Baby fell of changing table - delayed effects ?

[Tillysmummy]

I feel terrible. Monday night hubby was dressing her after her bath and I was clearing up her toys in her room. One minute he's putting her creams on (for eczema) the next he's screaming because she's thrown herself backwards off her changing table. He grabbed her leg but because she was slippery because of the creams he couldn't stop her. The thing is he was standing right with her, it just happened so quick.

She absolutely screamed for a couple of minutes and then calmed down and had her bottle and went to bed. We phones NHS direct who suggested we still take her down to A & E which we did. They checked her over and said she was fine (smiling away the whole time).

My DH is so upset about it I feel very sorry for him. I also feel terrible. But what is worrying me more is she has been sick twice this morning and is generally more tired than usual although yesterday she was fine. Is it likely she would have a delayed reaction to it ?

She does have a lot of residual mucus from a cold she is getting over so maybe that's making her sick ?

I have no idea about matters medical, but if you are in the least bit worried I think you should pop along to casualty or your gp and get her checked over. It can't do any harm to make absolutely sure and it will stop you worrying. It could be her cold, coughing up mucus makes my son horribly sick, he was sick every day for four days with his cold, so much so I took him to the doctors. But why worry at home when you could get her checked up. It's an accident that could happen to any of us so I do hope you are all OK again soon. I shall be extra careful with the changes from now on, too, so thanks for the warning.

Thanks for the message ALoha, I am actually at work today and my mum has just taken her to the docs for me and she is absolutely fine. He checked everything. I am still going to go home early to be with her though.

In hindsight I think I should have stopped changing her up there a few months ago. Her mat is now on the floor and so she can't go anywhere. I felt so sick and upset when she fell. It's a horrible thing. We always made sure never to leave her or turn our backs for anything even from when she was born but it still happened even with us right there.

Sobernow, she's fine thanks. Mum has taken her to docs and everything checked. I am going to go home early anyway to be with her. Apparently the sickness is the mucus according to doc they don't have delayed reaction.

It is nevertheless worrying stuff. I did also shout at DH immediately it happened but apologised later. I think I did it out of panic. Unfortunately these things to happen. I'm a nervous wreck !

Glad she's OK. The docs at our surgery are great, and never seem to mind seeing little ones 'just in case'. When dd was about 11 mths she fell and banged her head, then seemed very groggy and clingy etc all morning. Eventually I rang the surgery who said to bring her in and someone would see her. Of course the minute we got there and she laid eyes on someone medically trained she perked right up and started toddling around right as rain. I felt like an over-reacting mum, but the doctor was great, checked her over and said that it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Tillysmummy, exactly the same thing happened to us about two years ago, it was terrifying. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with ds apart from a big surprise and a big bump on his forehead. So glad to hear you are now confident dd is suffering from nothing more than a sicky cold.
Funnily enough it was my dh who was in charge at the time too. I got lunch out (and so did ds, of course) by way of atonement from him. Might be worth mentioning that to your dh.

A similar thing happened to me when dd was about 7 mths old. A&E said that if they cry straight away, thats a good sign, and you should really worry if they are quiet.

Hope this helps

Sorry, and Tillysmummy, you already know this but...please don't change kids on changing tables, it maybe ok when they are really teeny but you never know when they are suddenly going to roll. The floor is safer and cheaper too!

Glad to hear your dd is fine, Tillysmummy.

Maybe I don't worry enough, but if falling off a changing table once is the worst that's happened to your child, I think you are doing pretty well. My son is 17 months old and has done the changing table (1 lump), a flight of stairs (2 lumps), front step (grazed nose and chipped tooth), back step (1 lump), 3 beds (no lumps). He even managed to trip himself up pulling around a tea towel on a perfectly flat floor and gave himself an enormous bruise on his head probably worse than any of the others. I have to change him on a changing table as my back can't handle anything else, but I am carefull never to leave him unattended even to turn around. (the fall happened under the care of his step-sister). The symptoms of concussion are pretty obvious (high pitched screaming that doesn't stop and vomiting and drowsiness) and I don't think you should worry too much about a few childhood bruises and falls as there will be many more to come.

