Accidents

So sorry to hear of all these accident our lovely grandchildren have, but accidents do happen to the best of us. I just want to advise you all of my grandaughters accident recently. My DS has a kitchen island with a granit worktop, my dgd was walking past and, we think, may have swung on the side panel, and it fell! She was so lucky as it threw her across the kitchen, she still had a broken heel and badly brused the other foot. Of course we then hed the sleeples nights of what ifs, my daughter in law is eight months pregnant so both granmas have been there to help out. But please if your children have these kitchen islands, get them to check them out, kids will be kids. Luckily plaster is now off and shes gingerly starting to walking again with a lot of chocolate coin bribery.

Accidents do happen and some cannot be for seen but when young children are coming to the house it is best to try to make the house as safe as possible. Put dangerous objects away, scissors, knitting, knives etc, Put valuable objects out of reach, a child doesn't know the difference between your Royal Dalton lady and the doll in the toy box. Block off dangerous areas like the stairs if you haven't got a gate. Put your pills and alcohol out of reach. When is a Smartie not a Smartie but your pill. The fire is an big attraction and the glass doors of enclosed fires can get very hot. Look out for 2nd hand safety guards. The garden is a minefield.

I can hear the tuts, tuts, and the children should be taught not to touch things, and I don't move anything, they have to learn. Yes they do have to learn but whilst learning they can have an accident which might scar them for life or even kill them.

The more care we take the more relaxed and happier time we will have and the more often we will be visited.

Following P3terpan's post, may I mention one near miss we had recently that may help someone else avoid a horrible accident.

We have a large mirror above our mantelpiece that has been part of the furniture for so long we hadn't given it a thought when we went round the house "DGC proofing". DS was round with the little 'uns recently and just happened, thank goodness, to be standing by the mirror when there was a loud crack and it fell forward, scattering all the rubbish ornaments on the mantelpiece as it went. He grabbed the mirror before it fell to the floor.

It made me go cold (and still does) just thinking what would have happened if one of the tots had been on the floor in front of the thing instead of their dad.

We'd put it up with D rings and wire, which had snapped. It's now firmly screwed to the wall.

My ten month old DGS2 is not yet walking but keeps climbing things like this!

His mum is sure he is going to have a tumble and he is too young to reason with.

18 month old GS gently rolled off armchair - approx 30 cm - and cried a bit. A little upset. The next day was taken by Daddy and other Granny to A and E as kept touching his arm and found it was broken! Mega failure by Grandma/Grandpa.

We had friends in Hongkong who had four children. Their suspicions that their children were more than usually accident-prone were confirmed when they were greeted in the A&E department of Queen Mary Hospital with a cheery smile and the words 'And which one is it today, Mr C?'

My Gran told a fine tale - during WW2 she and my grandad slipped out one summer evening to the pub 2 doors down leaving her 4 children tucked up in bed.

They lived in a London 4 storey house , the sort with one floor basement and 3 floors above ground.

They were in the pub when they heard the sound of the fire brigade sirens. My Gran asked if there was a fire but the barman replied' no, there are 4 kids sat on someone's roof down the road'.

As my Gran told it she and grandad actually sat for a few more minutes before the penny dropped and they rushed out to check.

Sure enough, 3 floors up my mum aged 5, and her 3 brothers, 9,7 and 2 had climbed out the attic window and were sitting astride the ridge pole!!

When asked my mum told my Gran that they were playing hide and seek.

My Gran said that's why she had white hair from an early age :-)

It was definitely an accident waiting to happen!

I shall never forget the time a toddler in a creche that I and another lady, also on the volunteer rota, were supervising got out of the building unobserved by us I still don't know how it happened. Mercifully, someone spotted her and brought her back before she came to harm. This was many years ago, but I still go cold whenever I think about it, which is often. I know nobody is perfect, and accidents can happen to the best of us, but I still feel dreadfully guilty about it, and so thankful that nothing worse happened.

