My baby just fell down the stairs!

[JElaineB]

Luckily he seems all right. I feel so guilty. I knew it was coming - he tried to walk down frontwards the other day while holding onto the handrail. I caught him on the second step from the top. Before that he had stayed away from the stairs, so we weren't too worried. The way our hallway/stairs is configured it is difficult to install a gate there but DH is working on it.

Anyway, DS isn't tall enough to actually be able to step from step to step going down frontwards. We were upstairs and he was playing in the spare room with some toys and I went into his room for a second to put his towel in the hamper. I thought I was keeping an eye on the hallway so I would see if he was trying to go down again. I guess I wasn't! I heard a thud then him crying. He was face up on the landing. It was only half a flight of stairs, we have a landing and then it turns to go all the way down. I ran down and checked him out then picked him up. He only cried a little. As soon as I said "ba-ba" he stopped crying and starting saying "ba-ba" so I gave him a bottle and he is now drinking it watching The Wiggles. Well now he is playing with his toy phone right next to me. He seems ok. Do I need to call the doctor? Is there anything I should look out for? Do I need to tell my husband?!?! (Of course, he knew he needed to install a gate at the top of the stairs yesterday!!) Thanks for listening!

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[toomanystrollers]

Yikes mama :)

I would suggest giving the ped.'s office a call - they can tell you what to look out for, etc.

I would also tell dh - may give him the jumpstart to figure out a gate configuration immediately. Can you take a pic. of the opening you're trying to gate - someone here may be able to suggest a barrier.

{{{{Jennifer}}}}

[redhookmom]

I am so sorry, that must of been scary. Some signs to look for would be lethergy and vomitting. I would give the Dr. a call just to make me feel better.

[jubilee]

Oh, I hope Jacob is doing alright now! Kids are so resilant, he is probably fine. But a bad scare for mom, I'm sure!

[JElaineB]

Thanks everyone! DS seems fine. I called my mom who is an RN and she told me what to look for over the next couple of days. DH wasn't mad at all, and he did work on the gate last night. It should be up today. I am going to work on teaching DS how to slide down the stairs backwards (of course we only WANTS to go down frontwards, still!)

Thanks,

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02