FEB 10 — Have you ever tried dropped a baby on his or her head? I have. Well, I didn’t exactly try. The baby just dropped on her head on my watch, that’s all.

Athena’s mother was leaving her for the first time since she was born. She had to go to Singapore over a weekend for work and I was put in charge.

The first night went well. Athena woke up quite early in the morning and I picked her up from her cot and brought her into bed with me.

Before I knew it, I had dozed off and woke up just in time to see Athena tumbling head first down from the bed and onto the floor.

I shouted and that shocked the poor little girl who started crying like she had been beaten. I quickly carried her and checked for injuries.

Good thing she wasn’t hurt from the fall since she went down with two pillows and most of the comforter. But can you imagine my horror?

Then afternoon came and I sat down for lunch at the dining table. Athena was taking a nap on the bed in the room and I left the door open so I could hear if she woke up.

I heard a rustling noise and I run from the dining table to the room where Athena was sleeping just in time to see her take another tumble onto the floor.

Shocked at the sight, I let out another shout. And that set off Athena, who had fallen but wasn’t crying, on another screaming fit.

I grabbed her and checked her for injuries, and felt relieved that she wasn’t hurt too bad. All she had was a nice red spot on her forehead.

Great! I thought to myself. Her mother leaves her for just two days and I manage to drop her twice in that short space of time.

It may be all funny to think back right now but I had to do all I could to fight the urge to drive Athena to the emergency room and insist on a CAT scan.

I also had to fight the urge to keep Athena’s two falls from her mother! But of course I did tell her and she got into a screaming rage of not trusting me with the baby again.

And forget the grandparents! If they had it their way, Athena would be wearing a helmet 24 hours a day!

It’s been a while now since that weekend Athena was first introduced to head bumps and she now has learnt how to crawl and climb all over the place like a little monkey.

Let me just tell you that when a baby reaches this monkey stage, parents also reach a stage where they become desensitised from the fear of head injuries.

Athena’s mother and I no longer react like the atomic bomb just went off whenever she falls and hits her head.

We just shrug and one of us will move to carry her while the other heads to the freezer for ice to soothe the bump.

It’s also a relief to find out from the medical experts that babies' heads are pretty hard and that normal falls and bumps aren’t serious.

The best thing to do is to just stay calm and not shock the baby further with any unnecessary screaming on your part.

Also make sure to use your reasonable judgment to check the baby to see if there are any out-of-the-ordinary injuries. And most importantly is to console the baby.

Whenever I feel my own head today, I notice all the bumps and I’m sure my parents must have dropped my on my head a few times when I was a baby.

I guess that’s a relief too since I turned out pretty okay (hmm…) and little Athena should be just fine.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.