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Parenting

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Original poster

Fell down stairs with 6 month old baby boy.

20 replies

cfc · 14/11/2009 21:03

I feel so terrible. Stupidly I had left baby's Christening cards on the steps to bring up with me and forgot and then on the way down forgot they were there at all, stood on them and my legs went from right under me.

I managed to hold onto him until we reached the bottom and he slipped out of my hands and his head banged on the edge of the skirting board at the bottom and now he has a bruise on his forehead, swollen eye (but it's getting better) and a line down to his cheek.

He seems ok now, we called my sis in law who is a doctor and she told us what to look out for.

I was hysterical and still could burst into tears thinking about it. I want to sleep with him tonight to make sure he's ok through the night.

I can't get the image of him on his back upside down on the floor crying his little heart out before I scooped him up and handed him to DH.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who's done this and I'm not England's Worse Mother....

OP posts:

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rey · 14/11/2009 21:07

Don't be so hard on yourself - you are both ok and so good to read you have a silaw who is a doctor. Sure she would have told you to go to hospital if necessary. Just wanted to say that you are not bad mother - stupid mistakes I've made we all make but no harm done.

titfertat · 14/11/2009 21:07

I dropped DD1 at a similar age, from about elbow height. Totally my fault, trying to do something with both hands while holding her at the same time. I felt awful (and too ashamed to tell anyone) and imagined all sorts of awful things happening as a consequence. She was fine though.

HinnyPet · 14/11/2009 21:07

You're not love, I did almost the same thing! I was going down the stairs and for some reason started falling forwards and managed to fling myself backwards so I grazed both elbows, DD grazed her ear and the stumble that then recovered us caused me to break me big toe! I could, just like you, cry thinking about it, but DD is now 4 and right as rain (but my toe never healed LOL and gets "stuck" sometimes!)
Keep an eye on your little man and give him lots of big cuddles

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thatsnotmymonster · 14/11/2009 21:13

I know of someone else who did this with a newborn and dad broke his leg or something and all had to spend a night in hospital but baby was fine.

Also another mum who did it with a 2/3yo dd and broke the dd's legs.

I dropped ds on his head in the bath when he was a couple days old- don't asked me how I managed it but he was naked and kind of slithered out of my arms. I caught him by the ankle so the impact wasn't too hard...

...and as if that wasn't enough, when he was 20 mths I was trying to attend to dd1 who was about 5 mths and he crawled up on the sofa behind me as I was sitting down and I fractured his wrist by sitting on him

I win worst mum prize I hope you feel better now!!!!

alwayslookingforanswers · 14/11/2009 21:14

You're not the only one at all.

DS3 was just a few weeks old when he woke up early one morning (about 5.30am) and I went to bring him downstairs. I was holding him front of him and as I stood on the top step I slipped, went onto my back and slid down the entire staircase clutching him onto me with both hands.

Thankfully he was only shaken and screaming, it was me that came off badly with carpet burns to my ankles, elbows and back of my head, and bruised all over.

DH also once dropped DS1 (aged about 8/9 months) from his arms to the floor (DH is 6ft 2 so it was quite a drop) - DS1 was fine.

HinnyPet · 14/11/2009 21:21

TMMM - you poor thing!!

comewhinewithme · 14/11/2009 21:27

You are not these things happen.
I dropped dd out of a buggy down 3 concrete steps because I wrapped a blanket round her knees but forgot to fasten her in.

whomovedmychocolate · 14/11/2009 21:31

I shut DS's fingers in the door by accident - they didn't break luckily but only because at the very last sentence I realised he'd got them in the door jamb

I also fell down the stairs holding both him and DD - she was having a tantrum and I was worried about leaving them both at the top of the stairs in case they fell . I grabbed them into me (probably gave them a good squash for good measure - it certainly shut DD up!) and managed to land on my bum. Which was blue by the morning.

But don't feel bad - wait six months till he's leaving his toys around to trip you up!

artifarti · 14/11/2009 21:31

Not the only one, no. I was returning DS to his room after feeding him in mine when he was about 7 months old. Sleep-deprived, I missed a step completely and banged down the stairs on my bum and then when I got to the bottom, I took out our family cat with my feet. Fortunately we were all okay. Oh - and I let him roll off a bed more than once (DS not cat), which as any fool knows, is cardinal mothering sin numero uno.

Don't feel bad. Give him a big kiss tomorrow morning.

Tee2072 · 14/11/2009 21:33

I dropped my son when he was 3 weeks old. We did take him to A&E which was good as he had cracked his skull and broken a rib! He healed with no problem and is a happy 5 month old now.

