A WARNING ABOUT BUNK BEDS

Please take this for what it's worth and considering your own situation, but we had a near disaster with bunk beds and I want to share it to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

We moved into a house and had to put all 3 boys into the same room. They were not quite 4 at the time. My boys are tall and the rails on the bed were quite high and so I felt that they would be safer in them than some other children tehir age. We set up the bed and had long talks about safety and messing around on them with the boys and they seemed to understand.

My one son one night fell off of the bunkbed hitting his head on the wood dresser and closet door railing. He was completely knocked out and convulsing by the time I ran from the kitchen to the bedroom after hearing him hit the floor. The other two boys saw him fall and immediately started asking me if he was dead. I immediately called 911. By then he was throwing up but still unconscious. When the ambulance and firetruck showed up my neighbor came over who is a nurse at the hospital to watch the other children while I went to the hospital with my son. My parents later came to be with my kids. DH was working half way across the state at the time so I called him and had him start home. We ambulanced over to the local hospital where CAT scans and MRIs were performed before the helicoptered him to the Children's Hospital in Denver. Fortunately, DH was in Denver by the time our son landed and other than the flight over he was never without any family with him. I then drove to Denver. We spent the 1st 24 hours in the emergency room and our son never woke up, although he dry heaved most of the night. We spent 11 days at Children's with a traumatic closed head trauma. Our neurologist said it was like he had been in a high speed car crashing into a brick wall. The MRIs revealed damage to the very center of his brain, near where the brain stem comes in. On the outside he had a very small bruise on his left temple. When he finally woke up he could not sit up unassisted. By the time we left the hospital he could walk only if someone was holding his hand. He had to crawl around the house like a baby to move around. We ended up having to do almost a years worth of Physical and Occupational therapy with him. For years he had balance issues. He is now 9 and we feel so lucky that he has overcome the damage done on this accident.

We eventually found out that he was trying to reach a light shown on the ceiling by one of his brothers when he slipped and fell. Something any child might do and never think about the possible consequences. He wasn't jumping on the bed, so he thought he'd be fine.

Most children who are hurt on bunkbed falls receive broken bones, usually arms from bracing themselves from the fall.

Bunkbeds are not recommended for any child under the age of 6, even with the rails.

If you have a ceiling fan in the room with a bunk bed the child can be whacked in the head by the fan really hard.

I know you may be planning this for sometime down the road, but please wait until they are at a minimum of 6 before using them.

Kim
Nate, Nick & Noel(36w4d)and Nia.

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