one year old throws herself off the couch

[Anabellesmumanddad]

our one year old is fearless. She can now climb on to our couch and she loves to tumble headfirst on to the floor. Usually the dog pillow is in the general area so she lands on that. However even if she lands straight on the floor with a reasonable thump she doesn't seem to mind. It's better than a playground. Tonight however she dove straight off the side of the couch, over the armrest, which is considerably higher. Her dad caught her but we are now not sure what to do. We are going to try to teach her only to sit on the couch but she thinks its all a big game. Part of me wonders if this is a case of 'once she hurts herself, she'll learn the lesson' but I am trying to think of something else to do to intervene first. I understand she is exploring and we can't wrap her in cotton wool forever.

i would put a big cushion or bean bag next to the side with the arm rest.

When she looks like she is about to do it, lay her on her belly and turn her round so she will slide of backwards.
I did this with both Ds' and they never fell off again, or threw themselves off in your case!
It only takes to be shown once or twice.
Once mine knew how to get off properly, they climbed up and down off it all day!

Woukld second the crawling backwards tip. DS mastered it pretty quickly. Now I jst have to stop him clambering over the bed rail

I will definitely give that a go, but I suspect sliding off backwards isn't nearly as fun as headfirst :-) She cackles and laughs when she dumps herself on the floor, I think we will try ignoring the incorrect dismounts and applauding the correct ones

Anabellesmumanddad I am very much in the same boat. My DS who's 20 months is so reckless and clueless that I am afraid to leave him for a minute. What we've been told (he is being seen by an occupational therapist for his sensory hypersensitivity) that there are some kids who lag in their body awareness. So rough sports, body contact games, etc actually give them stimuli because it helps them "feel" their body. They also react less to pain since they're concentrating more on a thrill of things. Like we noticed that if our DS walks by and hits his head, he'll turn around and try hitting it again on the same spot but more gently, almost testing it (he actually does less of that now - either outgrowing it or his OT therapy is helping). What was funny was that OT pointed right away - "he didn't like looking in the mirror, did he?" I was like - "nope, never really took notice of that." She said that lots of kids with lacking body awareness don't notice mirrors! Now I was just thinking that my boy was a typical man! LOL

thanks for all your responses guys... I guess she is just trying to figure out her body.