Well, It Finally Happened
Can you imagine this sweet boy face down on the floor? Oh my heart.
If you have more than one child you know. You know that at some point your beloved bundle of joy is going to fall. It happens to the best of us. We turn our heads for just a split second and BOOM. Baby down.
It doesn’t matter how vigilant you are, it’s just that babies have a way of slowly becoming mobile and BAM, when we least expect it they roll over for the first time – right off the changing table. Or the bed. Or the couch.
Today it happened to me and I just wanted to die. Take me, Lord, for I have failed this child.
For the past month we’ve been propping Henry in between cushions on the couch and placing a boppy or a few pillows around him to keep him in a sitting position. But the kid? He’s an effing acrobat! I told you breastfeeding him is like trying to foist myself upon a feral cat, right? Well this kid acts like he’s already trying to walk. I’m totally screwed, I know. If he’s this active at three months can you imagine him in toddlerhood?
My milk just completely dried up at the thought.
So anyway, I prop him on the couch with his pillows. Violet’s also there, standing in front of the couch dancing to Dora The Damn Explorer, as usual. This is the routine every morning while I unload the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen from breakfast. I can see them from the kitchen so it’s no big deal. Violet never really acknowledges Henry because she’s so enraptured by aforementioned explorer.
I finished cleaning the kitchen and since the kids were so peacefully engrossed I figured I’d sneak down the hall and vacuum Violet’s bedroom. Just for a second! Truly, it only takes but one minute to vacuum her room.
Famous last words.
I was halfway finished when I felt a little hand tugging at my shirt. I looked down to see Violet with an upset expression on her face so I turned off the vaccum.
“Don’t cry, it’s okay”, she said to me. “It’s okay!” This means something is wrong. And then I heard what was wrong. Henry was screaming that scream. You know the one. The Really Awful Baby In Pain Scream – similar to the sound he made when getting his shots.
Oh my God, the horror. I ran down the hall on rubbery legs and found him face down on the floor near the couch. I picked him up and comforted him through my own tears as I silently berated myself for such stupidity.
How could I leave him alone on the couch like that? Well, he sits there all the time and is totally fine! But he’s becoming increasingly more mobile, I should’ve known he would wiggle off at some point.
The thought crossed my mind that Violet might have pulled him down but I don’t think so. She’s just never done anything like that before and she immediately came and grabbed me when he fell.
I’m totally hating myself for being so stupid.
What about you? Got any stories that might help a guilt-ridden mama feel a little bit better?
With my first, I let her roll off the bed twice! That’s right, I didn’t learn my lesson the first time. I used to change her on the bed, even after she had started rolling. I left her on the bed for a second to throw the diaper away in the bathroom, and I walked in to see her going off the bed feet first, in slow motion. The second time, I got a freebie from God. She rolled right off the bed and into a laundry basket full of clean clothes. Needless to say, I change #2 on the floor, and haven’t left her alone on a raised surface for awhile. But, at 3 months, I probably wouldn’t have thought that she’d wriggle out of a spot she was wedged in either. Don’t feel bad, it’s a rite of motherhood passage.
Ditto! Twice did my sweet little 3-4 month old roll off the bed before I wised up! Once I dropped him. It was only a couple of inches into his cradle, but he cried so loud and I cried with him and it was awful!
My oldest rolled off of my bed when he was about 7 months old. I napped with him (ahhh…the good old days of sleeping when the baby slept!) and my mom showed up so I left the bedroom for a moment to get the door and the little guy rolled off in his sleep! Honestly, I was only gone for a moment and planned to run back in to pile things around him. The worst part was our floor was nothing but plywood because we had ripped up the carpet and were waiting for the new stuff to be installed. AND our king size pillowtop mattress makes the height of the bed about 3 1/2 feet. He landed on his face and had a big scab on his nose for a couple of weeks! I should send you a picture of it, THAT would make you feel so much better!
when markus has started crawling, I was sneaking in a few emails at my laptop and he was crawling round our bedroom floor- and then the full length mirror topples over and lands on top of him
Except it didn’t, the mirror was stopped by the bed, but he was underneath it. unhurt. but bawling. as was i.
