Tell me your 'near misses' to make me feel better (and make me realise I am not alone)

[OneLieIn]

This is a really difficult subject to talk about, but hopefully YKWIM, those times when something too awful to contemplate could have happened, but it didn't.

DD (7) fell into very deep water yesterday from the pontoon as she wasn't looking where she was walking. She went under, came up, I heard her scream and dragged her out.

I wasn't looking either, I had turned my back for no more than 1 minute.

DD's OK, very shook up as am I- I feel like the worst mother, I should have been watching.

When DD was one I walked into her bedroom to find her standing on her windowsil. She was swinging on the catch so when she opened it she swung back, leaning into the room and then she'd close the catch and lean forward on the window. First floor window with a drop onto a paved patio. I had no notion that she was able to climb onto the windowsil.

It's one of those things my brain won't let me think about all in one go - I can only think little bits of it at a time. I still feel sick and shakey thinking about it.

Oh, and then a couple of weeks ago she climbed a wooden fence at the park - other side of the fence was a 8 foot drop down a wall and then a deep duck pond. She lost her balance and flipped forwards over the top of the fence. I have absolutely no idea how I caught her - complete blank - but I remember turning to my friend and I was holding dd by her ankles and she was completely upside down, the other side of the fence, suspended over the duck pond.

oh just remembered one!!!

DD2 was in bed one night, and suddenly someone is banging on the front door, open it to my neighbour who tells me that Dd2 has opened her window and is walking along the outside window sill . Dh rushed upstairs to try and get her in without scaring her, while I watched from downstairs!! My heart was in my throat, but Dh managed to get her in without her falling....

she must have been about 2-3

Eek SGK.

ALmummy
That is what it was like for me (see my post)
like I sensed it....
Strange

friend's ds fell into a canal in venice and nearly drowned if that makes you feel any better! my own ds fell headfirst off a chair he was standing on ('helping' me wash up, aged about 1) onto the hard wooden floor. deathly silence for about five seconds in which i truly thought he was dead followed by horrendous wailing for a few seconds, and then he got up and ambled off quite happily to bother the dog. i couldn't stop shaking, on the other hand.

I went swimming with my friend a few weeks ago and her two boys. Her sister was also there with her two children. My friend was playing with her niece whe nshe noticed her youngest wa nowhere to be seen. Turns out he was upside down in the rubber ring. She was really shaking. The lifeguard hadn't even noticed, as she was too busy staring out of the window.

When ds was tiny I didn't realise he had learned to roll over (well actually he hadn't, this was his first roll I think!) and we were staying at my Mum's. We were co-sleeping and I had pushed the bed against the wall and made a large roll of duvet along the outer edge which for a non-rolling baby was absolutely un-breachable. It was a huge duvet and behind the roll was a long bit hanging over the edge of the bed.

I went in to check on him on impulse a couple of hours later just at the exact moment when he flipped himself over (using one leg swinging out wide for added momentum) and as he flipped over his leg went over the roll, the rest of his body followed, and he abseiled gracefully, feet first, down the huge duvet and landed with a soft PLOP onto the carpet. Just as I got to him he opened his eyes, saw me and gurgled.

ds is Jack-Jack I think

jaynerae, that sounded awful you poor thing

we have had hundreds of mishaps, v careless family. worst most recent one happened when ds2, in full view of my dh and my dad I believe, tied a rope across the climbing frame then jumped into the gap in the middle of the climbing frame, catching his neck on the rope and being knocked to the ground. I don't know if that sounds all that dramatic, but essentially he almost garrotted himself. I'm amazed he didn't break his neck. he had a rope burn right across his neck for about a month afterwards that faded to a thin line like he had taken a knife to his throat

was pretty awful

also invited a lot of 'omg what happened' comments

This thread has made me feel a lot better. Today I put my DS in his pushchair and gave him a rusk and then left the park. Walked to the train station, bumped the chair up two flights of steps and then sat down and realised to my horror that I had forgotten to do the straps up

Feel like a hideous mother

Not really a near miss, but I remember falling off the side of a boat when I was about 8 or 9. Unfortunately it was on dry land and I winded myself really badly. My mum said I sounded like a cat yowling. I think they were considering buying a boat. I remember the lady who owned the yard got me a glass of orange juice. Having never winded myself before it was rather scary and I did think I was going to die.

This is a gut-churning thread

DS is only 11 months so we've only notched up the obligatory falling-off-the-bed incident so far, or we had, until lunchtime today.

I came in from work for lunch, DP was sitting at the table and DS was in the highchair (for which there is a single crappy plastic strap which is not only useless but also probably a health hazard so we don't use). DP went to the sink while I was getting myself a drink and suddenly I heard him yelp - I turned round to see DS standing up in the chair, facing backwards grinning at us. Another moment and he could have fallen face first onto the hard floor [vomit]

It's so scary - he was literally unsupervised for a second and we were both a couple of steps away from him.

Harness arriving by weekend hopefully .

So glad I'm not the only one!

I was out for a walk with a friend and we came to a road. We both had pushchairs. My daughter was about 3 months at the time.

I thought that my friend was crossing the road, and presuming that she had already checked for traffic I held onto the pushchair and was a millisecond from pushing my pram into the road.

