Infant Falls

Falls are the leading c​ause of nonfatal, unintentional injuries in children and the leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits in infants. But how to prevent them often isn’t discussed with new parents.

Pennsylvania birth hospitals report an average of more than 60 in-hospital newborn fall events per year. Although most newborn falls do not cause permanent harm, almost a quarter required more testing to ensure that the newborn did not have an injury.

The Joint Commission estimated that across the United States, 600 to 1,600 newborn falls occur annually in the hospital within the newborn’s first days of life.​