((hhugs)))
The first time my littlest fell off the bed, it was into the pile of laundry ( so not doing all the folding was a good thing, right?). Yesterday, I was holding onto him while reaching for a diaper, and he rolled off again! So he bonked his head while dangling by his foot from my hand. And every one of my kids have fallen, rolled, or propelled themselves off the bed/couch/my arms. You’d think I’d know better by now – I try to remember the words of wisdom my sister gave me with my first – “The baby can’t fall off the floor.” Good luck with your wiggly guy!
My second is only 5 weeks old so it hasn’t happened yet. I’m sorry it happened to you. I would’ve been crying while holding him too. Poor little babe! Thank you for the warning! I’ll keep this in mind.
I have 3 kids and the boys were climbers and fell off the bed, the couch ect… BUT when i had my daughter ( she is 14 months now). I had a highchair from when my son was a baby and i had lost the straps to it. When she was 8 months i put her in it like every other day and left the room to do dishes. About 10 minutes later i heard her cry so i ran in the room to find she had learned how to climb out of it and fell onto the floor, thank god she was not hurt. But that day i went and bought a new high chair. Now even she tries to climb everything…
Wow what I can say poor thing !! It’s ok is going to happens so just chill after and give yourself a break being a Mom and house wife is not easy ): so why not take a little break after something bad happens and enjoy the rest of the day cuz kids grow so fast !! I have a 10 years old girl and I just have a baby he is 4 monts old !! I put him on the crib most to the time cuz like you say they roll so much and anything can happens .
When my 1st was about 5//6months… I woke up one morning and I had to pee lol..so I put him in bed with my hubby like Ive always done. I ran downstairs to the washroom and I heard a huge bang…followed by hubby running down the stairs really fast. As he came into view i saw him and my son covered in blood! apparently hubby fell back to sleep and my son decided that at that moment it was a great idea to learn to roll..because he rolled off our bed and hit his head off the nightstand. He was fine Thank god!
you would think we would LEARN from the 1st…but my daughter when she was the same age…I did the same thing…handed her off to hubby went to the bathroom…heard a loud bang..and knew right away…I didnt even have to run and look! She fell off our bed which at this point was much higher then when we had our son…and landed on hardwood floor! The hospital said it happends all the time! now that we have our 3rd…and she is now 6months! im being extra careful!!!
Not only have I let my 4-month old roll off the bed (accidentally), but when she was about 1 month old, I was transferring the sling to her dad when she tumbled out onto our hardwood floors. Thank goodness she landed on her butt. I was so so freaked out (she was fine).
Yep, 3 months old my son was sleeping on the couch…He hadn’t rolled over at this point so i thought we were safe. I went into the kitchen to talk to my husband and heard a loud THUD and then a cry.. there was my poor little guy on the ground screaming bloody murder.. luckily (?) I have 3 nieces so I knew things like this happened and he’d be ok. My husband however paniced and asked if we should take him to the dr.
Yup! It’s happened to my little man too:(!!! First while on vaca two weeks ago..he was still sleeping on the bed (a high one, not like ours which is low to the ground). he usually starts talking and babbling to let me know he’s up, but this time all I heard was him giving a whiny cry. I knew instantly what had happend and I ran so fast to get him off the floor. He was totally fine and stopped crying once I picked him up. Of course I felt horrible. then…I was changing him on the changing table and turn for just a second to tell the other kids to be more quite cuz Daddy’s working from home that day and then WHAM! Instant screams! My heart stopped! And then was beating rapidly for a long time after, like 15 min or more! It scared me so bad, he was ok, but man it sure does make you feel like a bad mom!:(..i know thats not true, but you mama’s understand how awful it makes ya feel. know I’ve learned, not even for a second!