Just then a car whipped in front of me. My friend wasn't about to cross the road at all, and I'd very nearly pushed my daughter right under a fast moving car. It would probably have killed her or maimed her for life or something terrible.

Being a mum is scary as hell. I'm very scatterbrained and I scare myself with what I could let happen sometimes!

I read a story on the internet a while ago (don't know where it was) where a mum had been at a party, got distracted, and her toddler want for a wander on her own and drowned in a small pond. The story still haunts me.

My 22 month old has fallen off our bed no less than 4 times . Last time was terrible - he was bouncing too close to the edge and I went to get hold of him and he fell off backwards onto the corner of an open drawer. He got a horrible graze right across his back, the poor wee thing.

And then there was the time he poured scalding hot coffee all over himself when he was just learning to pull himself up.

God I feel like a cr*p mother sometimes. So glad I'm not alone.

Ds fell into the swimming pool (age 3) whilst walking only a couple of feet behind me. I didn't hear the splash and was only aware when life guard hauled him out and presented him to me....

Ds fell into the swimming pool (age 3) whilst walking only a couple of feet behind me. I didn't hear the splash and was only aware when life guard hauled him out and presented him to me....

Do falling off bed or settee count as near misses? I thought it was more of a normal development stage to let you know when your child is mobile.....

The trouble is, DS keeps landing on his head. It must be possible for them to break their neck like that, mustn't it? It doesn't bear thinking about.

But yes, it's certainly a developmental stage in this house.

ds ran into a swimming pool fully clothed twice on holiday 2 weeks ago. the first time i had been getting him changed back into his clothes on the side of the pool, turned my back to put something in his bag and off he went. the second time i decided to use the cubicles after what had happened. i was pulling a jumper over my head and looked down and ds was nowhere to be seen. he had crawled under the door whilst the jumper was over my head and by the time i'd unlocked the door he was already heading for the pool again. this is why i hate pools where you can't take the pushchair in. luckily he knows how to turn around, "swim" a few strokes and hold on to the side.

when he was a few months old i was eating my dinner and ds was on my lap and he put his hand in the hot gravy.

when he was a couple of days old i put him in his chair without doing the harness up and he fell out.

the pushchair seat has fallen off his pushchair a few times and a couple of other times he's been in it without the harness done up, tried to stand up and tipped it over.

we were at tesco the other day and my sister was meant to be watching him and she loosed his hand and he nearly ran in front of a car.

he's fallen down the stairs once or twice.

yesterday i found him stood in the middle of the patio table about to jump off. a few months ago i found him dangling from the window handle. he'd climbed onto the sofa, reached over to the handle and was just dangling mid air.

the other day at the pub i was playing with him and threw him on the bouncy castle but he sort of flipped and for a spilt second i held my breath scared i'd seriously hurt him.

on holiday he fell asleep in the car and we hadn't put the travel cot up so i put him on the single bed. 3 seconds later he rolled over and smack he was on the floor.

a few months ago i was on MN and he was crawling on the floor by me and i moved back on the chair and ran over his toe. it was really swollen for ages.

i'm always panicking that i've lost him when he's outside in the garden or at soft play even though i know there's no way for him to escape. shops is the worse atm. it's less hassle to lug a pushchair on the bus than it is to let him walk cos he's off like a shot once you loose him for a split second.

so as you can see you are definitely not alone!!

dh and ds were using the swings in the little park outside the supermarket, they don't really "do" caged swings here, so ds was sitting on a normal one and asking to go higher. dh pushed him higher then all of a sudden he took one hand off to rub his nose just at the top of the backswing...he slid off in slow motion (I was just coming back towards them so saw it all) and I've never seen dh move so fast. In one lightning movement he put both arms out, caught ds squarely and ran to the side before the swing came back down. His face was white as a sheet! ds of course was totally oblivious and kept shouting "again, Daddy! again!"

a neighbour came over to tell me that 3 year old ds was standing on the window ledge two floors up - naked

When dd2 was a few weeks old I missed the top step when I was carrying her. Somehow I managed to twist my body round so she'd land on top of me (rather than the other way round) and clung onto her. I came down at such a speed I literally ripped the stairgate off the wall (left a hole in the wall too). And I'm not that heavy either. DD1 was downstairs in the living room (I'd gone up to get dd2 out of bed). She saw the whole thing and was absolutely distraught for about an hour. dd2 barely blinked (she was nestling quite happily between my norks) It took me ages to be able to speak to let dd1 know I was ok. My back and legs were black and blue for weeks.
Yesterday dds were playing in the garden and asked for a drink. When I came back (2 mins) they had play picnic bowls full of berries from a tree. "MM LISCIOUS fruit" was all they kept saying. cue panicked mouth forcing open from mommy to check they hadn't eaten any (they hadn't). The garden has been thoroughly checked for sharp things/hot things/heavy things. Gates firmly padlocked as is shed. But you overlook one thing as you see it every day. I'm getting the pruners out on the damn thing today (I've always hated it anyway - DH liked it - he doesn't now!!)

Let my 2 yr old dd go on trampoline this week. Last year at my friends, all the kids round were on a trampoline, many much younger than dd is today... anyway...at garden center...popped her on...within seconds she had somersalted over and landed on her back with her head bent backwards being a first aider I should have known not to move her first she was crying and I picked her up...she was fine...I'm still having nightmares of what could have happened

No trampoline till 20 now!