Fall Prevention for Children
Falls are common in children and can result from a variety of situations. Falling from high surfaces like their bed or playground equipment, falling down the stairs, or tripping over things in the home are common causes of falls in children. Simple safety precautions can help prevent most falls from happening.
Safety Tips
- Always provide direct supervision. The best way to prevent injury is to watch, listen, and stay near your infant and young child. If you need to step away for a short time, place them in a safe place such as a crib or playpen.
- Install safety gates that are anchored to the wall around the house to prevent falls, especially at the top and bottom of stairs. Avoid using accordion-style or tension gates because children's heads can get caught in them.
- Never leave an infant or young child alone while on a high surface such as a changing table or bed. Always keep one hand on them while they are on a high surface.
- Place infant seats, bouncers, or other small seats on the floor to avoid any risk of the seat tipping over or falling.
- Always use safety straps in highchairs, strollers, and other carriers.
- Avoid using baby walkers with wheels.
- Keep furniture away from windows and anchor pieces to the wall so if they are pulled or leaned on, they will not move.
- Keep stairs clutter free and secure area rugs to the floor with double-sided tape to prevent tripping.
- Place slip resistant mats or stickers on the bottom of the bathtub or shower.
- All windows above a first-floor level should have locks and operable window guards. Window screens are not strong enough to prevent a fall. Window guards don’t allow the window to open more than four inches but can be easily removed in case of a fire.
