How do you know if a bumped head is serious?

[elektra]

DD is 14 months old and is starting to run and is just getting into everything. In the past 2 weeks she has had 3 what I think are major head bumps but I am thinking some of this stuff must happen to kids around the world every day and they are just fine, but I'm not sure and I need to know if this is normal or not.
1) she pulled a wood TV tray on to herself and it conked her on the forehead. I called the doc and the nurse told me that if she wasn't vomiting or if she didn't lose consciousness she was probably fine. And she did seem to be fine.
2) she was pushing her little Brillo wagon and tripped and hit cheek first onto the edge and she now has a black eye
3) my dog (maybe soon to be former dog!) ran straight into her this morning and she fell straight back onto our stone patio head first.
Each time these things happened, and adult was within arms reach, they all just happened so fast.

I just feel sick, especially about the first and third thing because I feel like they are more my fault. Especially the TV tray! Parents aren't even supposed to be eating in front of the TV much less leaving the trays out to be pulled over onto their children!
Anyway, is this typical stuff in your house?

[maestramommy]

It's not with Dora but I'm holding my breath with Arwyn. She always dives headfirst in whichever directing she wants to go. She's also had a couple of scary falls that had me on the phone with the ped, but luckily they told me the same thing as your ped.

It's probably normal for this age. they're still working on their walking/running/coordination skills right now.

[BabyMine]

It is a great stage when toddlers learn to run, walk, and bang into things. The nurse was right about what to look for if it is a serious fall. Our son runs into things and bangs his head on occassion. I use to feel like a horrible mom until I read that it is normal. They start learning spatial distance and sometimes have trouble judging and they are being kids.

[californiagirl]

DD went head-first into a play structure just before her 15 month well-baby appointment. So I showed up with this baby with a big blue lump on her forehead. The doctor said it was a great sign that she was an active toddler, and not to worry about it as long as she didn't seem "off" afterwards (or pass out or throw up).

[kep]

My youngest, at age 6 months, fell and ended up having a skull fracture. He fell from a distance of about 3 feet off Grandpa's lap and onto a hardwood floor. He didn't have any confusion, excessive sleepiness, or vomiting, (at least beyond what is normal for that age). We were seen and released from the small community ER we originally went to with a clean bill of health. The fracture was not actually caught until his next well-baby visit, at least two weeks after the fall.

The Ped Neurologist at Children's Hospital basically said that most skull fractures are not really a big deal, and the great majority of them end up causing no real harm or long lasting ill effects. In fact, she said that even if they had caught the fracture in the beginning, more than likely my son would not have even been kept overnight for observation. She also commented that before the fairly recent advent of the cat scan, there were probably a good number of children walking around with undiagnosed skull fractures, all of whom were fine. My son is now almost 18 months, and all seems to have healed wonderfully. It was really scary in the beginning, though.

I guess I'm just trying to reassure you that kids really are tough, even infants. They can get through amazingly tough things, and come out no worse for wear. Big hugs to you, though. :hug: Head injuries are SO scary.

Here's a link to my original post regarding the injury:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1808201&postcount=1

And the updates:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1809837&postcount=1
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1810884&postcount=11

Hope that helps a little!

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, I'm so sorry this is happening to your DD and to you! It's really hard to watch, isn't it?! But it seems to happen to everyone....

Look for big trauma:
-blood
-unconsciousness
-dazed/dizzy looks and/or inability to walk
-one pupil larger than the other (though this is a tough measure with kids, whose eyes might do this anyway)
-seizure-like trembling
-a developing bruise that rises significantly above the level of the skin
That type of thing, or anything that says the trauma has caused an out-of-the-ordinary response.

My ped swears that if the hit to the head results in no blood on the skin, then it wasn't hard enough to hurt the brain. I dunno about *that*, but it is true that kids can take some hard hits without seeming fazed.

[Tondi G]

my oldest fell and hit his head so much in the first 2 years of his life it was nuts! Our Ped always laughed at my DH cause he always mentioned the falls and head bonks.... he swore our son was going to be brain damaged somehow. The ped said "consider where they are falling from... a 6 foot man that falls to the floor is going a whole lot farther than an 8 month old who falls over backwards!

