Mom Tearfully Warns Parents Never To Put Babies On Countertops After This Happened

It can be really hard to admit a mistake as a mom, especially a serious or dangerous one. Everyone makes them from time to time, and hopefully they result in little more than a scary moment that teaches us to do better.

TikTok creator Ashley (@messybunmommy1) made a mistake with one of her three children, and it’s taken her time to talk about it — she knows that moms are given little grace when it comes to the mistakes they make, and she didn’t want to feel worse about an already bad situation — but she chose to speak up in the hopes that it might help another family.

“I just want to help one person, if I can” she says.

In June of last year, Ashley’s daughter was 9 months old and, like many babies, she had a little “sit-me-up” seat that would allow her to chill in an upright position to engage with her family.

“We just constantly had her in [it],” she says. “I would put her on my [kitchen] island and I would prepare food right next to her, just so she could see me. It was really convenient and easy.”

But one day, while Ashley was making lunch, she turned just long enough to put pasta in water. “And in the span of five seconds my daughter kicked herself back and fell in the seat onto the floor.”

It all happened so fast they weren’t sure whether the baby girl had hit her head or injured herself seriously. Their daughter wasn’t crying, but was looking around seemingly stunned. Ashley was relieved that she wasn’t hurt more seriously, and picked her up to comfort her.

“I put her on my shoulder and I was patting her, and as I was doing that I felt her tense up,” she recalls. “And then I looked at her — her eyes were rolled back and she started to have a grand mal seizure.”

Ashley’s husband called 911, who talked the family through the incident. When the seizure stopped, Ashley was horrified to discover that her daughter was not breathing.

“I then had to give her CPR until the EMTs got there and they got her breathing,” she explains, her voice wavering with emotion.

During the 30-minute ride to the hospital, and then still upon arrival, the infant wasn’t responding to anyone or any stimulus. Ashley now understands this is a postictal stage after a seizure where a person is, generally, just sort of out of it. At the time, however, the EMTs let Ashley know this might be a coma.

“I really thought I would never see her awake again,” Ashley says.

Fortunately, the baby woke up upon being given an IV — a great sign. A CT revealed a skull fracture above her ear. She also had a concussion. Since there’s nothing a medical team can do for a skull fracture — it just heals on its own if it’s not too severe — the family goes home. It was a horrifying day, but it ended in the best way possible, with a healthy baby going home to her family.

But four months later, the now 1 year old started having seizures again. Doctors believe this was a febrile seizure, which is scary but common. Ashley suspects, however, this could yet be related to her fall, since it can take a long time to recover from a traumatic brain injury. Regardless of the reason, it’s been absolutely terrifying for Ashley.

“I say all this because I’ve seen a lot of even influencers and people on my timeline on my FYP with their kids in these seats on counters, on tables, and I want to scream from the rooftops ‘you cannot do that; please don’t do that!’ I just want people to understand that there is a huge risk in doing that,” she says. “We got really lucky that she didn’t have a brain bleed but it could have been a lot worse. Even though we’re dealing with seizures now, we’re so thankful that it didn’t cause permanent disability.”

“Your life can change in an instant from one decision,” she continues tearfully. “So please don’t let it be this decision ... it took one second of me turning away for this to happen.”

She urges families to only use baby seats on the floor, and to comment (nicely, in a nonjudgmental way) on any picture or video you see on social media for others to do the same.

“I just don’t want anyone to go through that, and no kid to go through that.”

Parenting is hard and the more we get into it the more we try to find little hacks to make daily life a little bit easier. We’re sure plenty of readers have put their little one’s sit-up seat or infant car seat on a raised surface before, maybe even without thinking.

But in this case, the convenience of having your baby within reach just isn’t worth it. We’re grateful to moms like Ashley who use their hard-earned experience to help make all babies safer, and we urge you to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to keep infant positioners, bouncers, and other seats on the ground.