No matter how much attention you give your babies, accidents do happen. The most common accident that may happen in your own home is when your baby dropped accidentally whether in bed, couch, changing platform or sometimes due to mishandling them. Your baby’s body parts are fragile, when they fall, the first thing at stake is their soft spot in the skull which is soft and delicate.
As a parent or a guardian, it is your responsibility to ensure that your babies won’t get hurt but in untoward incidents like baby dropping off accidentally, how will you act and react upon the situation? In this article, we’ll show you tips on how to react and attend to your baby when they fall off the ground accidentally.
Possibilities when a baby fall off
There are a lot of possibilities when a baby falls off accidentally, the impact may be mild, moderate to severe. Your baby’s reflexes are not enough to protect itself so there is a possibility that the baby has some bruises, scratches, wounds or worst neck and brain injuries. The severity of the situation would sometimes depend on where the baby landed and how high the distance the platform from the ground is.
After the incident, the guardian may have a hard time identifying the pain points of the baby, it is normal for them to cry but when you picked them up it is an initial reaction to stop crying, but when the baby cries continuously, you would know that there is something wrong. In this case, inspect the body parts of the baby to see if there are bumps or injuries and check if the baby dropped on a hard surface. There are some cases where there is no obvious sign about the cause of the accident but the effects are internal that needs medical attention.
How to respond to your baby when they accidentally dropped?
- Knowing that your baby was engaged in an accident is frustrating and you can’t avoid blaming yourself why it happened. The first thing to do is to calm down, your baby feels stressed out so don’t add up to the situation. These are some of the things to do after knowing that your baby accidentally dropped.
- The first thing to check is to evaluate the place, how high and how hard the landing place is. If the place isn’t too high and the baby landed on something smooth and soft like a fluffy carpet, then it might be less serious so you’ll just have to cheer up your baby for it to stop crying.
- Look for obvious signs that will cause pain, especially if there are injuries, bleeding, swelling and bruising of the body parts. It is also important to check how the baby landed and what part of the body hit on the ground to access the possible pain your baby is experiencing.
- If the baby directly landed on her head with her neck twisted it is not advisable to move her right away because of the possibility of a bone and neck injury. You need to observe your baby’s behavior after the accident, if there are no wounds, bruises, lumps or bleeding but the baby shows signs of weakness, vomiting, irritability, continuous crying, you may need to go to the nearest hospital as soon as possible for diagnosis.
- If you think that your baby is fine, it is still advisable to observe for at least 24 hours because not all symptoms show up immediately.
Tips to prevent accidents of the baby falling
As the cliche states “prevention is better than cure”, accidents are unexpected but it is totally unavoidable. There are different ways on how you can avoid this accident and ensure that your baby’s life will not put to harm.
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Never leave your baby unattended
In as early as 4 to 6 months, expect that your babies will start to be active. They can roll around and grab things brought about by their curiosity. Even though you’ll leave them with pillows around, there is still a tendency that they will be able to grab it and find their way on the edge of the bed or the couch. If you need to multitask, it is best to place your baby in a crib or in the flooring equipped with foam or mattress.
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Make your surroundings child-friendly
If there is no place where you can place the baby aside from the bed, make sure that there are no sharp edges. You can make use of mats to cover the whole floor or you may place soft carpets and pillows around the bed. If you would place your baby in a car set or in a high chair, make sure to use the strap to secure them in place.
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Be alert
When you are walking while holding the baby, be mindful of the pathway that you are walking into because there are some instances wherein the guardian slipped that is why the baby dropped. Don’t use your mobile phones while walking if you are with your baby, remember, you should be focused so as to avoid accidents
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Equip yourselves with knowledge about first aid
If you have babies or infants, it is important that you have at least a basic knowledge of how to apply first aid for simple wounds, bruises, cuts, etc. The most common good to know first aid is the use of cold or hot compress and how you would move a person if the fall is bad to avoid further injury. There are worse scenarios where you are not allowed to move the baby to avoid further injury so calling for an ambulance or medical attention is needed.
Final thoughts
A baby that accidentally dropped is a frustrating situation because you don’t know exactly how the baby feels. This is totally avoidable as long as you would take precautionary measures in making sure that your baby is safe in the corners of your home.
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