Head trauma is terrifying no matter how old your baby is and there are many opportunities for your baby to receive such head injury, so the more prepared you are – the more proactive you can be to help reduce the opportunities for a head trauma to occur. For example, when my daughter was just 10 weeks old, she rolled off a bed. I didn’t think she could squirm that far and she was right in the center of a queen sized bed and I’d stepped into the restroom. I wasn’t gone two minutes. When I came back, she was face down on the floor and couldn’t lift her head up for the crying.
My first reaction was terror and I was across the room and picking her up. She had a bit of blood around her nose. I didn’t hesitate to check for other signs of obvious injury. Two phone calls later, I was buckling her into the car in her car seat and my husband arrived home to drive.
As it turns out, she was fine, bruised and a tiny bloody nose, but the doctor checked her out fully and we monitored her for the next 24 hours. We were lucky, however, because falls are among the number one cause of head injuries in infants and babies.
Play It Safe
So the best ways to help avoid head injury or trauma is to reduce the opportunities for your baby to get them. Never leave them unattended on a bed or up high where they can roll over. Even if you don’t think they are quite ready to roll yet, this is not how you want to discover that they can.
Make sure the crib railing is secure. When a friend of mine was a baby, the crib railing was not secured properly. At the age of 9 months, she reached up to pull herself up and the railing gave way, sending her tumbling to the floor. She had a concussion and a skull fracture.
Not only do you need to make sure the railing is secure, but make sure you keep the mattress lowered sufficiently for when the baby is ready to stand and pulling up to a standing position. You should also remove the bunting around the edges of the crib so they can’t climb on it and reach to get over the railing.
Stairs are another place to have a care. Double gates may seem excessive, but a neighbor of mine experienced the terror of seeing her baby grab the gate at the top of the stairs and shake it gleefully only to have it give way and the baby slid down a flight of stairs on the gate. The baby sustained numerous bruises on her arms, face and head, but luckily despite having hit the tile floor at the bottom – no concussion.
Head trauma can be terrifying and we’re always so very careful with our babies and their very tender heads. Keep playing it safe and reduce the opportunities for your little one to suffer as head trauma, because even though most of my stories have a happy ending – not all of them do.
Has your baby ever taken a bad fall where they hit their head?
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