To hear my mom tell it, my brother and I rolled off things and into things and under things no matter how attentive she was. Plus I dove off the back of the couch at 18 months into the coffee table and lived with a dent in my cheekbone for six months. And between my brother and I we were in the ER at least once a summer from ages 7-13. We were rough and tumble kids! We also lived in rural Montana and parents weren’t as uptight when we were growing up. No offense, but my friends who are parents are ridiculously neurotic about what they allow their kids to do so every injury or incident is like the end of the world catastrophe.
I’m sorry Henry fell, and I’m glad he’s okay. But, would it be wrong of me to say that I’m impressed and jealous that you’re vacuuming anything at this point. My kids are 3 years old and 19 months, and I haven’t vaccuumed since the second one was born (other than major spills by the 3-year old, and even then, I used the hand vaccuum).
My baby girl fell off the couch about 5 weeks ago not once, but twice in the same day. She was just getting the hang of throwing her chunky little thigh over to start the rolling over process and I underestimated her desire to be mobile. The first time I took my hand off her tummy, I was sitting right next to her, to give her sister something and she rolled. Thankfully she fell onto the pile of stuffed animals her sister was constructing near the couch, but she fell and I felt horrible. The second time was about an hour later during a diaper change. You’d think I would have learned my lesson but I got distracted, the phone rang while I was reaching for wipes and in that extra second I took to glance at the phone she rolled and fell again. Talk about feeling like the worse mom in the world.
Dude. About a month ago, I was bringing my then 21-month-old home from day care. We live in a third floor walk up, and she is in that stage where she must do everything by herself, so generally she climbs the stairs on her own, with me behind her by a couple of stairs. This particular evening, she was dawdling just inside the front door and I couldn’t get her to start climbing the stairs, so I started up the stairs without her, knowing she would follow, which she did. About half way up the (carpeted, thank God) stairs, she lost her footing and fell. To the bottom. I was far enough ahead of her that there was nothing I could do but watch my baby tumble head over heels down the stairs and land flat on her back. Of course, she started screaming and I rushed down the stairs to get her. In my mind, I knew she was okay, but I raced her up the stairs where I knew my husband, the ER doc, was waiting. He checked her out and pronounced her fine, and by that time she had stopped crying and gotten distracted by something on TV (cuz that’s how we roll). Of course, I had a guilt attack and started crying. We really have no idea how resilient little kids and babies are.
DS somehow rolled off the couch where he was lying in his Ergo infant insert while I turned away for a split second to get my jacket (before taking him for a walk). Babies aren’t supposed to be able to roll so early but I think he got some momentum while kicking his legs in the insert. I was sure I had ruined him! Luckily, he was ok but we went to the ER just to be sure.
On my son’s first birthday, I was giving him a bath in one of those little tubs that you put inside the regular bath tub. He was insisting on standing up and leaning over the side to play with the faucet and I let him, trying not to be too overprotective or whatever. My husband came in and was like “are you sure you should let him do that?” and I was like “I don’t know, he’s being really persistent and I don’t want to battle with him, yada yada.” Famous last words. Of course, as soon as my husband said that, the baby’s hand slipped and he fell, bashing his forehead on the faucet on his way down. The next few minutes were spent with me running around the house freaking out, clutching my wet, naked baby who was wailing with blood pouring all down his face from a huge gash in his forehead. It was terrible. By the time we got him dressed and in the car, he had calmed down and the bleeding had mostly stopped, and they were able to glue the wound shut at the hospital, so no stitches. But the whole thing really shook me up – a true “bad mommy” moment. We all have them.
One other great one I heard from a friend – she had brought her newborn son to his 6-week pediatrician appointment and while she was sitting in the waiting room, she had put the baby in his car seat, but forgot to strap him in. When the nurse called them, she stood up, picked up the carseat, and the tiny baby went toppling out flat onto his face in front of everyone, getting some nasty rug burns. At least my worst bad mommy moments haven’t been in public (yet)!
my nephew had just entered the just barely crawling stages….when he fell down an entire flight of stairs. yup like 17 of ‘em, stairs, flight of stairs. falling off the couch < flight of stairs. henry's fine….won't call cps this time.
