A mother is suing a hospital after a nurse 'fell asleep' and dropped her premature baby.

Canadian mother Kelsey Bond remembers the exact moment the hospital phoned her to let her know that her baby boy Keiran – one of two twins born prematurely – had been dropped on his head during the night.

“I was more or less in shock, so I didn’t really say anything,” the 19-year-old mother told The Intelligencer.

“I received a phone call at eight o’clock in the morning saying that the nurse had fallen asleep feeding him and woke up to him crying on the floor,” she said.

Keiran and his twin, Kayden, were born more than two months premature on December 12. Kayden was released from hospital on February 10, but Keiran was suffering a lung condition and other health problems, and remained in hospital.

Kelsey was feeding Kayden when she received the phone call.

"[The department's manager] said she was sorry...and that a paediatrician had looked at him and said he was fine."

When the hospital gave Kelsey the report into Keiran's accident, she discovered the fall had occurred around 3 a.m.

"They didn't call me for five hours. You're supposed to be notified right away," she said.

The report said the nurse in question was holding Keiran on her lap when "next thing, she noted baby on floor".

"Baby possibly slid down from her lap but mechanism of fall is unclear; Keiran cried, no documented loss of consciousness...Assessed by the paediatrician on call after the fall and no abnormalities were noted," the report said.

Kelsey asked the hospital to do a head ultrasound on Keiran after she was alerted to the incident. A second paediatrician assured her that her baby was alright when she arrived to see him that evening.

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But Kelsey had "a gut feeling that everything wasn't OK."

"We've already almost lost him once," she said.

After another ultrasound and a CT scan, it was finally revealed that Keiran's skull had a depressed fracture and an acute subdural hematoma.

Kelsey said she was told by medical professionals that it could take up to "six months to a year" for Keiran's injury to heal properly.

She's concerned about the long term effects of his accident, and admits that although "he seems to be doing better", he remains more of a "high-needs" baby than his twin.

Kelsey is now looking into her legal options, telling The Intelligencer she wants a "lawsuit for neglect".

The hospital has issued her with an apology, but Kelsey said it "doesn't fix what happened."

"This is my child's life. When I think about it, my heart's basically in my stomach," she said.

"The nurse is not suspended; she has not been fired; there is no punishment for her. If she was tired she shouldn't have gone to work. She's risking children's lives, and these aren't just normal, full-term babies. They need special care."