Child Safety | Imamother

avigayil

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 9:17 pm

Hello All,

A few days ago, we had a scary incident.
I put my 7 and 1/2 month old son on my bed. I was getting dressed. I turned to get a shirt from the dresser....the next thing I heard was BOOM!
My son had flipped himself and fallen onto the floor. He was screaming his little lungs out too. Crying

B'H", he was fine. We took him to the ER to get him checked out. I was VERY lucky. I feel horrible I had to learn this lesson the hard way.
I just wanted to share this story with all you ladies. I keep him in a bouncy seat or the floor now when I am getting dressed.
Has anything like this happened to you?
...Avigayil.

gryp

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 9:23 pm

did he fall in a bad way or something? when my toddler was younger he ALWAYS fell off the bed... ok, not always but more than once. I never even thought to bring him to the ER.

Rochel Leah

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 10:12 pm

mine has fallen off to. didnt bing him in to er, cuz didn't cry for too long

zuncompany

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 11:02 pm

welcome to mommyhood. When it happened with Zu, a friend told me that. It happens once and you learn from it:)

I once was walking over at 1 mont and fell with Zu is my arms. His little head hit the pavement. AHHH!!!! I wouldn't hold him for like an hour cause I was so scared to hold him. We went over to the ER and he had to have a catscan and all these tests. I think I was more scared though. He was laughing and flirting with the ER staff.

Sara

miriam

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 11:14 pm

Hi Avigayil, I think we all feel your scaredness and know that it does go away after a while. I have had the bed falling thing too many times. One would think that I would learn by now. I have heard that the smarter kids are the ones dropped on their heads as babies. I have seen good evidence of this too. And remember that the baby gets over it faster than the Ima. Very Happy

Tefila

Mon, Dec 20 2004, 11:46 pm

It happend once to me and it hasn't happend since. I got such a fright the first time and berated myself like never mind that I won't let it happen again......
And If only I had the foresight with my then live child conc bracketing dresser Crying

Sorry but can't help rehash it! Crying

miriam

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 2:48 am

freilich wrote:

Sorry but can't help rehash it! Crying

I don't see it as rehashing. We care about you Freilich (((((((((Freilich))))))))

gryp

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 9:09 am

freilich- please feel free to talk about it as much or as little as you want.

imanut

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 10:29 am

do you mean bracketing a heavy dresser? how do you do this without ruining the dresser? we only have a dresser in our room and I don't leave her alone in there, but when she pulls up on the handles it doesn't look like it could tip over. am I wrong?

Pickle Lady

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 10:49 am

My sons too has fallen off the bed but the floor is wooden so it has more of a give than lets say concrete. I didn't get too worried if he cries right away and only for a min or 2.

Freilich- Its never rehashing. This is something that has effected you and your family for the rest of your lives. Its such a sad thing that happened to you and your family. When I read what happened to your son, tears came to my eyes. Crying

It made me appreciate my little men a more. Thank you for sharing it with us. It could not have been easy for you to have written about it.

Tefila

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 12:08 pm

Quote:

but when she pulls up on the handles it doesn't look like it could tip over. am I wrong?

Not if she can't open draws and climb in, otherwise yes it could tilt, or tip over shock

.
Also I guess depends on weight of kid ..... but anyway why care about a dresser I too have beautiful ones all the way from bubby remodeld for our wedding, but it can be bracketed with minimal unsightlyness etc.
And trust me it is only a peice of wood....... you can always buy again.....

imanut

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 12:36 pm

you're right, obviously a child's safety is more important than the dresser. but it's so heavy I don't think she can turn it over (yet, anyway) and we couldn't figure out how to attach it to the wall.

miriam

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 1:00 pm

We have the same problem abou t attatching it to the wall. The wall is not strong and a bracket would not stay in the wall.

avigayil

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 2:44 pm

Hello All,

Thank you for all the support.
I was so upset. DH and I really were worred and we took him to the ER just to make sure all was well.
Freilich, I am soo sorry what happened to you and your family.
All the more, it will make me more careful here.
...Avigayil.

Tefila

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 3:14 pm

First of all Thank You all so much for caring!!!!
Secondly even though I am a D .I. Y, for something like this I got a professional to do it. The other solution is not to have one in tots room and to supervise constantly and I mean constantly!!!

gryp

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 3:39 pm

freilich- I take your words to heart. I really do. for the first time I am grateful for my tiny apartment where it is impossible for my toddler to be out of my vision.

sarahd

Tue, Dec 21 2004, 4:04 pm

That's right. I would have never thought to bracket closets and dressers to the wall, but I told my husband last week that we have to plan to do that soon, because the baby is preparing to crawl. I have had nightmares about things falling over onto him since I read your story, Freilich, especially since I had a bookcase fall onto me when I was around 6-7 years old. B"H nothing happened to me, but it was a miracle that nothing happened, and I really had a good scare.

ForeverYoung
Guest

Sun, Dec 26 2004, 8:35 pm

Quote:

how do you do this without ruining the dresser?

Wehave everything hooked to the wall - and b/c we live in a small apartment and had to re-arrange it to accommodate our growing (B"H) family, we we made lots of holes all over. So we put pictures of gedolim there Smile

And we have holes in the furniture too

but our son is a climber, and we didn't have any second thoughts.

Quote:

and we couldn't figure out how to attach it to the wall

Brakets, ancors, beems - these words should explain it to your husband -
pm me w/ spesific questions (I'll ask mt husband)

Also, there is furniture w/ internal stoppers for the drawers - they do not come out all the way, so the child can't drop it onto himself.

good luck!

Motek

Thu, Jan 06 2005, 11:45 am

Quote:

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no
personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little league, football and baseball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

We did what we were told, most of the time, and were soundly corrected when we didn't -- we were held accountable. Imagine that.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! Do you know others who have had the luck to grow up as happy kids?

ForeverYoung
Guest

Thu, Jan 06 2005, 4:31 pm

even though some things are ridiculus in our days,
soe things had changes and are not the same anymore.

We have a neightbour who's missing arm (from elbow & down) b/c his mom smoked....