Tales of a Hippy Mama: August 2010

August 18, 2010

"Injuries are not accidents, and can be prevented!"

Kai fell off the change table this morning. He kicked his diaper on the floor and I bent to pick it up, and as fast as that he was on the floor, face first. He has a bruise on his forehead and around his eye. It was an innocent mistake, I was not acting negligently. I literally bent over and was standing back up and there you have it. After my initial freak out, making sure his injuries were only superficial, and having my husband come home from a job, the guilt set in. I could see the poster on the wall of the IWK Hospital for Children; it reads "Injuries are not accidents, and can be prevented!" Could this injury have been prevented? Of course! I could have left the diaper on the floor, I could have picked him up and held him while I retrieved the diaper, I could have left him naked, I could have never used a change table and dressed him on the floor, but the long and short of it is that I didn't! I let him fall on the floor! It makes me wonder if the men and women who make the programs like the one based out of the IWK, programs are parents too? Do they know that their posters make parents, like myself, feel even worse than we already do after we fail to prevent an injury? I often wondered if those who created the "Breast is Best" campaign, desinged to encourage breastfeeding, thought about the mothers out there who could not breast feed, because they did not produce enough milk, or because they are sexual abuse survivors, or because they have had surgery, and the guilt they were potentially instilling in them. If "worry is the work of motherhood", guilt is the salary; we don't need any help in the department!