The First Time I Dropped My Baby, I Felt Like The World’s Worst Mother

Yes, that’s right, I said the first time. Meaning that I have accidentally dropped my baby more than once. And please don’t call CPS on me””I’m just a clumsy mumsy, as I like to call it.

The first time I dropped my baby felt way more dramatic than it actually was. I had read so many warnings about never leaving your baby unattended, always buckling them in, etc. But since it was my first kid, I had no idea how much he could flip around at such a young age!

My son was probably two or three months old, and I had him smooshed into a Boppy on the couch. He seemed secure, and my husband was on the next couch playing video games. As an “experienced” mother of two months, I figured why not go into the kitchen and warm up a bottle and leave him there? Seriously, I’d never even seen him roll onto his side before, but he chose that exact moment when my back was turned to tap into his superhuman baby strength and flip off the couch.

I, of course, ran screaming back into the room, freaked out, and cried for like an hour. He cried too, probably because I was crying so much in his face, but he ended up perfectly fine without a scratch since it was only a 2 foot fall. Since then, I know I’ve dropped him and my second son a few more times, but I can’t recall any memory quite as vivid as that first drop.

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who suffers from baby butterfingers. According to a new study published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics and reviewed on Live Science, roughly 9400 kiddos in the US are injured from falling off highchairs each year.

The study points out that these injuries are unfortunately on the rise and “increased by 22 percent over the study period, from 2003 through 2010.”

“Maybe even more concerning, the rate of head injuries has increased by almost 90 percent between 2003 and 2010, and I think it begs the question, what’s going on?” said study researcher Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Nearly all injuries associated with high chairs or booster seats involved falls. Most children fell as they were climbing or standing on the chair, suggesting that the chair’s safety restraint system was either not being used, or faulty, the researchers said.

Also, while highchair recalls are a regular occurrence, very few families turn in defective products. As a result, crazy kids being kids of forgetful parents like myself may be vulnerable to even more highchair-related injuries if they are already using a defective product.

If you’ve dropped your baby before, don’t beat yourself up because it happens to the best of us. Of course, always consult with your pediatrician to make sure your kid is A-Okay before you laugh it off. If you’re not sure whether or not your current highchair is a defective death trap that could eat your young, make sure to check with the Consumer Product Safety Commission for updates on product recalls. With all of these powers combined, your kid will make it to their first birthday! What a relief.

(photo: Getty Images)