Slow Down Rushing Mothers: Babies Accidently Dropped On The Stairs Are Strikingly Common

rushingmomMost parents these days are rushing. Rushing to pack those lunches, to get to those ballet classes, to get everyone in the car. Rushing to doctor’s appointments, to answer the door, to get everyone dressed. But perhaps it’s this tendency by modern over-booked mothers and fathers that accounts for this sobering national number: a child under the age of five is taken to the emergency room for a stair-related fall every six minutes. A quarter of these injuries tell the story of a child under the age of one year old being carried by a parent.

Now, it’s not as if mothers aren’t capable of a mistake here or there, especially with regards to a wriggling tot. But this new research has been described as a “wake-up call to all of us,” according to  Dr. Gary A. Smith, director of the center for injury research and policy for Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The number of children falling down the stairs each year has taken a dip in response to parents no longer throwing down their money on those “dangerous” baby walkers. Dr. Smith describes them as “carrying no redeeming value” despite their continued sale with impediment to children’s walking and learning.

However, Smith did describe how many of us “live in a multi-tasking world” with mothers hardly being an exception. Saddling your kid on your hip as you head up the stairs with your flashing iPhone may seem not so dangerous, but the numbers tell an entirely different story. To stay safe, Dr. Smith advises parents to travel and up down the stairs with only your child in hand — nothing else. It may take five to ten minutes longer, but rushing and carelessness will surely cost you and your baby a lot more.

(photo: Shutterstock)

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