Ruth Watts is a health visitor who is known for sharing handy advice online for parents. She recently revealed which common accidents could land children in A&E
When you’re a parent, it’s normal to get worried, but many fret about their children having accidents.
After all, when they’re little, unaware of their surroundings or spend a lot of time running around – it can be easy for things to go wrong. Now a health visitor has opened up about the common accidents that land kids in A&E – and what you can do to avoid them.
According to Ruth Watts, known as @ruthwattshv on TikTok, there are a few accidents that commonly land babies, toddlers and children in A&E, and some of them are not what you’d expect.
The “biggest” one is said to be hot coffee and tea related incidents, and drinks without milk in are said to be “much hotter” too. She said it’s easy for drinks to be put down and forgotten about, or you leave it alone for a few minutes, and then disaster strikes.
But Ruth said a baby’s skin is “much thinner” than ours, so you need to be careful, as it can cause significant burns. The best thing you can do is keep all hot drinks out of the way completely.
She added: “Another one is babies rolling off the bed, or off the sofa onto hard surfaces. A lot of people don’t think babies can roll, which they don’t usually, but sometimes they do so that can cause significant head injuries.
“Cleaning products – the stuff that you keep under the sink usually. Now again, I don’t mean to be patronising in telling people that this stuff is dangerous, particularly if ingested, it can be fatal but also it can cause significant burns.
“I have had my own experience with this with my daughter. She managed to get into the cupboard, the lock was off for some reason. We’re all human, parents are just human, we all make mistakes – and she managed to ingest fabric conditioner. So, it happens, it happens to the best of us.”
She also said falling down the stairs can be a problem, which means stairgates are vital. Ruth noted this usually happens when babies are “unsupervised”, but it’s still said to be a common occurrence.
When it comes to older children, she said some can also easily fall off scooters while they’re not wearing a helmet. She said this is “so important”, as it doesn’t matter how slow they’re going – head protection is essential.
The video has been viewed over 2,000 times since it was shared, and people were quick to comment too. Some even shared their own experiences with Ruth.
One said: “My baby lost her finger in a door. At the plastics, they see so many accidents with fingers.”
Another wrote: “My daughter rolled off the bed, and I literally looked away for a second. Felt so guilty, I cried so much.”
Meanwhile, a third also replied: “In a cafe and this lady was holding a tray of hot drinks above my baby. I was on edge.”