not afraid to try new things...it's bruises in other places that make her worry.
Our youngest hasn't had anything major yet, thankfully! She's only 1 though so I'm sure it's coming :-)
You did good mama...it's horrible when these things first happen & we so wish we could protect them from everything!

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with my oldest, the first time he ever rolled over, it was of course off the couch, bad mommy, and I was sitting right there when he did it, i just wasn't fast enough. Called the doc in a panic, lol, he was fine. Number 4 just turned 1 today, I think at some point every day he falls and hits his head, or pinches a finger someplace, even if he's just crawling to fast and the momentum sends him headfirst over his arms and into the floor. Since I can't put a helmet on him, and I can't carpet over every hardwood floor in my house till this stage is over, we deal. As long as he smiles afterwards and there's no blood I'm ok.

Just remember though, it doesn't stop, my oldest played tackle football for the first time this year, I don't think he's scared me so bad since he was just a toddler. And we just close our eyes and pray at the gymnastics meets for my daughter. She's really great on the bars, or so they tell me, but my heart stops every time she's up there.

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No matter how much you watch - how closely you stand - these little pre-walkers and new walkers are going to fall over and hit their heads. At about 14 months, my son was standing RIGHT NEXT to me and fell, somehow, flat on his face and skinned the tip of his nose. One month later, after his nose healed, the EXACT SAME THING happened.

There is nothing you can do about them falling and hurting themselves. Luckily, it seems that most there is no serious injury. I cant think of ANY baby or toddler that I know that sustained a head injury - period - let alone one just from doing normal baby/toddler activiites.

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my now 18 year old daughter was so clutzy we used to call her "pretty baby bonk 'em head" I even joked about making a doll. There was one out at the time that you wiped water on it and make up appeared. I joked about making one that you wiped off bruises and practiced first aid on (yeah I know sick twisted doesn't really make sense now or then but....) she was so fast like lightning and she bumped into walls, toy chests, door frames, her big brothers legs
It really didn't but it seemed like it happened constantly. I am still amazed she survived with just a few goose eggs. She is a bright brilliant young woman.
Kids are incredibly resilient. I think its us who get more upset often when it happens.
Glad your little guy is ok!

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They don't stop falling (at least not by age 6) but they get bigger and tougher and you just stop worrying about it so much.

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Kids fall all the time! My almost-3-year-old is covered with bruises (I can imagine what her daycare teachers must think sometimes)! Poor girl falls constantly! I tell her as long as there's no blood, she has to stand up and shake it off. For the most part, she does. So far, the worst (most dramatic) one was when she was about 14 months old and we had house guests. Since we had temporarily converted her room into the guest room, she was sleeping on our bed (king size, no less) while we watched a late-night movie. Next thing I know, I hear a loud thud followed by screaming! I run in there to find that she had rolled over her "bumper" pillows and off the bed and had blood all over her face! I ran to the bathroom and calmly rinsed her off. Fortunately, it was "just" a split lip (that she had hit on the wood at the bottom of the boxspring)!! Once I got both of us cleaned up and her settled down (back asleep in about 15 minutes), I curled up next to her and bawled my eyes out!!
I've always been "cool as a cucumber" in stressful situations, so I react pretty well to accidents and such. Poor hubby is pretty much traumatized by everything! Of course, once the dust has settled, I do usually need a little alone time to cry it out!
It's okay mama, babies are tough you'll both survive! :)

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Oh my how scary for a mom. I am so sorry that your son fell BUT welcome to being a mom of a son!! I have 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys and everyone of them fell off the bed and 3 of the kids have fallen off the stairs. All are okay now. The worst was when my 2nd son fell from a school bleacher during a football game and fell about 4 or 5 feet when he was about your sons age. Yes, it was very scary but you did a good job to see what to look out for. Babies are very tough. I wish our nerves were as tough. Keep that web page handy for your future with your child and future children. Big Hugs to you for loving him so much.

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Our little guy 13.5 months takes spills all the time. We've instittuted a hugging distance rule for when he climbs onto something, so we can be right at his side and catch his tumbles off the sofa, the ottoman, the window ledge, our bed, etc. He takes plenty of spills running around too. He laughs those off, so so do we.

Good luck to you and yours,
Fanged Bunny

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My goodness we've had our share! My oldest fell into the corner of a wall while learning to walk, she had the nastiest line/bump in her forehead but was fine! She also fell out of a shopping cart when I was RIGHT there and didn't have time to catch her. Again she threw up twice but was fine after that.

My youngest has burned her hand on a flat top stove, broken her leg at the playground, and split her chin after slipping in the bathtub, requiring seven stitches! She almost never cries though, strangely. But helps me stay calm! She's almost four, and I keep trying to drill it into her early that she needs to accept her clumsiness and get used to it, I'm clumsy too and always have been! Too bad she's the less cautious of the two kids! :(

ETA: I second the arnica and chiropractor for little ones! And she has decided ever since breaking her leg that she wants to be a kid doctor when she's older..and she was 2 when she said it, cute!

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sigh. Both of my kids fell down very steep stairs before they were 1. My son did it twice, at 7 months and 11. It seems like they always have bumps and bruises all over their body.

Did I mention that my son just recently fell down these stairs again? He will be 2 next week. It's a gated stairway too!

Welcome to motherhood.

When your baby starts falling every few seconds when he is learning to walk, don't respond. Never respond unless there is a real reason, or you will create a kid that cries over everything. It's best to just say "boom! Did you have a big fall? Did you have a fright?"

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OMG! Im so glad Im not the only one, well I knew I wasnt but still.......My lil guy took a header off a bench just yesterday. He will be 11mo on sat and was trying to climb off the bench like he does climbing off the couch at home, well where the benches are smaller he didnt have as much to work with and welll off he went, I still feel horrible he slipped right by me. He cried for a minute or two but that was it, no blood, no bruise, now vomiting, no unsteadyness or anything; once he calmed down it was right back to wanting to play with his older brother and sister. What makes things better he is just starting to walk so its only gonna get "better". Thanks for sharing moms made me feel a little better.

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Most of the time when a kid gets hurt, they look for a response from an adult first, and they seem to respond to the adults reaction. When our first was born, we decided that when he falls or gets "hurt" we'd respond, rather than react. That meant no gasping and no freaking out. So we don't give him areaction, and 9 times out of ten, there are no tears. We are not cold-hearted people, so this was not easy to master! The natural response when you see your baby "get hurt" is to react, run over to them, cuddle them, make a fuss and such. It takes some getting used to... But it works, and we do the same with our daughter.

Of course, if he's hurt, we do what we need to and he gets the necessary consoling and such. And yeah, there are times when we see it's gonna happen, but there's nothing you can do in time (like b/c you have another child in your arms) and it sucks :(

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My 2.5 yr old DD falls so often that she constantly has bruises on her knees. I feel bad for her, but it's just the way it is. *shrug*

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