late walker constantly injuring himself - am I looking after him enough?

[Mapley]

My ds is 22 months, has only been walking since the week before christmas and is still extremely wobbly. He's desperately independant though, doesn't want help and wants to walk at all times.

It kills me though as he's a complete liability. He's so wobbly, he can do literally a half dozen steps at most without falling flat on his face. Over and over again. :-( In the last week he's had a black, cut cheek bone, split lip twice, a couple of goose egg bumps on his forehead and various other bruises and bumps.

I'm trying very hard to be hands off and encouraging whilst also wanting to be close enough to him to catch him. But tis impossible without shadowing him and helicoptering over him constantly, which I din;t want to do. But my nerves are shot to pieces with the constant falling and I'm worried about how bashed up he's looking and wondering if i'm not doing my job as a mum well enough.

thank heavens for arnica.

this is all completely normal yes??

Normal yes! You can help by being extra vigilant when he's tired as more likely to fall. Also can you create a safe place for him to practise? Any rooms with carpet?

it is normal for him to fall over that much, although i don't remmeber my 3 having quite that many injuries lol, perhaps he is just having a bad week atm

do you have hard floors? if so i would think aboiut putting rugs down

ds2 was on the move fairly eary and walking around 13months and he's exactly the same. he is now 18months and kind of lunges all over the place, leaning on things then just falling on the floor and just generally falling over. i have no idea how we haven't ended up in a&e yet!

Thank you for the reassurance! Good to know I'm not horribly neglient.

Within five minutes of waking up he'd managed to fall his own length Into a chair leg whilst pelting down the hall and now has a cut underneath his eye and a bruised cheek.

Aaaagh!

I felt like that today when I was on the bus, looking at him with his two bruises on his forehead, one on his cheek and cut under his eye. Just thought folk must be thinking i wasn't looking after him or worse. Good to know that it happens regardless of age and when they walked. Thanks everyone !

Well, at that wobbly stage of learning to walk mine both fell alot but usually landed on their bums. Has he learnt to land on his bum yet if he falls backward?

Also I found keeping them barefoot (no shoes or socks) helps them keep their grip.

You are not negligent at all but I think would hover alot if he is having this many accidents. Is your home very babyproof? I would always stick cushions on any sharp edges, make sure tripping hazards were removed etc.

This stage doesn't last too long thank goodness and soon he will be more stable.

I remember the very first time DS1 fell and bumped his head on a toy- oh the guilt!

If you're concerned, why not ask his HV to bring his two year check forward a bit?

I know just how you feel, my DS is notorious at his play group for having at least one new bruise or scab every week.

Yesterday he fell over and bit his tongue. He's got two scabby spots on his nose from falling face first outside. Plus a fading scar from falling into a door.

He's been walking for 4 months nearly, but now tries to go too fast most of the time (nearly running) so goes flying over all the time. Not good for the nerves, I really sympathise!

I don't think it's anything to do with the age they first walk. DD is 10 months old and has been walking for a month. She is more confident than competent, so just launches herself off regardless of any obstacles or dangers. I spend the whole time moving toys from her path or picking her up when she's bumped into something. She has bumped her head twice today and she bashed her nose last week.

I would agree with taking shoes & socks off to aid grip and removing anything he could trip on. DD now has some slippers with suede souls but she's pretty confident on her feet. DD also tends to fall a lot more when she's tired so I keep a closer eye on her then.

Thanks for the empathy!

Yes, usually bare feet and yes baby proofed home. Might think about getting check brought forward.

:-)

ds2 walked much later than his brother and was much less steady on his feet - he's known as Mr Bump as he spends so much time falling over and bumping into things.

Didn't help that ds1 was super steady on his feet as soon as he started walking - next day he was running and hasn't stopped since so I didn't want to do a direct comparison because ds2 obviously takes after me (useless at running and sport) rather than ds1 (very speedy and sure on his feet). Also doesn't help that ds2 has directional sense of a Roman - if he wants anything he'll go straight to it rather than walk around obstacles, he's good at climbing and has no fear, all in all a bad combination in the circumstances!

But after he'd been tottering walking badly for about 9 months I finally took him to the GP, figuring that it was worth getting him checked out. I'd left it long enough that I wasn't just being a paranoid mum, it could have been several simple things that I could think of - poor eyesight (and not seeing/anticipating stuff properly thus tripping over), dodgy balance in his ears, that were worth getting checked out and discounted.

I didn't mind if they said there was nothing wrong, I just wanted to make sure that if there was something wrong I hadn't neglected it.

In the end they reckoned that he'd got flat feet and so have been able to get some help through that. Still bumps into things and falls over lots but nowhere near as much as he used to and haven't had to have a quick trip down to A&E for a nasty fall on the head for a while (so hope I'm not jinxing myself by typing that)

He's also got a dinosaur dress up hat from amazon that is nice and padded so have encouraged him to play dino's a lot so he has a little extra protection!