My little Lady Gaga crawls like a bear! She didn’t even attempt the classic hands-and-knees crawling; instead, she has perfected what is called gorilla crawling or bear crawling. She moves on her hands and feet with her knees off the ground and her bottom in the air, resembling the gait of a gorilla. And no, it is not a slow crawl—they are high-paced strides, taken with conviction.
Last week, however, her hands slipped while bear crawling and she fell on her face. Her bloody lip was the most shocking sight I have seen in a long time. Although it was only a superficial cut, it was a scare nonetheless. A few months earlier, when she had barely started inch-worming, my girl breached the pillow fort propped on the edge of the bed. Around 3am, her wails shocked my husband and I awake and we saw her on the floor next to the pillow she managed to push off the bed.
We hovered over her, hearts racing, until the wails quietened and she drifted to sound sleep. But my husband and I couldn’t sleep that night. He was chatting with an AI bot all night, asking if she was alright. There were no visible bumps and she seemed to have landed on the pillow that she had pushed off the bed. We checked her pupils and kept a watch to see whether she was puking, as the bot suggested. That episode, too, passed without much of a struggle, especially as the doctor also signed off on her health the next morning.
Then came the standing up phase. The little one started bear crawling towards the furniture, hoping to use it to pull herself up. It was quite common for her to lose her balance and tumble down. Almost always, she landed on her bum and nothing much happened. But a few times, she lost her balance. That thud of her head hitting the floor—I don’t know how to explain that fear and anxiety.
Doctors, however, say that once a baby learns to roll, a tumble is often just a matter of time. About 90 per cent of such falls by infants are safe, they say. But there are things to watch out for. Exploring the world is a fundamental part of a child’s development, yet it inherently carries risks that often keep parents on tenterhooks. While minor tumbles from sofas, beds or chairs are typically benign rites of passage that rarely result in significant harm, we must distinguish these from high-impact accidents, say experts.
According to Dr Arun A., consultant paediatrician, VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi, if the fall occurred out of sight, one must monitor for danger signs, including vomiting, seizures, abnormal posturing, a vacant stare, not taking feeds properly, abnormal rhythmic movements and drowsiness. “The child should be observed for two to three days,” he said. “Usually, if there is a concussion, they would vomit within 24 hours. If the vomiting occurs after that, it is serious.”
In the case of seizure activity, it is not necessary that the signs be as evident as those we see in the movies. Since a child's neurological development is not complete, the seizures could be subtle. Other than head injuries, other injuries can also occur, including to the shoulders and hips. But these are not very common.
With parents always worried about tumbles, it is natural for their Instagram feeds to be filled with ads pushing for safety gear. Reels often show babies wearing helmets and knee pads so as to ‘diminish’ the risk of falls. However, paediatricians say that these are medically unnecessary for the vast majority of infants.
Dr Hiremath Sagar, senior consultant, paediatrics, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, says that most babies are not significantly mobile until they begin crawling around nine months, and even then, their low centre of gravity and flexible skeletal structure are designed to withstand minor bumps. “Critically, these tools may actually prove counterproductive; a child’s ability to master balance and coordination depends on receiving unfiltered sensory feedback from their environment,” he said. Encasing a toddler in foam can dull their proprioception (body’s ability to sense its location, movement and actions) and interfere with the natural development of protective reflexes, he added.
“In my clinical experience, the most devastating cases—such as severe scalds from hot water or traumatic brain injuries from falling over short railings—occur not because a child lacked a helmet, but because of a momentary lapse in environmental safety,” said Sagar. “True protection is found in a passively safe environment—bolted furniture and gated stairs—rather than active wearable gear that may inadvertently delay the very motor skills a child needs to navigate the world safely.”
Sagar added that prevention depends entirely on unwavering adult supervision and proactive environmental modifications, such as installing tall, compliant safety grills and securing heavy items. “Falls from balconies or flights of stairs, pulling down of heavy furniture and the spillage of scalding liquids such as tea, coffee or bath water represent the true domestic hazards that lead to major trauma and long-term injury,” he said.