When my DS fell off the dining room table... god forbid mommy had to leave the room for a minute to go pee.... I had only taken him down off the table or chairs about 100 times that day. He fell sideways and kinda came down on the side of his head/temple area. I freaked. He cried and then he puked 2 or 3 times. I called the ped in hysterics and they had me bring him in. The ped we saw said if they continue to vomit more than a few times, if their gait/balance is off, if they don't cry or if they pass out then you worry. I had always heard if they vomit it's a bad thing. A little is not... continuing to vomit is something to have looked at. Of course my DS was very close to nap time and after crying he was exhausted and wanted to fall asleep... I was on hold with the peds office and kept trying to keep him awake.... the ped said to go ahead and let him nap and to come in when he woke up! It was a crazy experience but I was a lot less nervous when #2 came along! Of course we haven't had many head bonking scares with him!

[elektra]

Thanks for the reassurance. Luckily DD has not lost consciousness, has not vomited, or seemed excessively tired.
She did cry when I shampooed her hair tonight in the tub though, as the back of her head must still be sore from the dog collision. :( And there is still a small bump on her forehead where the tv tray hit her (I will never forgive myself for leaving that stupid thing out or for even using it in the first place!). And when she makes certain faces you can actually see a small dent. So now I am a little worried that even though all things are pointing to the fact that she's probably just fine, her forehead thing could be something serious.
I think the fact that we are leaving for Hawaii in a week is compounding my worry. And I am imagining having to cancel my trip in order to schedule CT scans. So I think I am just going to schedule her 15 month check up for before the trip instead of after like I had originally planned.
I am such a worrier that sometimes it is hard for me to determine what is really worth worrying about, KWIM?
So again, thank you.

[kep]

We were actually vacationing in Oregon, 3000 miles away from home, when our head injury happened. How do kids do that?

[KrystalS]

My DD fell down stairs 2 weeks before her 1st birthday. Actually she fell off stairs, they were wrought iron stairs at my moms house, huge openings on the sides. We had a baby gate on the stairs but someone had unlatched it in a hurry and not put it back up. She fell about 10 feet onto a wood floor. It was the scariest day of my life, I remember every single detail about that day, from the pjs she was wearing to the smell when she starting vomiting(huge sign of trauma from what the ER doc told me). To this day I feel like the most horrible mother for not watching her more closely.
Everything ended up fine. She was only watched overnight for observation. We were so so lucky. But I think it shows how resilient kids are.
Anyway, the reason for my long story, it is very apparent if your child is "not normal" after a fall. DD initially cried for about 1 min, then she was totally out of it. Her eyes were rolling back in her head, her body was limp but she was still conscious, about 20 min after the fall she started vomiting. She had a small skull fracture and some bleeding, which is why they kept us for observation. Everything was fine by that night, the bleeding was gone, and the fracture healed after a few weeks.

[DrSally]

DS was standing next to the bathtub and bonked his head on the porcelin when he was around 18 months? I remember noticing a small fingerprint size dent in his forehead while nursing and called the ped's ofc. He was acting totally fine otherwise, but they made me go to the ER anyway to see if it was a skull fracture. I guess indents are more serious than bumps that go outward b/c of possible damage to the brain. Anyway, by the time we got to see the doctor, more than 2 hours later, it had disappeared. The ER doctor said it was probaby just damage to the skin, rather than anything underneith. He said he's never seen a skull fracture that didn't have tenderness, swelling, and something else I can't remember. So, in addition, to looking for signs mentioned above, tenderness and swelling at the site are prob also good things to look for.

[s7714]

I can't tell you how many times my older DD bumped her head as a toddler and ended up with huge bruised goose eggs, but never had any serious repercussions. (And we often ended up going in for x-rays to check for skull fractures due to our bone condition, but she managed to never have any.)

My younger DD bumped her head hard enough once that she passed out right after impact. We were on concussion watch for several days afterward, but she never showed any further signs. (She didn't have a single bruise on her head afterwards--apparently the kid has a head of steel! :bouncy: )