My 1 year old fell & is ok, but I am sick with guilt & worry.

[AA1924]

Hi everyone,

my one year old fell down our stairs on Saturday morning, I am always so so careful with her and was sure the stair gate was securely shut when I nipped to bathroom across the hall for less than one minute. I heard a thud and her cry and ran out to see her rolling down the stairs it was horrendous I screamed her name multiple times and ran to catch her but couldn’t get her until she got to the bottom. It is 12 carpeted stairs but a tile floor at the bottom.

Scariest moment of my life - miraculously she seemed fine apart from her crying. I took her straight to a&e where she was assessed and given the all clear after 4 hours and she has been generally fine since other than a slight cold which she had previously anyway.

pI ended up taking her back to GP today as I am just so terrified she has damaged her brain or had a brain bleed but nothing is showing up through symptoms. I am physically ill with guilt worry and anxiety I can’t eat or sleep. I can’t believe I could let this happen to my previous baby I feel so sick. Any advice / reassurance would be very much appreciated regarding myself and my daughter please thank you xxx

Children bounce, its just amazing how they walk away from the craziest accident. Please dont blame yourself more than you have already… you will be lucky if she gets to adulthood and that is the worst accident she has.

take a deep breath, have a glass of wine and buckle up for the terrible twos and horrific threes

I fell down about 14 stairs when I was about 3. My mum loves to tell the story and she told me to stop messing about on the stairs. I was given and ice lolly and was fine. No hospital trip.

When my DD was about 5 months, she fell quite a height off of the sofa. I cried all the way to the hospital. No scans, just kept an eye on her for a bit, she was fine. I would trust the Drs if she doesn’t have any symptoms. Don’t feel guilty, it happens. Get ready as she’s only 1, you’re gonna have to deal with a lot more bruises and bumps 😁

Thank you so much for your kind and reassuring replies. I think I just had such a massive shock will never forgive myself and my brain can’t quite believe she is ok after it. I’m already a paranoid mother will be even worse now!! Thanks again xx

I can understand why you feel like you do, it’s horrible when something like this happens. I’m sure she’s absolutely fine and you did all the right things getting her checked over. I remember my DD nearly fell down the stairs when she was around 9 months. I was running her bath and got distracted I literally caught her by her ankle just before she fell down them. I felt awful.

You will always triple check that stair gate from now on!
You (and more importantly your child) were lucky this time. Take heart from that, learn and move on.

Oh I know how you feel! My youngest is older than yours but she did similar (with carpeted stairs and a tiled floor to land on!!) the other week. One thing I was not prepared for was the bruising to spread a few days later - she was rocking two black eyes after day 2/3. This is completely normal, just in case you have similar.

Try not to beat yourself up, these things do happen, and as pp have said they are very resilient.