Admissions for head injuries that stem from sledding have doubled this year at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.

Doctors at Mott have treated 11 patients in the last eight weeks after serious accidents that involved sledding, including an 8-year-old Canton boy who severed his left ear and sustained a serious skull fracture after his sled slammed in a tree. Doctors re-attached his ear and removed pieces of fractured skull, and he is expected to make a full recovery, hospital officials said.

Here are three tips to keep that sledding adventure safe:

1. Trauma experts at Mott recommend wearing helmets while sledding, said Amy Teddy, the injury prevention program manager for the hospital. Since 2007, Mott has treated about 32 children who have been injured while sledding. There is resistance to the notion of wearing a helmet while sledding, she said, mostly along the lines of parents thinking, " 'I did this as a child and I was fine, and my kids will do it this way too.' "

"Science has evolved," she said, "based of what we've learned from devastating stories."

2. The Safe Kids Coalition recommends sledding by sitting up and facing forward on a clear, safe path, rather than going down a hill head-first. Teddy said it's a mistake to assume a child will be able to make a last-minute decision to avoid a collision. It's more likely the child will panic.

3. To be safe, sledding hills should not lead to a street, a crowded gathering place or a body of water. Two sledding accident fatalities that occurred in southeast Michigan have involved young people being hit by a car after sledding onto a road or into a parking lot.

Would you put your child in a helmet while sledding? Why or why not? Take our poll and tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Juliana Keeping is a health and environment reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter.