Have you ever fallen with a child in your arms :(

[Skysue]

Hi,

Ladies I had a little man and me go flying up the stairs today and his forhead hit the step causing a massive goose egg. I feel so bad! I think that my saving grace is that this child can talk and will be able to account that it was a huge accident.

The parents were amazingly understanding.

Have any of you had anything as crazy as this happen.

[mimi]

I've had a couple close calls on the stairs. That is why I get the kids to climb the stairs as soon as possible so I can follow behind to stop any falls.
This must have given you such as scare (and the little one too) Don't be hard on yourself though, accidents do happen. Glad the parents were understanding.

[apples and bananas]

I can only imagion how bad you must feel. Accidents happen. I'm sure you did everything you could to prevent too much injury. And I'm sure the parents appreciate your honesty.

[Momof4]

Aw, hope you didn't hurt yourself. Did you put a cold cloth on the goose egg to keep the swelling down? Most kids won't let you put an icecube on them. Would it be a lot safer to have the children go up the stairs by themselves instead of carrying them? Boys are always hurting themselves so I'm sure things like this have happened at home already.

[Skysue]

I 99% of the time get the kids to go up the stairs on there own. This little man was being taken up to his bed for a time out. He hit another child in the head with a large barbie jeep. I tripped over the top bar of the gate I wish I got hurt and took the brunt of the fall.

I was shaking for a good 2 hours, in our line of business there is just no excuses for error when we are looking after someone's baby.

With that said I tell my parents about every scratch and bang, I am such a safety nut. I feel so terrible it sucks.

[Artsand crafts]

I happened with my son twice when he was under 1 year old. First time I fell backwards when holding him facing me as the chair I was about to seat in slide back. He did not get hurt. In a split of a second I pulled him away from me as much as I could. Since I did that I just let go backwards and felt hard on my head. Second time I had him in a front carrier and trip. Again, he just touched the floor, but I hurt myself. My daycare kids crawl or hold into the handrail as soon as they are able to. When I have babies in my care, I am always concern that I could fall when getting down and go slowly and grab in the handrail. I did the same thing when I was pregnant. I was sooo afraid I could fall.

[Artsand crafts]

OMG Skysue. That must have been scary. It seem that almost all kinds of falls had happened with my son. I fell in top of the gate with my son underneath as he refused to get to the other side of the gate. The weight pull me down. I tried to pull the gate up as much as I could when falling. I did not see any bruises on him after that, but I hurt my leg and elbow...He cried a lot after all those falls, but I think it was because he was scare...

[Spixie33]

It hasn't happened to me but it is a fear I have. I can imagine it was a horrifying moment for you.
:(
The bottom line is that it could happen to anyone. People trip. It doesn't seem like there was much you could have done to prevent it.

Even if the child was crawling up the stairs themselves they could have fallen back and hit themselves before you would have had a chance to catch them. I have had children go up the stairs ahead of me and still tumble back two or three steps before I catch them and they roll down and hit themselves on the stairs during those few seconds before I catch them.

It really is something that can happen really fast and despite our best efforts. :(

[mrsvokey]

I was carrying a 12 month old in my arms walking into a school to pick up another child when i slipped on the floor. My first reaction was to grab his head and protect it. When we fell, I somehow twisted my whole body so he didn't hit the ground at all. I ended up with a sprained ankle, sore wrist, bruised knee and sore hip! Luckily a lot of parents and the staff came and helped me out. With a little help from the chiro I was ok in a few weeks :)

[2cuteboys]

I've never fallen, but my new dcg fell into the corner of one of my cabinets and had a huge goose egg almost immediately. I felt awful as well, I nearly started crying when I was talking to her mom on the phone.

My son had done it last year and I'd called health link at that time, thinking I'd have to go to the hospital. The nurse told me that anything on the forehead always looks worse than a similar bump would anywhere else. It's the body's way of protecting the brain, pushing fluid automatically out so swelling doesn't push in.

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to beat yourself up over it. Parents know that kids get hurt, and honestly, they've probably done worse in their parents care than yours!

[5 Little Monkeys]

I think we all know the feeling of having to explain a bump to a parent and worrying they will think we didn't do all we could to prevent it. It was an accident so try not to beat yourself up!

I had a HUGE scare one day!! My basement stairs have a wall on one side and then half a wall on the other side. We had a banister but no railings. We were going downstairs and I was in front watching them come down. I stand half way down, where the wall ends on one side. All had passed me and were safely on the floor. My dcg who was about 18 months at the time was the last to come down. She was coming down the stairs on her tummy, feet first. This was how she always came down the stairs, did it this way at home too. She got too close to the edge and stopped to peer over. Just as I was about to say "no, we don't do that in case we fall"....she fell!!!! I was close enough to her that I was able to grab her foot but she was hanging upside down over my concrete basement floor!! My stomach still gets sick when I think about what could have happened! I told mom about it and she kinda laughed and said it wouldn't be her first fall......I don't think she fully realized what happened or what could have happened!

I kept meaning to fix our stair situation but just never got around to it. (terrible, I know!!) Then unfortunately, this past November a hdc in my city had an accident where a child fell down the stairs and died :( That weekend we installed spindles and a top of the stairs swinging gate!!

[MonkeyPrincess]

wow, what a coincidence that we are talking about this today. just this morning, a friend of mine in South Carolina texted me to ask for prayers and positive thoughts because her and her 3 month old daughter fell down the stairs. Apparently she slipped on a stair on her heel or pant hem and her and baby tumbled. Her hubby was home thank god and took them straight to the ER where they were observed for a few hours and were both fine.

I have never fallen with a daycare child, but with my son. We were on vacation back home in Portugal and they have some cobblestone streets. Hubby, I and baby in the front carrier were going for a walk. I stepped in the hole of a missing stone and i fell forward and landed on all fours to stop myself from falling on top of my 9 month old. He cried and cried but we couldn't figure out why, there was no physical indication of injury. My aunt works at a medical clinic and asked for a doctor to check over him and my poor baby had a minor hairline fracture in his skull. It healed on it's own before his 1st b-day. I scraped both hands and knees but didnt care as long as baby was ok.

My 18 month old DCB fell down my last 2 steps to my basement daycare and hurt his arm only one month into my care. I was literally right behind him but i had another dcg in one arm and holding my 3 yr old hand. i couldn't stop him. It wasn't a long or hard fall but he landed on his arm. He cried for quite a bit, his arm looked ok but he wouldnt stop crying for almost an hour. and i was a wreck. I called DCdad and he came to get him. Said dcb was fine. Had some lunch and slept fine and didn't even mention it the next day.