AIBU to think I’ve hurt my baby?

[AnnaSparks]

My daughter is 10 months old and on the move. I put her on the bathroom floor to crawl around with some toys while I ran the bath and she fell backwards and hit her head (from a sitting position) on the tiles.

She hysterically cried for about a minute and then went back to clapping, smiling etc. but I took her to a&e anyway. After a quick check they sent us home as she seemed fine. There’s no lump, and she behaved normally, ate well and went to bed.

Despite all this I feel awful and can’t sleep. I feel like a terrible mother because she got hurt.

I slipped down the stairs carrying dd when she was a baby. From top to the bottom! I took my hand off her head and there was blood but it was where I splintered myself on the banister. My arse suffered the worse. She was fine. I still have flash backs 15 years on. Be kind to yourself! Babies are quite tough really. Evolution depends on it :-)

Poked my 8 month old in the head with a pair of nail scissors yesterday! Accidents happen x

And the candle on her 1st birthday cake. Never seen a flame before - stuck her fingers straight in it!

The moment I read your title, I knew it was going to be okay. Babies are scary things and looking after them even scarier. I remember baby-proofing my living room and lo would always gravitate towards the ONE thing I had missed.

I've told this before but honestly, I wouldn't worry. My mum once accidentally shoved my whole face into a cactus when I was a baby. She was trying to settle me by carrying me around the house, heard sirens and leaned into the bay window to look outside. Misjudged the distance between me and the cactus...

Honestly, your baby is fine. You won't find a mum alive who isn't guilt ridden because of an accident they could have prevented or accidentally caused... and if you do... they're lying.

You did the right thing to take her in OP and she will be fine x Every child has accidents, I can't believe half of us make it to adulthood tbf! 😂 My son was running in a onesie at 1.5yrs and rounded a corner in the kitchen, fell sideways hitting his head on the tiled floor, the noise of his head hitting the floor will never leave me, but he was A1 thank goodness. This is just one of his very, very many accidents. Babies heads are designed to be able to take greater impacts than us adults, don't stress or be questioning your mothering, we've all been there xxx

I knew the answer to this would be 'no' without reading the thread!

Everyone's baby has bumps and falls and such, because not everyone can monitor every single moment and that's normal, it's not neglect. You'll get the odd idiot who says 'You can never take your eye off your baby for one second, one instant, something might happen!', but you might as well lock yourself and your child away in a box if that's going to be your philosophy!

When my DS was just toddling, DD (aged 5) went upstairs and left the stairgate open while I was in the toilet. DS decided to go upstairs and then fell most of the way down cracking his head on the solid wood floor at the bottom. The toilet was right by the stairs so I heard him falling then the big quiet pause before the screaming started. He had a big bruised egg on his forehead (right before we went to a wedding too). I was really traumatised! Once he'd finished crying he was absolutely fine. He's had a couple more eggs on his head since then too (accident-prone).

Children hurt themselves. It's all part of the learning process.

O h gosh op where to start! Like everyone it's amazing my dd survived. My dh let her roll off the bed ( although 'let' sounds like I'm blaming and I'm really not) and I had to calm him down. I did exactly the same thing a week or so later and it was his turn to calm me down. It happens to everyone so no your certainly not a terrible parent - that's one who doesn't care and you obviously do!!

My DS is scared from his accident, he loved being outside when little bit we had some roses near the decking, so I blocked them off with the massive lid to the sandpit there was no way he could accidentally get near them and I was with him all the time. Guess what he did?
Only managed with me stood right next to him to somehow summersault over the barriers I'd made into the roses, the poor love looked like Freddy Kruger had got him and luckily it didn't go in his eyes. But it was an accident I had done everything I thought to keep him safe and was supervising him I still have no idea how he managed to get over something that was taller than him it was like he catapulted himself and flipped. we did cut the roses down the next day

3 years later he still has fine white lines on his cheeks.

Your poor little boy. How they do these things, I have no idea. He’ll probably have the scars forever.

As toddlers me and big sis had an awful scrap at the hairdressers. We would have forgotten but each of us has a scar nearly forty years later.

DD fell against the coffee table earlier on. I was sitting right in front of her on the floor.

It happens op. This is the start of many bumps!

@Sickofpineneedles I had a "fight" with a rosebush and lost when I was a toddler... I split my face between my nose and upper lip, and still have a scar as a fully grown adult. Those things are brutal well done for chopping it so quickly!!!

@AnnaSparks you're not a terrible mother, it was an accident, which has probably done more damage to your self confidence than your childs head. You done the right thing by getting it checked straight away, x

Unless you bubble wrap them head to toe this will not be the last bang, especially when they are learning to get about. It is heart wrenching but you did the right thing.

On Friday my 2 year old fell down the stairs, tumbled top to bottom. He had a bloody nose but was running around and laughing within 5 minutes. It took me an hour to stop shaking.