My daughter and her partner decided to get married and I looked after the Grandkids whilst they went off to Turkey for a short honeymoon. Their shower room is downstairs and as I am creaky and arthritic I sent the grandson aged 4 upstairs to get his pjs after his shower. he got to the top, turned round and promptly toppled all the way down, bouncing of the uncarpeted (middle of redecoration) stairs and walls on the way down! Somehow I managed to catch him before he hit the concrete floor, to this day I don't know how, as he is big for his age. I got smacked across the top of the head with an outspread leg but he was none the worse for wear. I thought it prudent not to mention it to DD until they got back home.

I think DGD had only just started walking when her new game became going up 2 steps and jumping off. She would even try this when we were with her, the wee monkey! We then bought a stair gate.
We are usually both around when she's here, yet she can still fall off things or trip up and fall. Thankfully no damage has been done, but accidents will always happen and we can only hope they are small ones!

We love children so much. Preparation can assist, to some extent. As when I think about it, it is the home where the child resides which has stair gate/s and other safety equipment. We need to be observant, and encourage little ones to stay close to the Responsible Adult they are with for the day. As children are naturally curious, and can be adventurous.

Our society has a culture of admiring children and their healthy natural development. We need to instil Health and Safety as an ISSUE from a young age in an attempt to protect from accident, injury etc. We can only do our best, but if we explain to children that the fire is "burny" hot, "Don't touch" just like I recall my elders doing with children. We hope to keep them safe.

Children in our family have still had slips, falls etc just like many others. Us adults and children learn from these experiences. We luckily have had only minor injuries, which healed well. First Aid knowledge and skills can be beneficial, and maybe should be encouraged for all Carers (parents, GrandParents, Aunts, Uncles, etc,etc). As with children we may need to respond to their trauma, and would want to respond appropriately.

Yes it is natural to feel concerned when someone we love is hurt. Elizabeth 1, yes I agree MIL ( Mother In Law) may well have been in need of a hug. She is part of the family, and loves the Granchildren. Accidents can happen, no matter how much we try to prevent them. It is beneficial to know how to deal with them :- First Aid. Also maybe to remember that the family love and invest lots in children, and want the Best for them. Team Spirit.

When I was two (90 years ago) I fell from the promenade at Hastings on to the stony beach. I complained that my back hurt. Mum took me to Guys Hospital and doc said nothing to worry about she's just playing up. After my first baby was born in 1947 I had a great deal of pain in my back and this continued with spells of having to lie for weeks on a board at the advice of doctors and hospital issuing me with a steel corset. This made me depressed and also affected my husbands work until 1954 when his company paid for me to go to an osteopath. This first question he asked after examination was did you have a fall when a child. My spine was twisted. He ditched the corset said muscles should do the work and after a years treatment I was better. Have had very little trouble since

My 3 year old DGS was playing in the trampoline with Grandad in there too for safety - DGS merely fell over awkwardly and broke his leg . I had to phone my daughter at work from a & e and ' hand him back ' in a full leg plaster cast !! He did enjoy all the spoiling tho!

I only vaguely remember this as it was nearly 50 years ago when I was 4 years old. I was copying my 2 older brothers and we were jumping from the 3rd or 4th step on the stairs to the floor. As I landed,I bit halfway through my tongue . Strangely I don't remember it hurting very much but I do remember my mum becoming nearly hysterical at all the blood. It was about 7pm on a Saturday evening and our family GP came out and took me to the local A and E in his car (those were the days!). I had 4 stitches and could barely talk for a week but no long-lasting ill effects. Everyone was amazed at how quickly I recovered.

We have only just removed the stairgates top and bottom of the stairs; however when DGS was 2 he said to me - 'Granny, if you want to know how to open the stairgate when you want to go downstairs, I can show you'

Same DGS also skidded on our bathroom floor age 1, hit his forehead and had to go and meet SIL's relatives for the fIrst time with a huge black egg on his forehead. (After we spent a night in A&E)

When DS1 was about 8mnths and I was getting him ready for a bath I sat him on the potty hoping the inevitable nappyoff wee might go into the potty instead of the bath.

