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Mum of baby girl who fractured her skull after falling off a changing table issues a little-known warning to all parents
- An Australian mum has told of how her baby fell off a table and injured her head
- The woman shared her story with parenting education community Tiny Hearts
- She said her daughter fell while having her nappy changed onto a marble floor
- The baby was rushed to the hospital where it was found she’d fractured her skull
- The mum said she pushed doctors to scan the child after noticing a nasty bump
- Tiny Hearts said kids should get seen to if they fall from a height twice their own
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An Australian mum has issued a warning to parents after her baby suffered a fractured skull from falling off a table during a nappy change.
Parenting group Tiny Hearts Education shared the woman’s story in an Instagram post as a reminder that any child who falls from a height double their own needs immediate medical attention.
The mother said her six-month-old daughter, who had not yet started rolling over without assistance, fell from a changing able onto a marble floor while the mum’s back was turned for a moment.
An Australian mum has issued a warning to parents to take children to the hospital if they fall from a height double their own after her daughter fell off a changing table
The six-month-old was rushed to a nearby hospital where it was found she had a fractured skull but no bleeding or apparent brain damage (pictured: scan of the baby’s skull)
‘I was changing my six-month-old daughter’s nappy on a change table at my in-laws where the wipes were positioned behind me,’ the woman wrote.
‘She hasn’t started rolling without assistance or much speed yet but as I turned around to grab a wipe, she rolled off the table onto the marble floor landing on her side.’
The mum had seen a previous post from Tiny Hearts advising parents to seek medical attention if their child had faller from a height double their own so she and her mother-in-law immediately drove the baby to the hospital which was only five minutes away.
‘In the car she was closing her eyes and falling asleep, I kept her awake until we reached the ED,’ the concerned mum recalled.
After the mum altered a nurse to a cephalohematoma, or large bump on the child’s head, doctors scanned her and found the fractures
‘They admitted us for two hours of monitoring, however the junior doctor hadn’t felt the impact site and I was noticing a cephalohematoma emerging.’
A cephalohematoma is an accumulation of blood under the scalp that looks like a raised bump on the head.
She advised the nurse of the bump who got a senior doctor to scan the child’s head and found a five-centimetre fracture but ‘thankfully’ no bleeding or obvious brain damage.
‘I had watched a lecture the day before coincidentally on paediatric trauma that advised that a cephalohematoma is a fracture until proven otherwise,’ the mum added.
‘So glad I was empowered to advocate for my child!’
The post racked up hundreds of likes and dozens of comments from parents thankful for the potentially life-saving advice.
‘This is a good one, I didn’t know this – anything double their height take straight to the hospital,’ one mum wrote.
‘Oh my goodness, how scary and how fragile/tiny does the bubba look going in that big machine,’ another replied.
‘My boy has totally fallen at least a few times double his height and I didn’t take him to hospital. I had absolutely no idea!!!’ a third commented.
The post also included some advice from Tiny Hearts Education head and former paramedic Nikki Jurcutz for parents to remember if their child falls.
‘If your child has fallen from a height that is double their height, they need immediate medical attention,’ she said.
‘Even if they look completely fine. Even if they looked like they didn’t land that hard. Even if it was an accident.’
Nikki said signs and symptoms after a fall don’t always show up straight away and falling from a height twice as tall as the child can put them at risk of a moderate to severe head injury.
She also instructed parents to call triple zero for an ambulance for moderate to severe head injuries.