Has anyone else's DC actually hurt themselves falling out of bed?

[VermicularCanister]

Just back from a trip to the out-of-hours doc with DS (3.4) who has a very painful pulled neck, probably a small tear to the muscle. Our best guess is that he did this falling out of bed in the night.

Since moving from his cot to a big bed he has fallen out occasionally, so we put the cot mattress on the floor next to his bed, and make sure there is nothing nearby that he could fall on and hurt himself. When I checked on him at 2am (having been woken up by other DC), I found him sleeping peacefully on the floor mattress, so I thought nothing of it and put him back in his bed. It was only this morning when it was very painful to move that we realised he had hurt himself.

Anyhow, it's not serious in that it will resolve itself in a few weeks, but of course it's a nasty thing to happen to him. Among other advice, the doctor suggested we get a bed guard to stop it happening again.

Up to now we haven't had a bed guard, as I have never heard of any child actually hurting themselves in this way. If it is a real risk, then of course we wouldn't ignore it, but he is getting to the age where we would naturally be thinking about removing the guard even if we did have one. What does anyone else think, is this a freak accident or should we take the doctor's advice?

[NoComet]

Not seriously, DD2 collects the odd bruise, but I can't give a 12y a bed guard.

[LadyMaryQuiteContrary]

You'd hurt yourself if you fell off the bed, no?

My son rolls around in his sleep and is disorientated when he wakes so he falls off the bed. He has a cabin bed with high sides and I hear him crashing into them during the night. Get him a bed guard.

[DefiniteMaybe]

Why wouldn't you put one up? My ds is 5 in November and his bed guard is still there. Suprisingly, he's never hurt himself falling out of bed because he's never fallen out of bed, probably thanks to the bed guard.

[LadyMaryQuiteContrary]

Ds has something like this, StarBall //static.lunarmedia.co.uk/images/scallywagkids/products/Cabin-Bed-Blue-And-White-Stripes-With-Storage-Units-Under/large/201292812201.jpg

[KnittedWaffle]

I would probably do what you've been doing - mattress on the floor, make sure there's no hard/sharp objects nearby and carry on (I do similar for DS1) as it was probably a freak accident. Is his bed low to the ground anyway?

Slightly different but my DD fell off my lap aged 2 and broke her arm but I've still let her sit on me since!

[WhispersOfWickedness]

DD falls out loads and has only sustained the odd bruise. One thing that I found that helped was to roll up a towel and put it under the sheet along the edge of the mattress. It is obviously not as high as a bed guard, but I find it sort of reminds them in their sleep where they are and they don't roll over it.

[QuintessentialOldDear]

Not quite sure why you would risk him hurting himself falling out of bed in the first place. Why not use bed guards?

Even if he falls on something soft, he wont "steal himself" against any fall, he wont try and move in such a way as to not hurt himself, as he is sleeping!

[MousyMouse]

not yet.
not so worried about dc 2 as sleeps very still but dc 1 falls out of bed a few times each night. wants a midsleeper but we will have o say no, it's just too dangerous.

[LadyMaryQuiteContrary]

Ds used to fall off his bed. Now he just rolls into the sides which is sorted with a lot of teddys and pillows. He's 14 now and has had the bed since he was 6.

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

Never falling out of bed but ds1 fell asleep on the sairs once and we didn't realise til we heard him crash into the wall halfway down.

He had a nasty egg on his head.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Yes, broken arm. Despite bed guard!

[VermicularCanister]

Thanks all for your input. I guess to answer the question about why we don't just have a guard to start with, this was a total non-issue with DS1, who has almost never fallen out of bed. DS2 is less reliable, but still it's not often that he falls out - maybe once every several weeks.

Up to now, I have not heard of any child properly hurting themselves by falling out of bed. (Except now for HystericalParoxysm's DC. Sympathies to you both!) But the reason for posting the question in the first place was to see whether it's more of a risk than I had imagined.

Reading the talk archives here, the general consensus seems to be that as long as there is a soft landing and not too far to fall, they shouldn't come to any harm. Interestingly, since starting this post, I have looked up the advice on the RoSPA website, and and their guidelines here specifically DON'T recommend bed guards, on the basis that if they are not well fitted/adjusted, there is a risk of the child being trapped between the guard and the mattress, leading to suffocation, whereas (in their words) falls from low level beds often result in no or only minor injuries.

So plenty to think about. For today, given that we don't actually have a guard, I think we will go with WhispersofWickedness's suggestion of a rolled-up towel or similar under the sheet.

[WhispersOfWickedness]

That's interesting, thanks for that info
We had a borrowed bed guard for DS and then moved it to DD's bed when she went into a bed. They both managed to fall out with the bed guard there though
Then our friends needed it back, so we tried the towel trick and she didn't fall out with that in place We've abandoned it now, but just make sure there is a teddy on the open side of the bed which seems to nudge her back to the wall side
Good luck with the towel!

[SuperiorCat]

A swimming noodle under the sheer is a good alternative to the towel as it doesn't get rucked up when they move.

[DeWe]

We had them in a toddler bed which is only about 8" from the floor, so no they didn't hurt themselves, nor need a bed guard.

Dd1 hurt herself when she was about 7yo. We were staying away and she was used to her mid sleeper, which obviously has sides. She rolled over in her sleep and fell, catching her head on the bedside cabinet's corner. Painful, and a bit of a shock for her, but not a bad injury.
When she was a baby the bottom of the cot fell out, and her with it when she was asleep. She didn't even wake up.

[BackforGood]

Quite the opposite. My ds used to fall out regularly - more than once a night before he started getting too heavy for me to lift, and I just used to pull hi quilt down on him. I suspect they don't tend to hurt themselves as they are asleep, so therefore relaxed, but I don't know. we used to just make sure he wasn't going to land in anything. When he first went into a bed at about 2, there was a mattress on the floor, but that went after a while and he carried on falling out until he was about 10 before it started being less regular.
I'd heard about guards being dangerous too, but didn't know how much was rumour and how much truth.