It happens.

MegBusset · 14/11/2009 21:42

I fell down the stairs with DS1 when he was about 9 months old. It seems to be a rite of passage (either that or they fall off the bed!) In fact I started a thread just like this at the time.

Don't beat yourself up, he will be fine I'm sure

LackaDAISYcal · 14/11/2009 21:46

I was swinging my three month old DS1 in his car seat and forgot he wasn't strapped in and he plopped pout onto my mum's concrete floor

I also turned my back on him for a second to put a nappy in the bin about a week after that and he shot backwards off the changing table as I hadn't tightened the strap...thankfully smacking his head off the wardrobe broke his fall

and I watched helpless as he tumbled downstairs in front of me at 16 months and hit the newel post and then a brick wall

feeling better yet?

I did fall downstairs with DS1 when he was only a few weeks old, but managed to juggle him successfully, throwing him to DH who heard me yelp and came running, before I landed heavily and hurt my back and pelvis and turned a nice shade of purple.

I hope he is OK

bellavita · 14/11/2009 21:48

I also fell down the stairs with DS1 when he was 6 months old. I sort of slid down on my back with feet forwards. I held on to him for dear life. He banged his face against my chin and his tooth went into his lip and there was blood everywhere. I was mortified...

He is now 12 years old....

whomovedmychocolate · 14/11/2009 22:02

And for the one time you mess up and hurt him - it's nothing to the injuries he will inflict on himself.

Thusfar, DS has injured himself by:

running headfirst into a stone wall, twice
Jumping headfirst off the sofa onto the floor, many times
Waving a large wooden train round his head before smacking himself in the face and cutting his lip and mouth open
Poking himself in the eye with a (thankfully) blunt plastic fork
Swandiving from standing on the bars of his cot as I ran towards him, headfirst onto the floor (you can see a pattern here can't you)?

They are pretty bouncy under two btw. And thank goodness for that because mine seem to have a deathwish!

QuintessentialShadows · 14/11/2009 22:07

I have done that. Tripped on my dhs slippers, which he had left on one of the bottom steps (so I did not fall far). I could not see them as I was carrying baby in my arms. I can still see him as he flies out of my arms, bounces onto the wardrobe door at the bottom, and falls flat on his back onto the laminate floor.

We called an ambulance. I did not dare move him from the floor in case he had broken something.

He is 7 years now, so quite allright!

EccentricaGallumbits · 14/11/2009 22:11

don't fret. my mother dropped me down the stairs when i was 1.

the recurring nightmares and phobias of heights don't really impact on everyday life. i don't hold it against her. much.

5inthebed · 14/11/2009 22:11

I tripped over my own feet in a car park with 6 months old DS2 in my arms. Sprained my own ankle and wrist, badly grazed my knees and head, but DS2 was totally fine.

HYour DS crying straight away is a good sign, and always helpful to have a octor in the family

alwayslookingforanswers · 14/11/2009 22:16

oh yes - whomoved post has reminded me - DS3 has fallen down stairs the least amount of time and the shortest distant - just a couple of steps.

DS1 and 2 have both fallen downstairs on numerous occasions Oh and DS3 ran into a dining chair the other day.

jocie · 16/11/2009 08:40

well, ds1 has been dropped 3 times 1st time not sure what happenend but dh was holding him and he fell, 2nd time was at his 1st b day party and dh was gonna take him on home so i could clear up, ds1 wanted to stay and was wriggling and sqirming in dh's arms and fell on his head! 3rd was prob my fault, ds1 fell asleep in car on way to wedding, i put him in his lie flat pushchair but didn't strap him in as he would've woke up but forgot to tell dh so a bit later when him and my dad carried pushchair up some stairs they carried it with ds1 feet going up first so ds1 slid out of the back of the pushchair and fell on floor. dh was much more traumatised then ds1!
ds2 has had numerous bumps due to ds1 and i also fell down the stairs with him but luckily he was fine although i had various bruises and put my back out!

macdoodle · 18/11/2009 16:11

I won worst mother by far!
Apart from dropping both DD's at various times - earlier this year, instead of putting antibiotic eye ointment in DD1's eye (age 7 at the time), I put verruca foot ointment , causing the most horrendous chemical burn and daily visits to the eye hospital for a week after a nightmare day in casualty - at first they though I had blinded her but luckily she fully recovered!!

I will never forget her shriek of pain as the acid hit her eye, and the eye turning a horrible milky colour Not sure I will ever forgive myself though she is fine now!

Oh and I AM a doctor

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