Unfortunately he tried to stand up which he could not do, fell forwards and banged his head on the corner of the baby changing trolley.

He had a big egg on his forehead for that and a trip to A&E. As new parents you feel inexperienced and need the reassurance.

I think with the second children you begin to realise they their heads are generally quite tough.

On the subject of accidents. am thinking of doing a baby and child first aid course. Am frightened stiff baby might choke as he is just started weaning.

Has anyone else done one. Maybe I can do it online.

When DS and DD were 3 and 41/2, their father was away in August, and they always woke up at about 6 am. One day DD came in with her arm hanging down, said she had fallen off top bunk-bed. Took her to Drs who sent us off to A and E, where it was diagnosed as green-stick fracture, by young Dr who had obviously just started his A and E rotation. Took her back the following week to the fracture clinic, where they found that a chip of bone had come off her elbow, and she had to stay in and have a pin inserted. Many years later my DCs told me that they had been playing at jumping off the bed! It is impossible to keep you eye on little ones all the time. Some years ago while we were on holiday DGS fell out of a tree and broke his arm Parents and grandparents were close by,he was 4 at the time, you can't wrap children in cotton-wool. Going to my GCs school fair I was appalled to see a mother saying to her child every-time he went near the climbing frame, (designed for little ones) "dangerous, dangerous!"

If I began to list DH's, mine, the DC's and the DGC's accidents it would fill the page and other posters would get bored

nelliemoser I was told if the bump on the head came outwards in an egg and bruise that was fine, that if you couldn't see anything and it had gone inwards that was a cause for alarm.

Dgs1 kept being taken to the hospital with a dislocated elbow. He was about 3. We found out the his sister was helping out of his cot at night by hauling him up. It was always the same arm.

I shouldn't laugh Stansgran (but I did )
Poor little scrap!

When I was a little girl, I was going to call for my friend and tripped over something or other outside their back door, banging my head on the wall and grazing my knees. I was so upset i just bawled my head off. Her parents said that I was making a lot of fuss for a little graze, until they saw the huge bump on my head, which was rapidly turning black. Her mum said something about "cold steel" and got out the bread knife. I thought she was going to cut the bump off and howled even more! She put the bread knife against the bump to try to get it to go down. The next day I still had a huge bump and a lovely black eye, which I was very proud of.
When our daughter was about two, she was going down the stairs when she started hopping. We both yelled "Don't hop, you'll fall", and, of course, she did. Luckily, she was halfway down by this time and the stairs were carpeted, so she didn't do herself any serious damage, but we were both more upset than she was!

Victoria08, my DD, DDIL, two inlaws and I went mob-handed to a Red Cross Baby & Child one day course, which was excellent. You've just reminded me to think about a refresher - it's amazing how quickly you forget what you've learnt.

Details are on this page, and information about various techniques too. www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/First-aid/Baby-and-Child-First-Aid

This thread is very apt, DD currently at A and E with 5th grandchild whose face came into contact with a hot iron (I will no doubt find out the details of how he managed that tomorrow!)

Thanks Maggiemaybe for the Red Cross first aid link. I did a first aid course many years ago and this was a handy refresher (short film clips of each condition).

I would only add that I am sure we all have stories of 'near misses'. My theory is that we are all allowed one (my 'best' was my sitting chatting on the 'phone watching my DD playing in and out of an understairs cupboard...... only to see her be shot backwards across the hall and hit the wall. She had unscrewed an electrical wallplate and was lucky not to have been electrocuted. I should have known better but didn't, so feel very fortunate to be able to be on Granset.......!).

RAF, I hope your DGS is none the worse for his visit to A and E. The waiting to hear what happened and how he is is hard...