2 yo fell down stairs- what to watch for?

[ElliesMomma]

help! my 2 year 9 months old fell down the stairs and hour ago. i can't tell you how scary it was to watch. i was at the top with her, she wanted to get something downstairs before our nap, and i was preparing to hold her hand to walk down together when suddenly she started tumbling down. she basicallly log-rolled down, sorta bouncing from one stair, missing one or two, bouncing again, i'm yelling ellie ellie ellie as she goes but could not grab her or get down any quicker than she was going. my husband came running in from downstairs but i got to her first. the worst was when she hit the floor below. she also log-rolled onto it on her hands face side down. all in all i think she landed pretty well. i was worried about her head and neck as she was falling but her fall and bouncing was pretty even, in terms of not being a jumbled twisting motion. i guess what concerns me most was the final clunk. the stairs are carpeted and the floor below is vinyl tile.

she came up crying and i held her and she soaked my shirt with tears. but she asked for the milk she was originally going downstairs for, drank some, when we went back up, she wanted a book before nursing to sleep (as usual) and right now she's still asleep. she did kinda do an all body shudder when she was deep asleep but it wasn't extreme, and i think it was sorta reliving the fall.

my gut feeling is that she's alright. but i forgot- what are the things to look for if in case there's a problem? excessive sleepiness? problems with her eyes? can you tell me any warning signs that would happen if in case there was a problem associated with this?

thank you. ugh if only i could get the image out of my head now. but thank god that she wasn't (hopefully) seriously hurt.

[jeliphish]

I don't think you are supposed to let them sleep right after a head injury...but i don't know if she had any hard impact with her head. I know that was scary!!!

[LaLaLaLa]

I'm sorry you were so scared! When my DS was a newborn, my DD was 19 months old and took a tumble down our stairs while I was struggling with the nursing thing one day. It was terrifying for both of us!

It's a good sign if kids cry right away; it means they haven't lost consciousness at all. You should make sure their eyes are focusing in the same way and are both looking in the same direction. Other than that, I'm not sure what to look for. My DD landed on our concrete entryway floor, and she was okay very quickly; I think it helps that kids go limp when they fall instead of tensing up.

I hope everything is okay!

[Mama Mko]

I dont have any advice, but

That must have been terrifying to watch.

[Love_My_Bubba]

I know that replay in your head, it sucks! I watched DS pull a bowl of piping hot soup over on himself. A relative not used to having kids around had put it right at the edge of the counter.

As you get some time between you and the incident and you see that your LO will be ok it'll start to fade for you

[Pumpkin_Pie]

My son fell down a half flight of stairs at about 7 months while I watched. It was the most terrifying moment of my life. He landed with a crash and didn;t sry right away. I was positive he was going to be dead when I got to him. I didn't even think to not move him either, I just snatched him up and RAN to the car to bring him to the emergency room. He ended up not even having a concussion, and charmed all of the nurses in the ER.

I remember them saying that you need to watch them closely throughout the next 24 hours, waking them frequently and to make sure they act normally. We co-sleep and nurse throughout the night, so they said as long as he nursed a few times that night, that was as good as waking him up.

I am so sorry that happened to your little one, and yes, it will get less vivid in your mind eventually.

[Mama Shifra]

When your child falls, check his/her eyeballs. If they are not the same size, that is a problem--take him/her to the emergency room! Also, if there is any fluid (clear or bloody) coming out of his/her nose or ears, go to the emergency room!

[Mama Mko]

How's she doing now?

[Love_My_Bubba]

Originally Posted by rebeccajo

How's she doing now?

: Let us know!

[ElliesMomma]

she's fine, thanks for asking! i sleep with her and she stirred to nurse twice overnight like normal and in the morning was her usual self. yesterday right after it happened, she clearly identified that her "head" was hurt by the fall down the stairs, but by morning, when i asked her what part got hurt (i asked while we were walking down the stairs together, holding hands), she listed leg, elbow, teeth, head (there was no blood or anything at all, so i don't think her teeth were really impacted, i think she was perhaps listing it all b/c she did effectively roll down, full body impact-- but in any case, there was no serious harm done). her eyes looked normal right away.

whew! i feel like we got really really lucky. i had my husband reinstall the gate at the top of the stairs, so i have more control over when she heads down. i'm also reminding her a lot to be really careful, hold the railing or go on her butt or her stomach to go down.

to make matters worse in terms of logistics here we've got workmen adding a new section of rooms upstairs and they've laid out plastic carpet covering on the stairs and the carpet in front of the stairs, which DD loves to run on. it's not *especially* slippery and i'm making sure she's barefooted in the house to give her better traction, but i'm just like more paranoid than ever, seeing her fall like that was such a helpless feeling and i do thank god that she went down the way she did, it could have been so awfully worse, and i really really don't want to have a repeat accident with dire consequences.

ugh, stairs. i really wanted them when i bought this house, i wanted an upstairs, and i still like the upstairs. but with a little one, they are dangerous.