​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Falls can lead to serious injuries. In Alberta, falls are the leading cause of emergency room and urgent care visits for children. For example:

• Amal, 3 months, fell off a counter while sitting in a bouncy chair. He got a con​cussion​ and had to go to the hospital.
  
• Isabel, 2 months, fell from a change table and broke her leg when her father turned away for 1 second to get a diaper.
• Lee, 6 months, broke his leg after falling out of a shopping cart. He had to go to the hospital.
• Maeve, 7 months, fell backwards off a couch onto a carpeted floor. She went to the hospital with a concussion.
• Katie, 11 months, fell down so​me stairs. She went to the hospital for her injuries,​ including a broken arm and a serious brain injury.

Your baby’s development and falls

Babies do a lot of kicking and wiggling. This makes it easier for them to fall from furniture and other surfaces. And it can happen very fast, even when you’re in the same room. Remember that babies can also climb even before they are able to walk.

Babies have large heads compared to their bodies. If a baby falls, their head will often hit the ground first, which can cause a concussion. A concussion is a brain injury that can be caused by a blow to the head, face, neck, or body.

Keeping your baby safe and preventing injuries takes action. Do what you know is safe every time.

How to protect your baby from falls

You can prevent most falls by always doing 2 important things:

1. purposefully watch over your baby (active supervision)
2. make your baby’s environment safe (think about hazards such as furniture, stairs, and windows)​
   

Furniture (like cribs, beds, dressers, shelves, and TVs)

• Change diapers on the floor. If you need to put your baby on a high surface (like a changing table), keep one hand on them the whole time, even when you're using safety straps.
• If you need to leave for a moment when your baby is on a high surface, move them to a safe place, such as a crib or playpen.
• Lock crib rails in the highest position.
• Move the crib mattress to the lowest point as soon as your baby can sit up.
• Move your child to a toddler bed when they show signs of being able to climb out of their crib.
• Put car seats, baby chairs, and bassinets on the floor and never on a counter, bed, or sofa. Your baby could wiggle to the edge and fall, even when strapped in.
• Place all furniture away from windows and from balcony door handles.​
• Attach loose furniture (such as dressers, bookshelves, and TVs) to the wall. Anchors, straps, and other devices to help attach loose furniture are available at most stores that sell child safety products.
  
• Do not place items that may appeal to your baby or that they may want to grab on top of furniture.
  

Stairs

• Install a wall-mounted stair gate at the top of each stairwell. Do this before your baby starts to move around and tries to crawl. Wall-mounted gates are gates that you can attach (mount) to a wall or banister.​​
  
• Don't use pressure gates at the top of stairs. Pressure gates do not require drilling into walls or banisters, but they are less secure. Your baby's weight could cause the gate to fall over when they lean on it. 
• Put a gate at the bottom of stairs as your baby grows and starts to climb. You can use pressure gates at the bottom of stairs.

Windows

• ​​Know that a screen won't protect your baby or young child from falling out of a window. Their weight can easily push a screen out of the window casing.
• Put window guards on windows higher than ground level. Window guards are like gates in front of windows. Window guards must be able to open quickly from the inside in case of an emergency.
• Put safety devices on windows that prevent them from opening more than 10 cm (4 inches). Adults and older children should know how to easily take the device off and be able to open the window all the way in case of an emergency.
• Remember that babies can climb even before they are able to walk. Climbing on furniture gives babies and young children access to windows where they can fall from significant heights.
• Move furniture such as cribs, beds, stools and change tables away from windows to prevent your baby from climbing up to them.
• Keep cords for drapes, blinds, and curtains out of your baby's reach. If ​you have long cords, wrap them around a cleat (a kind of hook with 2 ends that is used to hold window cords) or wrap them up high on the wall. This is important to lower the risk of your baby strangling or choking on cords.​
  

Safety straps

• Safety straps help prevent your baby from falling.
• Always use the safety straps on shopping carts and on your stroller, high chair, changing table, car seat, baby seat, and baby swing.
• Straps that go around your baby’s waist and through their legs are the safest type. Babies can slide through waist-only straps.
• ​​​Always stay close to your baby, even when they’re strapped in.
  

Adapted from the Babies Don’t Bounce series, an Alberta Health Services Provincial Injury Prevention resource.​