When is a fall to hard?...

[macoops]

So, I know I've been MIA for a while but it's so crazy here.
Anyway.
A friend of mine lost her one year old daughter this past weekend. The girl fell off a chair and hit hear head. Her dad put her down for a nap awhile later and she never woke up. she had internal bleeding in her head. It's a horrible tragedy and if you think of it, keep them in your prayers.
So of course, I began to wonder. How do you know when to take your little one to the doctor? It's inevitable that they're going to fall and hit their head. There will be bumps and bruises and tears. But how do you know when it's serious enough to be a concussion? All I know is that they will vomit, but are there any other indicators? Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Xero]

Oh my gosh that is just awful. That just kills me to think about. That poor baby, and those poor parents. I have to say, there have been quite a few times in DS's young life that he has hit his head pretty dang good and there were a couple times I was worried about concussion. If he hit his head real hard, you know like have a really big fall, I would monitor him very closely for the rest of the day and I wouldn't let him sleep for any reason for at least a few hours afterwards. I have always been told that if you are worried about that kind of thing, not to let your kids go to sleep, and when they do to wake them up every so often to make sure they are okay. I might have been a little crazy about it, but I always did that and really he has never had a concussion but you never know.

Here is a good bit of info on it:

Concussion: Symptoms - MayoClinic.com

Symptoms in children

Head trauma is very common in young children. But concussions can be difficult to recognize in infants and toddlers because they can't readily communicate how they feel. Nonverbal clues of a concussion may include: <LIST>

• 
  <LI>
• Listlessness, tiring easily</LI>
  <LI>
• Irritability, crankiness</LI>
  <LI>
• Change in eating or sleeping patterns</LI>
  <LI>
• Lack of interest in favorite toys</LI>
  <LI>
• Loss of balance, unsteady walking</LI>

</LIST>Signs that a child who has a head injury needs medical attention include: <LIST>

• 
  <LI>
• Loss of consciousness</LI>
  <LI>
• Repeated vomiting</LI>
  <LI>
• Seizure (convulsion)</LI>
  <LI>
• Headache that gets worse over time</LI>
  <LI>
• Changes in your child's behavior, including irritability or difficulty waking</LI>
  <LI>
• Changes in your child's physical coordination, including stumbling or clumsiness</LI>
  <LI>
• Confusion</LI>
  <LI>
• Slurred speech</LI>
  <LI>
• Lasting or recurrent dizziness</LI>
  <LI>
• Blood or fluid discharge from the nose or ears</LI>
  <LI>
• A cut that won't stop bleeding after you've applied pressure for 10 minutes</LI>

</LIST>Hopefully none of us ever have to go through this, and really I think babies are tougher than we think. I honestly think that this little girl must have hit extremely hard, because I just don't think its just that easy to be seriously injured. Just thinking back on my son's biggest falls (that didn't end in concussion), if he had ever fallen any harder than that I would have rushed directly to the hospital, so I have to wonder how bad the fall must have been with the little girl. We will just always have to be aware of the symptoms and well able to keep a close eye on our kids after a fall.

 

[Jeremy+3]

macoops, a child may vomit after a head injury, it isn't an automatic thing.

It depends how you fall, if you hit the front or your temples you only need a little knock to do serious damage, it depends on blood pressure as well, not necessarily force.

We are advised that if the trauma is to the front region of the head to go to hospital, but if it is at the back to just watch for a while, but if you don't see the fall to take them, because little children aren't always great at telling you where they hurt themselves. The rule is also if you need to monitor for more than 30 minutes then the fall is serious enough for hospital as well.

 

[xox.ilu.xox]

That is so sad I am sorry for your friend I couldnt imagine the heartache

 

[kathywhite]

I guess this is what we all fear for our kids. Loosing them...the natural course of things is for us to get old and die before them. The world seems upside down when it doesn't happen. My first baby died at birth. It was just so hard. Now 14 years later I can see amazing and beautiful things have come from that event (including two other wonderful very alive children), but at the time it's just very very sad. My heart goes out to your friend.

 

[dcad]

I'm really sorry to hear what has happened, it's so sad.
My boy once ran face into a wall and started to act really weird; he was dizzy, cranky, couldn't walk properly.

So the took him to the doctor and it turned out he got an concussion.

We got a printout of the different concussion symptoms, took it home and hung it on the fridge to look at it something similar happens. I'm sure it will at some point, so it's good to be prepared and know what to do and how to handle the situation.

 

[Calebsmom8705]

o my goodness, thats awful