help! they've pulled up & they can't get down!

so my girls have learned to pull up (and Danika's even cruising a tiny bit) but they have not figured out a safe way to get down - mostly, they just let go & fall straight over backwards. ouch! it's not a problem if i'm right there, but sometimes i'm just not fast enough to catch a baby. does anyone have any tips or suggestions? or do they just (hopefully) get through this phase really quickly?

 

My first advice would be let them fall, but it also depends on how they fall. One of my boys used to fall backwards head first, so we put pillows around him or we only let him stand up in carpeted areas. The other one knew how to properly fall, so we let him go. Also, when they would stand in their cribs, we just let them fall because if we went in there a half dozen times they would never go to sleep.

The good news is that they learn how to fall pretty quick, but you will have to get used to them falling because once they walk, they fall all the time. I'd say in a typical hour my guys fall 20 or more times, and they've been walking for around 3 months.

 

Someone here said they were made of rubber. Based on my experiences with my lads I tend to agree.

 

I agree that they have to fall a few times to learn 'how to fall'. That said, I always put down pillows and an extra thick blanket so they weren't falling and really getting hurt.

 

Mine were for the most part always on carpet so it wasnt too hard a fall. The phase will pass and they will figure it out.

 

I showed them a couple of times how to fall on their butts. I put them standing then guided them into a safe "butt fall". Mine soon learned to turn around though and fall forward! There were several face plants before they caught on.

 

This was a pretty short phase for us -- like a few days, a week at most, for each child. They learn really fast, and in the meantime it won't hurt them if they fall. The parental instinct is to always want to catch them, but (assuming they're not going to hit their heads on something sharp) it's actually better to just let them learn. And yeah -- they'll fall even more once they're really walking, so get used to it.