Story from a Dad
Posted: September 23, 2007” My heart ached when my baby fell from my bed.” A friend shared and told us about the incident happened to him just a weekend ago during lunch.
My immediate reaction was” So how was he ? Was he hurt ? ”
” Luckily, he (which is only 6 mths old) cried only. There is no lumps or bumps on his head or any part of his body.”
” But the next day, the boy run a slight fever and was alright now. ”
” It’s my fault. I was too tired and fell asleep with him. I did not know he can turn and roll over the edge of the bed.”
My friend is a very good daddy. He always help his wife in chores and in looking after his sons 2 years and 6 months old. It did not cross my mind as many would have thought - Dad are so clumsy. They never do things right. ” Instead my heart felty very sympathetic towards him. This is because we knew he just came back from a long 6 days business trip and arrived home on Saturday 2.a.m. My friend must have fallen asleep when watching over his baby.
” That is tough for you. How did it happened ? ” I asked trying to understand and see if I can offer some tips to help him prevent such incident to happen again.
Apparently, my friend placed his son on his bed and slept next to him. He has assumed that his son will not wake up so soon nor able to flip and crawl over to the edge of the bed. His guilt on accidentally was written all over his face. I can also imagine how his wife would react when she knew what had happened.
Thus, the group of us whom are mummies and daddies offer some tips to help him.
1) First take care of yourself first before you can take care of younr baby
One suggests he get some help from extended family members or others to look after his sons( 2 year and another 6 months) temporary so that he can have rest and recover from fatigue before starting to focus on looking after children.
2) Safety measures around the bed.
-Place a mattress just beneath the edges of the bed. Cushion the baby when he falls.
-Buy a bed guard for the adult bed. Prevent falling over
- Place pillows around the babies. But careful it may suffocate him. ( This is not the choice I would recommend.)
4) Place the baby where he should be- at the cot.
Place the baby to sleep on his own cot instead of letting him sleep on an adult bed
5) Use a Play Pen
Play pen are movable, shiftable and have mattress whom the child can lay down and play and sleep. Play pen are for babies and toddlers to play and rest. To me, it is one of the best and must have furniture for a new parent. It is all surrounded by child proof designs and beddings. The baby in the play pen can be monitored even when the adult is doing other chores.
6) Be alert
Never underestimate a 3-7 months old baby. Some babies have stronger muscle and they can easily flip, roll over in on their tummy either on the right or left or both directions. Some may even able to push themselves forward like crawling. Parents should never leave the babies alone at this stage.
One of the never able to compromise thing that parents will have to bear in mind is safety. No matter how tired you are, how moody you are, how small the baby is, how insistence the child is to test their limits, always exercise your parent authority to stop potential danger and harm that can affect your child. One little oversights and wrong assumptions, a life changing event may happen. Parents must also never forget babies and children do not have knowledge and experiences like adults. They cannot be assumed as “They should know.”
Thus, from this real life experience, we can see that a small slumber from parent can cause potential hurt to our beloved child. We have to be sensitive and alert as a hawk watching over the young.
