Handhold - toddler in hospital

[KickingMyself2021]

I don’t need anyone telling me I’m an idiot - I already know. I just need a handhold to stop me crying in a&e.

2 Y/O was being a fussy nightmare demanding to be held while I was cooking his lunch - he was hungry - so I picked him up to calm him down. I let go of the spoon to add something and he went to grab the spoon, missed and dunked his hand in the boiling food. He’s literally never done that before and understands hot otherwise I’d never have picked him up.

Long story short, GP sent us to a&e advising an ambulance if I was alone with him (I wasn’t). The doctor and nurses have been literal angels and my toddler is now crashed on a bed for a late nap. There’s some concerns around scarring and joints. I feel like the worst parent ever.

It was an accident, not your fault. As a mum to a 2yo I do find it hard now that they are too big for bouncers etc but not big enough to not need constant attention! Hope the little one is ok x

Handhold here. Poor you and poor him. Honestly, you never see the actual accident coming that puts you in hospital! My toddler fractured his leg last month (he’s fine now) and I genuinely never saw it coming (he landed funny coming down a slide).

He’s in the right place. He’s getting the right help. You did the right thing.

I know you can only have one parent in A&E at the moment but do you have any family at the end of your phone?

It was an accident, you couldn’t have known that would happen and if you’d have tried too stop it, it could have spilt all over him.

Unmumsnetty hugs to you. Accidents happen - I've held wriggly whiny toddlers whilst cooking so many times, we could totally have been in your shoes. Be kind to yourself. I hope DC is comfortable, and that all the joints/scarring talk doesn't come to pass.

OP pulled a cup of boiling tea over himself which required blue lighting to local hospital then transferring to central London burns unit.

He was 1, is 12 now with thankfully no scarring (which is miraculous in itself) but then obviously had health visitors offering to come and check the house was safe etc.

I hope he's ok, please don't beat yourself up about this, accidents do happen

Oh, you poor thing. Hope he's ok.

They can move/lunge/dart pretty damn quick at that age. Bless you.

My 2 were bouncing on the bed, my dd1 looked like she was about to topple off the bed so ran to catch her, at that moment my ds2 fell off and hit his fore head, not even sure what it was on but it was very deep (could see all the way to the bone). My husband took him to A&E and had it glued. Felt like terrible mum for ages. Your not alone

Hand hold. Don't beat yourself up.

Thank you all 🙏 I have his dad on WhatsApp (he’s wfh) and my mum to text. I’ve used his fav tv show to help him settle and now I’m terrified of turning it off! I’m letting him nap longer than usual - he can stay up for a bit tonight and we’ll get him a takeaway for dinner

Hope he is ok. You obviously care hugely about your son which makes you a great parent not a bad one. It is a horrible feeling when they hurt themselves isn't it - I remember feeling awful when my son fell out of bed. Sounds like he has had excellent care and I am sure he will be absolutely fine

Sending hugs, so easy to happen definitely not bad parenting

accidents happen. Hope he recovers soon.

You poor thing, that must have been really frightening for both of you. I hope he's feeling much better soon - and that you are too

Huge hugs. How stressful for you. Accidents happen. Please don't be too hard on yourself. Hope he'll be fine soon.

It was an accident , we all have accidents and if we don't then we have near misses. That's parenthood.

Once on the playground DD asked me to hold her while climbing up a climbing frame. A wasp sat on my face and I let go of dd. She came crashing down backwards..she was ok but I felt like the worst mum Ever for ages..as in how could my instinct let me to let go because of a freaking wasp...

Accident + immediate medical attention is not cause for self-recrimination

For the future, if you know your toddler is going to want to be in the mix while you are cooking, I really recommend looking into the safety towers they make for kids to stand at counter height in the kitchen. They don’t really work in smaller kitchens, but if you are lucky enough to have a larger kitchen and can deal with constantly injuring your own toes, they can really help if you have a really clingy child but need to get things done. Something about being able to stand next to you and maybe be given an actual or pretend task tends to help.

Thanks all - we’re home now and toddler is in fighting form, having successfully figured out how to open the biscuit box one handed and attempted to rip the bandage off twice. I’ve resorted to the surgical tape they gave me to basically seal the bandage to their wrist. Outpatient appt tomorrow but the specialist said it’s 99% it won’t scar and all will be well.

@DriftingBlue funny you should mention those… DH is in the process of building one for him. I’ve told him I’ve moved up my order date now