A nurse shares the most common accidents involving babies.

Accidentally hurting your newborn baby is every parents’ worst nightmare – but according to a paediatric nurse, it’s surprisingly common.

The nurse, who has worked in Australian hospitals for eight years and who wished to remain anonymous, said babies were being taken to hospital every week due to “new parent mishaps”.

She told The Motherish that the most common injuries included babies rolling off couches or beds, slipping out of prams or capsules, and being dropped by exhausted parents.

But she said that most of the time, the injuries were minor and resulted in nothing more than cuts, scratches and bruises. “Common injuries are babies rolling off beds and couches, because mums and dads think they can’t roll yet when they can,” she said.

“We also see babies falling out of carriers because they’re not being strapped in. Parents think they’re too little for anything to happen, but accidents do happen. We recently had a dad swinging a baby capsule a bit and the baby fell out. Things like that happen all the time. I think every one of my friends who are parents have had accidents like these," she continued.

“New parent exhaustion also plays a big part - mums fall and slip over, they fall down stairs, and babies fall off their parent’s chest when they fall asleep. If you’re feeling exhausted, put the baby down in a crib or a bouncer or give it to your partner and try and get some sleep," the nurse explained.

The nurse stressed that making mistakes does not mean you are a bad parent, and urged new mums and dads to be kinder to themselves.

“It’s far more common than people say and it’s something people should talk about, because it happens all the time and it doesn’t make you a terrible parent. Often the babies are 100 per cent fine but the guilt is the hardest part for the parents to deal with,” she said.

“Being a parent is a really hard job and if people talk about it more, it will make other parents feel like they’re not failures. It’s okay to ask for help. Parents need to be kinder to themselves and to give themselves a break. Becoming a parent is a completely new experience, so you need to give yourself time to adjust – it doesn’t mean you are failing.”

That should make all of us feel better.

Did you ever experience a "new parent mishap"?

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