Baby fell out of bed

As soon as the baby learns to roll over and move around, he will do it constantly. As a result, it may happen that a child is injured due to his active movements, for example, when falling.

If the baby fell out of bed, even if not the highest, this should not go unnoticed by the pediatrician.

Well, if everything ends with crying and fright without visible damage and consequences. This happens in most cases. The main thing is not to panic the parents and know what to do if the baby falls out of bed, what should be the first aid.

The first actions of parents after the fall of the child

What should parents do if an infant falls out of bed:

1. If a baby accidentally fell off a sofa or bed, cried for about 10 minutes and calmed down on his own, while his well-being does not cause concern, he is still cheerful and active – nothing serious happened. Most likely, in the place where the blow occurred during the fall, redness, swelling, and then a bruise will appear. It is advisable to put a cold lotion or compress on this place to eliminate swelling. In the coming days, it is recommended to visit a pediatrician and make sure that everything is normal with the baby.
2. If the baby fell out of bed and cried in the first seconds or cries for a long time – this is an alarm. If after a fall the baby refuses to eat, does not want to move, becomes lethargic and capricious – most likely, he suffered a head injury. This is a dangerous pathological condition that requires immediate medical attention. Be sure to call an ambulance or take your child to a medical institution. It is important that the baby does not have time to fall asleep before being examined by a specialist.
3. If, as a result of the fall, the baby did not cry for long and calmed down, but after some time a noticeable soft lump appeared in the fall area, he urgently needs to go to the hospital, most likely this is a brain injury. Symptoms of this condition can be loss of consciousness after a fall, a malfunction in the heart, and impaired breathing. Of course, all these signs are the reason for immediate medical attention.
4. If the child fell from the height of the changing table or bed and after that he cannot rest properly on his legs and arms, most likely he has had a dislocation or other damage to the limbs. Emergency assistance by a traumatologist is required.

After the fall, the baby can cry at the same second – this means that he was just scared. If tears and a cry did not appear right away – most likely he is crying precisely from pain. In any case, the fact of a fall from a height, even insignificant in the understanding of an adult, requires more careful observation of the baby in the coming days. The fact is that the first signs of trouble may appear with a slight delay, and the consequences of the fall will be felt a little later.

How to recognize that a child needs immediate medical attention?

If this still happened, and the baby fell out of bed, then what should be done, how to understand that he needs urgent medical attention? First of all, you can’t panic and throw a tantrum, even more frightening and traumatizing the psyche of a baby who already had to experience stress and pain from falling. Pull yourself together and do the following manipulations.

Gently pick up the baby in your arms and lay it on a flat surface for a close inspection. Most often, when falling, infants hit their head, inspect it for bruises, abrasions and other injuries.

What to do if the baby fell out of bed and lost consciousness? First of all, you need to take a small mirror in your hands and bring it to the child’s lips, checking your breathing. Then try to feel for the pulse. At the same time, emergency care must be called up. If a child, for example, at the age of 5 months falls out of bed and does not regain consciousness for a long time, you need to go to a medical facility immediately.

If the child does not have the consequences of a fall, such as loss of consciousness, cramps, injuries and bruises, you need to immediately calm the baby after examination by picking him up, singing a song or offering your favorite toys. If injuries are found, the child needs maximum peace, no unnecessary movements before the arrival of emergency care.

Damage in the form of abrasions and small incisions can be treated on their own. In most cases, such wounds heal quickly, within a few days, since the skin of children is more likely to regenerate. A slight swelling usually indicates a soft tissue injury, most often there is nothing serious about it.

If the place of the fall begins to swell quickly, then the injury is more dangerous, urgent medical attention is needed. In any case, it is advisable to put a cold compress on the site of the injury before the doctors arrive.

How to give a child first aid before the arrival of the ambulance crew :

1. If a child falls out of bed at 6 months old and has convulsions or convulsions, it is necessary to take him in his arms and keep him in a strictly horizontal position until the doctors arrive.
2. If a child aged 7 months falls out of bed and one of his limbs is in an unnatural position, you should try to fix the limb as carefully as possible and not touch the child until the doctors arrive.
3. If the baby can already speak, ask that he remembers how the fall occurred. If a child aged 9 months falls out of bed, ask him to stand on his feet (at this age, most babies learn to walk and fulfill this request without difficulty). If you have any problems with this request, you should seek medical help.

