Ellie bumped her head... need to worry?

Mrs.Purdue · November 2011

E's doing great at sitting on her own, but yesterday when I dropped her at daycare, I sat her on the floor in front of some toys and with her BF, Evan. She ended up falling back and her head hit the carpet. When I picked her up, I noticed that about half of the back of her head was pretty red and you can see a pretty small bump kind of in the center of it.

She was a little more fussy than normal last night, but still giving us smiles and acting fairly normal. No change that I can tell in her eyes, she doesn't seem sleepier than normal (she woke up crying a few times last night).

On closer inspection this morning, it looks kind of crusty. Maybe she got a rug burn from landing on the carpet somehow? I mean, she just was sitting and tipped backwards. she didn't really 'rub' her head on the carpet - it just hit the carpet and I scooped her up.

Think I need to call the pedi? I know she's going to get lots of bumps on her head as she gets older, but this is the first one for me.

KittyFX · November 2011

Head bumps are tough. It's always hard not to worry yet kids are always bumping their heads. I'd call the pedi just to put your mind at ease?

bluestreet · November 2011

It doesn't sound too bad, but I tend to obsess about any sort of injury to the head.

I'd just call the nurse at her pedi for peace of mind. It always makes me feel better. God bless nurses.

Taytee · November 2011

Hallmark things to worry about with pedi head injury - immediate loss of consciousness following the hit. If your bell gets rung hard enough to knock youfuckout, that's a lot of force. Vomiting more than once following the incident or repeat vomiting in the first 24 hours. Bookmark this NOW so you don't have to I search for it later. It's an awesome step by step guide that I refer my friends to time and time again.

https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/head-injuries

Note that the Nestie's DH that had the brain injury last year had both of these things happen, passed out, puked etc. Brain bleed. These things are just shown to go hand in hand. In the absence of either, the chance for brain injury is quite low.

Pretty much the only test a doctor will do to look for a brain injury is a CT scan. That means radiation. You want to avoid radiating your baby's brain AT ALL COSTS (any body part really, but especially their brain). Unless there are clear signs of danger or the "mechanism of injury*" justifies doing it, it should NOT be done. MRI's are capable of doing non radiation images but they take 30-60 minutes and pretty much any kind under the age of 8-10 would have to be sedated for it and then you're looking at chemically sedating a baby with anesthesia which you really don't want as a parent either =( Soooo, they don't do MRI's on kids unless it's a special circumstance or to follow up on a known issue discovered by CT (tumor etc).

Remember, babies are squishy. They are designed to survive childhood And the bigger the bump on the outside, GOOD! That means less energy that was transferred to the inside. At least that's what we tell worried parents when we're trying to talk them OUT of radiating their kid.

*Mechanism of Injury would be falls from greater than 2-3 times the infant/child's own height, car accidents where there was also a death of a restrained passenger (indicating a high level of forces) and things like that.

Speaking Mom to mom - Your kid will be fine!!!

Speaking ER Nurse to Mom - I've seen hundreds of kids with nasty goose eggs, puking their guts out. I've seen dozens go to CT scan. In 5 years, for the shifts I've worked we've transferred THREE to Dell Childrens for bleeds to be monitored and all were small, self limiting and required no further treatment (ie, no brain surgery). One was a baby that fell off the front of a suburban after their infant carrier was placed upon the hood Indifferent Babies like to rock themselves. But they're fine too!

And a nestie's young infant tanked it backwards off their island (from a bumbo) and cracked her skull =( Sad. CPS did give them a talking to but again - She's fine We live we learn.

Mrs.Purdue · November 2011

Taytee:
Hallmark things to worry about with pedi head injury - immediate loss of consciousness following the hit. If your bell gets rung hard enough to knock youfuckout, that's a lot of force. Vomiting more than once following the incident or repeat vomiting in the first 24 hours. Bookmark this NOW so you don't have to I search for it later. It's an awesome step by step guide that I refer my friends to time and time again.

https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/childhood-illnesses/head-injuries

Note that the Nestie's DH that had the brain injury last year had both of these things happen, passed out, puked etc. Brain bleed. These things are just shown to go hand in hand. In the absence of either, the chance for brain injury is quite low.

Pretty much the only test a doctor will do to look for a brain injury is a CT scan. That means radiation. You want to avoid radiating your baby's brain AT ALL COSTS (any body part really, but especially their brain). Unless there are clear signs of danger or the "mechanism of injury*" justifies doing it, it should NOT be done. MRI's are capable of doing non radiation images but they take 30-60 minutes and pretty much any kind under the age of 8-10 would have to be sedated for it and then you're looking at chemically sedating a baby with anesthesia which you really don't want as a parent either =( Soooo, they don't do MRI's on kids unless it's a special circumstance or to follow up on a known issue discovered by CT (tumor etc).

Remember, babies are squishy. They are designed to survive childhood And the bigger the bump on the outside, GOOD! That means less energy that was transferred to the inside. At least that's what we tell worried parents when we're trying to talk them OUT of radiating their kid.

*Mechanism of Injury would be falls from greater than 2-3 times the infant/child's own height, car accidents where there was also a death of a restrained passenger (indicating a high level of forces) and things like that.

Speaking Mom to mom - Your kid will be fine!!!

Speaking ER Nurse to Mom - I've seen hundreds of kids with nasty goose eggs, puking their guts out. I've seen dozens go to CT scan. In 5 years, for the shifts I've worked we've transferred THREE to Dell Childrens for bleeds to be monitored and all were small, self limiting and required no further treatment (ie, no brain surgery). One was a baby that fell off the front of a suburban after their infant carrier was placed upon the hood Babies like to rock themselves. But they're fine too!

And a nestie's young infant tanked it backwards off their island (from a bumbo) and cracked her skull =( Sad. CPS did give them a talking to but again - She's fine We live we learn.

thanks for all that great info!

so I should stop worrying then, right? no loss of consciousness (she cried for about 30 seconds then was back to playing), no puking, nothing out of the normal except the red spot on the back of her head w/ the little goose-egg.

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Ellie bumped her head... need to worry?

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