never used a changing table, dd learned to roll at just a few weeks old, so it's never been safe for us.
also - did you see the stuff recently about moses baskets? (because the handles don't always meet in the middle, they're very unstable and some doctors up north had noticed that a few fractured skulls had been down to babies being carried in them..tut tut...health & safety lecture over)

Tillysmummy, I feel for you. I tripped up outside whilst carring DS when he was seven months old, I think I took most of the impact myself on my knees and sort of glided him onto the pavement but I will never forget that feeling. I couldn't look, I thought there must be at least some blood or something, DH who was with us ran forward and picked him up and I heard DS start to scream, then I just burst into tears. At casualty they said he didn't even have a bump on his head but did advise if he was sick or lethargic to get back in touch and thankfully everything was all right. Don't beat yourself up about it too much, these things happen, probably a good idea to stop using the changing table, but they are sturdy wee creatures!

SofiaAmes - I am with you here! I really think babies/small children are incredibly resilient - my DS fell off his changing table twice within an hour a couple of weeks ago - plenty of screaming but that disappeared when a chocolate button was offered - now I feel guilty as I didn't even think of taking him to the doctor (& I'm a trained first aider !!) - children are going to have loads of accidents - the 'best' I know was when my two brother leapt (quite deliberatlely) through a glass door - saved by their cowboy hats!

We never change ds anywhere except the floor - but one time we were staying in a hotel and changing him on the pull out beds as there wasnt much space. Dh and I were both standing next to him changing the nappy and he still managed to roll over and disappeared down the crack between the two beds. Horrifying at the time - but like everyone says they are quite resilient and he was fine.

I know how guilty you feel when it happens, but Im sure everyone has a story to tell.

I told this story at a new baby group (to mostly 1st time Mums - just wanted to reassure them that no matter how careful you are accidents do happen) and the health visitor said that I was very brave to admit these things! Made me feel guiltier than I had when they had happened! So here goes again - please someone reassure me that we are not 'neglectful parents'

Incident 1: DD bounced out of her bouncy chair thing, which was on the kitchen table and somersaulted on to the floor at 5 months. We were both standing beside her talking but couldn't catch her in time. One big bump but no damage after a hospital check up. Lesson learnt: Don't put babies in bouncy chairs on anything off the floor!

Incident 2: DH put 21 month old DD on his office chair and swivelled her around, looked away and she flew off - carpet grazed her face from forehead to chin and had suspected broken nose. Lesson learnt: Don't put babies / toddlers on chairs and spin them around and stop watching them!

Incident 3: 26 month old DD trips over her feet and falls on to low windowsill and puts front teeth through tongue and bottom lip - involves general to stitch it all back up again. Lesson learnt: not too sure but kids do trip over and sometimes you get lucky and they are OK and other times . . . .

Incident 4: DD - now 3 pulls pram over with 7 week old DS in it on to herself into the gutter in front of a car - while very harassed and sleep deprived Mother is frantically trying to read the small print on the door buzzer to see if this was her DH new office (his fault again me thinks!) - both kids OK but I did have to walk back up the road 1/2 hour later and watch all the workmen on next door building site stop working and look at me making me feel like I was doing the walk of shame for ignoring my children for a nano second! Lesson learnt - never stop watching them / don't trust a 3 year old not to pull a pram over / get more sleep before taking 2 kids outside / make DH explain exactly where his new office is - not just vague directions with a 'you will find it'

My friends children must have been the most accident prone children I have ever known when they were small. They were always down in casulty. The two stories that always stick in my mind is when her son fell off his bike and stuck the brake handle into his neck and the juggler vein and she had to hold his neck all the way to casulty. The other is while her son, I think with a broken leg, was going up the slide she sent her daughter up to help him and she promptly fell off and broke both her wrists. She got to the point where I think they knew her. They are now both in their twenties and dont have so many accidents as far as I know.