Baby fell out of bed- HELP! Is co-sleeping really hazardous after all?

[marthawashington]

I am so upset. My baby is 9 months old now and I wanted to ween her to the crib because she's very active now and crawling all over the place. My husband said he would sleep with her instead, using all the precautions, a humanity bed, an insert where a sheet is tucked in on the sides, a monitor, etc. He said he was in a deep sleep and woke up to a thump and the baby crying. She must have woken up without crying and started moving around. I have no idea if she's injured or where she hit. I called my doctor and have a list of emergency hospitals nearby just in case.

However, now I feel co-sleeping is hazardous! What did we do wrong? It seems depending on the parent to sleep lightly and wake up at small disturbances in sound or movement may be asking too much.

Please give me input! I feel so confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kriket]

i am 24 and recently fell out of bed. thing happen things will be ok!

[jjawm]

We always used bed rails.

[baileyann3]

I can't believe it took nine full months for that to happen! My dd has definetly done that. It is scary, but the benefits of co sleeping far out weigh the risks.

Try pushing bed up to wall and has your babe sleep on the inside.

[SeekingJoy]

Bed rails, a low mattress or a side-car crib could all be helpful at this stage.

[MeepyCat]

Children this age fall. They fall off of beds and couches. They fall off of chairs. They try pull up and fall, they try to stand and fall, they reach for something fascinating and fall. This isn't a hazard of co-sleeping (although it sure can look like it when your baby falls out of bed), it's a hazard of their increasing mobility.

I co-slept with my DS, and he did fall out of bed a few times. Then he learned to back off the bed feet first, and hasn't fallen off since. He was sometimes startled or upset about falling. He was never injured. When babies are injured by falling out of bed, it is generally because either they hit something (like another piece of furniture) on the way down, or because they got an arm or a leg (or a head - eep!) stuck between the bed and the wall or the bed and something else. I was told that doctors generally don't worry about falls in kids this age unless the child falls from greater than twice his or her own height.

[marthawashington]

Thanks to the replies

Thanks for calming a mother's worry. I'm so grateful to this site. I didn't even think about guard rails.

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by baileyann3

Try pushing bed up to wall and has your babe sleep on the inside.

Yep.

We also put our mattress on the floor once DD was able to move around a lot--for me, a high bedframe just didn't feel compatible with cosleeping. It was a temporary solution though, and we now have our bedframe back.

I've always found cribs just as dangerous--I've known children who have broken arms because they managed to get out of a crib.

[Talula Fairie]

It happens sometimes. Even with a bed rail. Kids at that age have a way of doing things like that! I agree with the PPs, kids fall and it's really not that big of a deal.

You can also put your mattress right on the floor or get a low bed. My husband and I have a king sized platform bed from Ikea. It's so low that if anyone falls out of it, they wouldn't get hurt.

[keilonwy]

That must have been so scary! We aren't dealing with a crawling baby yet, but have our mattress down on the floor and against the wall, so ds is either between me and the wall or between me and dp and only about two feet up. It actually looks really cool and bohemian . We've got a pretty bedskirt, so it just looks like a platform bed.

I also agree that kids fall - as long as she didn't fall onto a bed of nails, I'll bet she's just fine. I fell down a (short! flight of stairs at that age! The chances are pretty slim that you wouldn't have known it right then and there if there was an issue.

[apple_juice]

nak

you can show babe how to get out of bed safely. the last time my babe crawled and fell out of bed he was 10mnths old. we just made sure the whole room was safe.

we use the humanity bed.iDH is home he can sleep between the bed and me or between me and DH. Otherwise he sleeps between me and the humanity bed.

[MI Momma]

My son fell out of bed co-sleeping and fell on a part of the bed fame and he almost lost an eye. It was horrifying. I also kicked him out of bed when he was at my feet (too many years of sleeping with dogs).

Co-sleeping can be dangerous. Cribs can be dangerous.

Put your mattress son the floor to make the fall shorter. (Why it's good to learn to ski young...)

[Farore]

That sounds really scary! Both of my sons have fallen out of bed a few times (both asleep and awake), and it sounded a lot worse than it was. I learned my lesson when I dove to stop #1 from falling and broke my own leg. He, on the other hand tumbled safely onto the rug and laughed at me.

Oh, and to put in a good word for cosleeping, a friend of mine had a baby who climbed over a crib railing at about the same age as your LO and ended up cracking his skull (he was OK, but what a scare)! So even a standard-height bed would be much less of a fall.

[paulamc]

Hope your LO is okay! We got a king latex mattress when DS was 5 months old or so, and put it in a bedroom on a thick rug. Now we sleep there - the mattress is only 7 inches thick, so if he fell off & onto the rug, it would be no big deal. The plan in my head is that one day I'll move out and that will become his room. Works well for us!

[hipmummy]

Originally Posted by jjawm

We always used bed rails.

: The only ds fellout of bed was when we were staying at someone elses house. He was 12 weeks and it was so scary. Otherwise put your matress on the floor.

[almadianna]

falling out of beds is what babies do... dont worry mama. you did nothing wrong.

[MountainMamaGC]

My DD fell out at that age. I felt bad because I was in the bed with her. I had closed my eyes for a few seconds and she crawled to the foot of the bed and fell off. Since that day she waited for me to get her when she woke from naps. Now she can get off the bed safely.

[Treasuremapper]

We put our very heavy mattress on the floor and shoved it into a corner. I'm a little safety hyper so we also had a guard rail on the side and bottom. Nobody ever fell off, and if they had fallen, it would have been an 8 inch drop. Try it, you will be so much more relaxed.

[runes]

Mobile baby = time to put the bed on the floor

That's about when we took the bed off of the frame and put the boxspring and mattress right on the floor.

We also use a SnugTuck pillow, which is sort of like a soft guardrail.

Happy co-sleeping!

[mamarootoo]

if you heard the thunk then you were awake before she hit the floor! i'd say that's pretty good

seriously, though, i agree with all the PPs who said it happens. it sucks. it's scary. *but* it's better than climbing out of a crib, which happens a lot too.

one more thing... when dd1 was 10 months old, she was running full tilt (we were playing chase in the hall) tripped over her feet, and flew headfirst into a door jam. she threw up right after. of course i panicked and called her doctor. she threw up again while i was on the phone, and i was beside myself so they had me bring her in. it turns out throwing up *up to two times* is considered NORMAL after a fall can you believe that?! she was fine, no lasting damage, although i do think taking her to the chiropractor 2 hours after the fall helped both of us feel better!