Mothers
I feel so guilty, I accidentally hurt the baby.
LiekeGuest ·
Hi everyone,
Oh, I feel so incredibly guilty and just need to get this off my chest.
Tonight, after my 3-year-old daughter had her bath, I put her to bed. I always find that such a lovely moment, cozy reading and cuddling.
But tonight I was mega clumsy. I was trying to tuck her in, but while pulling up the blanket, it slipped from my hand and my hand shot forward, hitting her head. She got startled, and I did too, but luckily she didn't start crying. Shit, I thought, great job, mom.
We read a book together, and she was lying there listening happily. I put the book away and was about to turn back to her, but the moment I turned towards her, she sat up and I hit her cheekbone squarely with my elbow. I was horrified, and she immediately started screaming. Yeah, it was really hard. I picked her up onto my lap and kept saying sorry a thousand times, hugging her tight, but I also started crying because she was so sad and it was my fault.
I asked if she was okay, and she said yes. I asked if she was mad at mom, and she said no. I said sorry, mom 'bumped' into you twice.
But now I'm downstairs and feel so guilty. What if she's scared of me and thinks mom hits her or hurts her on purpose?
How do I get over this... My husband says don't worry about it, but I feel so awful.
Have any of you experienced this before?
Oh, I feel so incredibly guilty and just need to get this off my chest.
Tonight, after my 3-year-old daughter had her bath, I put her to bed. I always find that such a lovely moment, cozy reading and cuddling.
But tonight I was mega clumsy. I was trying to tuck her in, but while pulling up the blanket, it slipped from my hand and my hand shot forward, hitting her head. She got startled, and I did too, but luckily she didn't start crying. Shit, I thought, great job, mom.
We read a book together, and she was lying there listening happily. I put the book away and was about to turn back to her, but the moment I turned towards her, she sat up and I hit her cheekbone squarely with my elbow. I was horrified, and she immediately started screaming. Yeah, it was really hard. I picked her up onto my lap and kept saying sorry a thousand times, hugging her tight, but I also started crying because she was so sad and it was my fault.
I asked if she was okay, and she said yes. I asked if she was mad at mom, and she said no. I said sorry, mom 'bumped' into you twice.
But now I'm downstairs and feel so guilty. What if she's scared of me and thinks mom hits her or hurts her on purpose?
How do I get over this... My husband says don't worry about it, but I feel so awful.
Have any of you experienced this before?
Replies
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Nienke #2
Oh, I can totally imagine this! Accidents happen, but it doesn't take anything away from how you feel.
A few months ago, I also accidentally hurt my son a lot. He was only about 8 months old then and was lying on his changing mat on a towel. I wanted to help him turn so I could rub his back, so I pulled on the towel while he was turning (I used to do this often and it always went well). Bam! He hit his head really hard against the dresser. I felt so guilty too and really cried with him. The only difference is that a baby forgets this after a few minutes.
Your girl will probably have forgotten about it by tomorrow too. And if she brings it up, you can explain that it was an accident. Your child will have accidentally hurt someone else at some point too, so she'll probably "understand" that. I totally get how you feel, but accidents can happen. -
Jo Guest #3
Oh my goodness, you're really overthinking this. -
Orchidea #4
Oops, I think every parent has experienced something like this happening by accident!
Don't worry, your child will probably forget about it soon. They can tell from you that it wasn't intentional, so once again, no worries—it happens, we're all human! -
Denise Kerber #5
Aah, I know exactly how you feel! You really don't need to feel guilty at all. This just happens, there's nothing you can do about it. Your daughter will have forgotten about it long ago today, so try to distract yourself for a bit.
Recently, my daughter had an inflamed eye, it was all swollen and red, and it looked like she had gotten a bump on it. That wasn't the case, but I felt so awful about it. Everyone in the supermarket was staring at her, and then at me as if I had abused my own child. So I understand that you feel really bad about it, but you know how things really are, and that you would never hit your child! -
Anonymous Guest #6
If 70% of parenting goes well, that's good enough... we're not perfect and it doesn't have to be perfect... and yes, accidents happen! Kids sometimes hurt me and sometimes I hurt them... sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally... that's life!
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