BATON ROUGE — May is National Trauma Awareness Month. Each year, more than 2 million children are seen in the emergency department in the U.S. because of fall-related injuries.

"The injuries can vary widely, and it's somewhat dependent on the age range for the patient," said Tom Halada, pediatric trauma coordinator at the Mayo Clinic.

Infants and toddlers often get hurt tumbling off beds and changing tables. Windows and stairs can also lead to unintentional bumps and bruises.

"One way to prevent falls around the home would be to make sure that you have properly installed safety gates for your stairs and guards for the window," Halada said.

Bigger kids sometimes end up at the hospital because of injuries related to biking, roller-skating and other recreational activities.

"Participation in any activity, you would want to make sure that the child is wearing correct and properly sized protective equipment, such as helmet, knee pads, elbow guards, wrist guards," Halada said.

Many of these falls and accidents can be prevented.

"Attentive supervision by an adult is really key to preventing injury in children," Halada said.