When Baby gets hurt, take a moment to evaluate the situation. Will she just get up and carry on if you don’t make a fuss? Will she cry for a moment, startled and then carry on? Will she cry out in pain, as something more serious happened? Is she badly hurt and needs immediate attention?

Only when you can properly evaluate her degree of pain, can you properly react. Rather than rushing to her aid, and spooking her further with your own fear, you can calmly walk towards her and say sweetly, “You banged your head, on the table.”

If she appears seriously injured, of course you go to her, lift her gently and calmly deal with the severity of the injury.

However if her reaction is just the shock of a pang of pain, stay back. Do not force your concern on her. Wait. Wait to see how capable she really is.

“You banged your head, on the table.” You can go to the table and touch the spot where she hit herself. “Your head hit the table right here.” By acknowledging the incident she knows you are caring well for her, and she knows that if it were more painful you would deal with it. And that is all she needs to know.

If you must, you can give her a little kiss where she is hurt, but that is as much fuss that needs to be made.

Most likely she will just carry on with exactly what she was occupied with.