# My baby fell out of the bed last night!! :( How can I make the bed safer?



## ilovemybaby (Mar 27, 2003)

Last night about 3:15am, I was awakened by a terrible thud! My 6 month old baby rolled her way over to the edge of our king size bed and fell out!







It's a high bed, too, and the floor is wood. She screamed and cried! I felt just so horrible, sick to my stomach, as I leaped up and flew to the side of the bed. She was on her hands and knees and yelling and sobbing. I picked her up and held her close, just worrying that she was seriously injured.

My husband was downstairs in his office working and he heard the thud through the ceiling. He came right up and I told him what happened. We lay in bed with her and she continued to cry. She finally calmed down enough to nurse some and she settled down. We checked her over for bruises, moving her little arms and legs, looking for any signs of distress or broken bones. She seemed shaken, but ok. We are going to take her to our ped. She went back to sleep and we talked about what happened.

I usually have her between myself and a wall of pillows. Our bed is in the middle of the room, not against a wall. But in the middle of the night, I switched sides for nursing and I dozed off without moving the wall of pillows as well. Stupid! DH works late and doesn't come to bed until 4am or so, so he wasn't there to block her from rolling out. We discussed bedrails, a bolster-type thing - I saw one somewhere, taking apart the bed and putting the mattress on the floor. I still feel ill from the whole thing.

Does anyone have any suggestions to make sharing a bed safer? What works for you? Has this ever happened to you - baby falling out? I know I'm not a bad mother, but I sure could use some encouragement. This was really awful.


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## Almamiel (Dec 24, 2002)

Yes, it happenned to us, too







- it was HORRIBLE, but luckily dd wasn't hurt. We ended up sidecarring the crib (there's a thread somewhere here about how to do this) but as dd is reaching new heights of mobility, are going to have to come up with something else. Probably moving to the floor...

Don't beat yourself up about it. You're still a good mama







.


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## sylviamama (Dec 30, 2002)

Poor baby!







I know you feel so bad, but I once read that it's not really a matter of IF, but WHEN it will happen. Our dd also hit the hardwood floor, landed on her head, when she was 8mo. She's OK, and we bought a baby monitor so we can hear her the second she wakes from now on.

Check out the Mothering issue on co-sleeping. There's a little side box in one of the articles on how to do it safely. In a nutshell, the mattress on the floor in the middle of the room (not too far to fall, no place to get wedged) is the way to go!


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## doulamoon (Mar 17, 2002)

We put our mattress/box spring directly on the floor, with a long pillow all down the side just in case. That left a foot or so to fall but with a cushion. Which she did land on once, not too traumatic.

Don't call yourself, stupid, mama. Call yourself tired. You're nursing a 6mo. Sylviamama's right, it's not a matter of if, but when.


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## wombat (Nov 3, 2002)

This happened to us once when dh had dd lying on his stomach after a feed one morning. He fell back to sleep and then woke up with a startle and sat up sending dd flying onto the floor. She was only about 4 weeks. I really freaked out. To make it worse, she didn't hit the carpeted floor, she hit the base of a metal floor lamp. We took her right off to the ER. After that, dh has to sit up whenever he's feeding or burping her. DD is only 3 months so I'm still using the SnuggleNest in bed. She can wriggle down and out to the side of it now but cause we're in her way, she can't go anywhere. Once she gets more mobile I'm gonna get one of those side rails. I've used one on the bed at MILs place and it worked well. I don't like mattresses on the floor, had too many mouldy mattresses doing that in my student days. Unless you can really air that mattress out every day, I don't find it sanitary. Here it seems, if we haven't got the heating on, we've got the air conditioning on so can't leave the windows open all the time.


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## beanma (Jan 6, 2002)

our queen mattress is on the floor (not sure why that would make things moldy







: ) with a twin up next to it on a slightly raised platform i made from 2x4s and 1x4s. it's all squished over in the corner of the room so there's only two sides to fall off and they're only 8 inches off the floor. before we put the mattress on the floor dd did almost fall off one time when were playing on the bed and i was tired and dd (about 8mo?) was trying to pull up on my back as i was on all fours. she started to slip off the bed and i instinctively reached out my hand to grab her and i whacked her right in the head and boxed her ear good. poor thing. she just wailed. i felt awful. after that the mattress went on the floor and that's where it's been ever since. no mold problem here and dd (now 27 mo) has been able to crawl in and out of bed by herself and play there by herself for sometime. i love our family bed and i also love the extra space of the queen and twin together.

hth


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## GoodWillHunter (Mar 14, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by wombat_
*Once she gets more mobile I'm gonna get one of those side rails. I've used one on the bed at MILs place and it worked well.*
I, too, sent my poor baby to the floor. The day after that, I went to my parent's house and appropriated the bed rail I used when DS1 was little. Much better. Now, no flying children. We sleep with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. I heartily endorse using the bed rail Piece of cake and it doesn't involve sleeping on the floor. Check out Dr. Sears books on co-sleeping. He mentions using these critters, too.


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## samsara (Jan 4, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by beanma_
*...our queen mattress is on the floor (not sure why that would make things moldy







: ) ....hth*
i think it depends on where you live, but i feel the same as wombat. allergy-wise, specialists say not to even store things under a raised bed, let alone put the mattress directly on the floor, because air needs to circulate around the mattress. that said, i know plenty of folks who sleep on the floor and have no problem, but it's just not for me









ilovemybaby, you're a good mama! i agree with everyone else, the not-if-but-when part. as soon as we retire the co-sleeper, i'll be facing the same issues and will have to find some bed rails, which i think might be the way to go.








T what does *hth* mean? i see it all over the board and i can't figure it out. help!







:


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## beanma (Jan 6, 2002)

well, hth means "hope that helps". i can do that one!

we live in the hot and humid south, so i think if mold was going to be anywhere it would be here, but maybe the central air keeps it at bay. we also have hardwood floors that might not contribute to it as much as the nasty old carpet we pulled up. i still don't follow 'cause the mattress would be against the box springs if it wasn't on the floor, but whatever works for each family. i've never tried the bed rails, but we're happy with our arrangement 'cause dd can get in and out of bed on her own.

hth!


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## ilovemybaby (Mar 27, 2003)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've ordered bedrails, one for each side, and hopefully they are arriving soon! In the meantime, we have a wall of pillows on the one side and then when DH comes to bed, well, she would just have to climb over him.

I love sleeping with her! Even though it is tiring, but you know she is only going to be this little once!









Love, love, love my baby!


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## nuggetsmom (Aug 7, 2002)

Quote:

_Originally posted by beanma_
*our queen mattress is on the floor (not sure why that would make things moldy







: ) hth*
Well, I know why our matress would get moldy. We have concrete slab foundation and the concrete (which is directly under the carpet) lets some water through. It is milliscule so you never feel the floor as being wet unless you set something (like a matress) directly on it.
I guess on other floors it depends on how humid it is, and how much mold there is in your area. Also, under beds a lot of dust collects so if you have the matress right on the floor or store stuff under it you have more dust. Assuming of course that if the bed is raised you dust under it, which I don't









Ilovemybaby see if you can nurse without going to the other side of your baby. I nurse DD on the bottem boob first and then I lean over her a little and have her nurse on the top. That way you can keep the pillows (and bed rail or whatever) on the other side.
And DD has fallen out of bed too and hit the concrete... She was fine. But then my friends 1 yo climbed out of his crib and fell on the hardwood floor. And that was a lot higher! So that is not perfectly safe either.


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