Eek. When my older daughter was about 18 months old, she fell forehead first off the kitchen island onto the tile floor. Parenting FAIL. My younger son has yet to do something quite this dramatic. Yet. Knocking on wood…
Yeah. So, my son was 8 months old and in the bouncy seat while I showered. Think about that for a minute. Ok…in my defense, he was reeeaaalllyyy little. So, anyway, he sat way forward in it and flipped over onto his face with the bouncy on top of him, still strapped on. Now, I was singing to him this whole time…does that take away any bad mom points? Feel better now?
You are right — it happens to everyone. As for an encouraging story, though, I had 6 kids sitting around my kitchen table last weekend (three 11-year-olds, two 10-year-olds and an 8-year-old) MERCILESSLY making fun of Dora the Explorer. I turned to them and said, “I’m so glad you all have FINALLY come around to my way of thinking!” The two there who are mine (10 & 8) have been over Dora for a long time — so much so that their younger sister (5) has not watched any Dora for a couple of years out of shame. But it was GREAT to listen to them ripping it all to shreds that way. Because, truly, the only kids’ show that has ever annoyed me more is Caillou (world’s biggest whiner!), but my kids never watched it that much. Dora, on the other hand. Oy!
Not sure how the number eight I typed above turned into a smiley face with shades!
My sister Laura had left her newborn son sleeping downstairs in a bassinet and while chatting with my other sister Elena upstairs. Meanwhile that other sister’s 2 year old daughter was busying herself downstairs, reaching into the bassinet, and lifting the baby out, after which she carried the newborn over to the stairs and began her journey up 15 steps. Laura heard some noise and walked out to the stairs to look down and watched in horror as the 2 year old carried her son up the last few steps to the top….. “Baby was crying”….needless to say they were shaken to the core at the thought of what could have happened.
We were renting a home for a week in Florida and one of my cousins with her 4 kids were visiting. One of the older sons lifted the one year old boy up high accidentally knocking his noggin into the moving paddles of the ceiling fan…. and we all heard it followed by an immediate scream. Thank God the child was unharmed. I will remember this and be sure that all ceiling fans are mounted close to the ceiling.
When my daughter was seven or eight months old I didn’t get the crib latched correctly when I put her to bed. She pulled herself up, the the side went down, and she tumbled onto the hardwood floor. I’ll never forget what we heard through the baby monitor: THUD. silence. terrified shrieking. No permanent damage, though.
My little guy managed to roll off the couch when he wasn’t even 2 months old. I pretty much died, he landed on his head, I was sure I had given him brain damage. I wasn’t even being that careful, with like pillows or anything, we were still talking about his age in weeks for goodness sakes.
When he was first walking we were visiting my hubs’ aunt and uncle, and my kid was going up and down the stairs with help. Over and over, up and down and up and down. Hubs and I were taking turns because it was boring as hell going up and down the stairs by the billionth time. On my turn at some point I guess I wasn’t paying attention and the kid slipped and fell all the way down the half story of HARD WOOD stairs, literally bounced off his head… yeah, flet like mother of the year that day,
oh yeah and, this is kinda different but, yesterday we were at the park, and it was my birthday so my Oma called me from Ontario to wish me a happy birthday, so I was watching my son but talking on the phone at the same time, and I watched as he walked right into the tire swing with 4 kids on it! He totally face planted in the sand, wailed bloody murder, snot and sand in the face, whole park full of moms, you know how it goes.
Ours rolled out of his carseat/stroller frame when he was 2 weeks old because we didn’t buckle him in and I didn’t know how to take a stroller down a step. It was an effing nightmare. I found consolation in googling people who had written about accidentally dropping their babies; the stories on a Berkley board were making me laugh out loud (through tears, of course).