Apathy or, conversely, increased excitability of the nervous system, the appearance of cold sweat, blood in the urine and feces, vomiting – all this can indicate internal injuries that have occurred. Urgent need to go to the hospital.

Possible consequences

When the baby falls out of bed, the consequences can be very different.

Signs of trouble, which should alert, are as follows:

• impaired consciousness, inadequate reaction to what is happening;
• problems with speech skills (relevant for children who can speak);
• drowsiness and lack of interest in the surrounding reality;
• severe pain in the head, lasting at least two hours;
• repeated vomiting;
• problems with limb control, persistent imbalance;
• discharge of any nature from the nasal cavity, throat or ears, including with an admixture of blood;
• circles and blue spots under the eyes;
• sharp pallor of the skin.

Any of these symptoms require emergency care. If the baby fell out of bed, the consequences can be felt even after a few days. According to statistics, 90% of all falls from a small height end for children with bumps and abrasions, less often – a slight concussion. And only 10% of falls require urgent medical attention.

The most severe consequences are concussion, bruising of the brain and traumatic brain injury.

Lethargy and drowsiness, severe headaches accompanied by long crying, convulsions, bruises under the eyes and around the auricles can speak of concussion. Older children may complain of visual and olfactory hallucinations, speech disorder.

With a brain injury, a child can cry immediately after a fall, but quickly calm down and forget about the trouble, continuing to behave as before. However, after a few hours or even days, a soft, mobile tumor may form in the scalp area, under which fluid has accumulated. In this case, the child has headaches, it is quite possible hearing and vision impairment.

If a child aged 8 months falls out of bed and has suffered a head injury, it cannot be reassured for a long time. In this case, the baby will not take a breast or a bottle, and his movements will become poorly coordinated. At the same time, vomiting, swelling and pulsation in the fontanel area, frequent pulse, cold sweat may occur. In severe cases, a transparent fluid mixed with blood can ooze from the ears, which means that the child has a fracture of the base of the skull.

How to prevent a fall?

If a baby falls out of bed, the consequences can be quite sad.

In order to prevent a fall and protect your baby as much as possible, it is important to adhere to the following recommendations:

1. In the process of swaddling the baby, you need to constantly hold it with one hand – this should become a habit, in this case, the fall will not occur, even if the mother has to be distracted for a second.
2. If you need to urgently move away for a minute, you need to take the child with you or put him in a crib or playpen with high sides, you should not leave the baby unattended on an unprotected surface for a second, even if it seems that he is sleeping.
3. If there is no crib with sides or you don’t want to disturb the baby’s sleep on the couch or the parent’s bed, you can cushion him as a safety net and leave for a short while.
4. Always fix the baby in a stroller or on a highchair with special straps.
5. From the moment when the baby learns to stand up on its own legs, or at the age of 6 months, lower the bottom of the crib to the lowest position. Kids at this age are very active, and even if it seems that they can not bend over the side and fall out – it is better not to tempt fate.
6. Always try, while the baby is not in your arms, to keep him in the crib with the sides, in the playpen or on the floor, in extreme cases, twist the blanket to protect the child from falling from the sofa.
7. It is better to swaddle the baby on the couch or bed of the parents, and not on a special table or ordinary table. In the event of a mistake, even if the baby falls out of bed, the consequences of this fall will be less painful than from the height of the table.
8. A clean floor and carpet is an excellent safety net for the time when you need to leave the room – the child will simply have nowhere to fall from the floor.

The best way to protect the child and eliminate the likelihood of his falls, as well as other unpleasant situations – just do not take his eyes off him. Unfortunately, as practice shows, this is not always possible. After all, parents are also people who need to do their own thing. Therefore, you need to think in advance for the child a convenient place to stay awake, where he will be in relative safety.

If the baby has not yet learned to crawl, then it can be the floor (only not cold and not dirty). It is enough to equip a place away from sharp corners of furniture and drafts and provide the child with toys. You can buy a playpen, which reliably limits the motor activity of the child, if you need to leave in the next room for a minute.

It is very difficult to find a child who has never fallen from a small height in the first year of life. Similar things happen to some children more than once. Fortunately, in most cases, such falls do not harm the child, in most cases the nervous system of young parents suffers. No need to engage in self-flagellation if the child still fell. It is enough to take this case as a specific lesson, and in the future try to prevent this from happening again.