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-> Children's Health
amother
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 Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:34 pm
I don't know whether to be worried. I'll try to reach my doctor soon but they aren't usually helpful - yes I need a new doctor but for now I don't know whether or not this is a crisis.
Yesterday around 5pm my toddler fell pretty hard against a hard metal edge of playground equipment. He had an immediate bump and bruise across his forehead from it, around 2 inches long I would guess. I iced it as much as he would let but the ice seemed to bother him more than the bump, he cried very hard but only for a minute.
I watched him carefully the rest of the day/evening and he seemed fine. Slept normally enough at night (he's never a great sleeper but whatever). Acted fine all day today. Trying to figure out if he's been clumsier than usual but he just learned how to walk, he's always clumsy.
Then around 4pm today (about 23 hours after the injury) he was napping, woke up crying, and then threw up massively all over the place. And instead of feeling relieved, he wouldn't stop crying. He started to calm down and then had another round of vomiting and crying.
Afterward he seemed to want to fall back asleep but every time he was almost asleep, he started crying again. He didn't want to nurse or drink, but as I held him he would cycle through calming down and crying.
I told dh that if he didn't stop within an hour of the first episode I'm taking him to the ER. Bh he fell asleep shortly after that, before the hour mark. But he woke up to cry and vomit two more times (by the last time he had nothing left to bring up but acid)
Now he's been sleeping peacefully for the last couple of hours. The last time he woke up he accepted a little drink (I happened to have an electrolyte drink on hand, an adult one not Pedialyte but I assume in small amounts it's better than nothing)
So anyway he's calm now but I don't know whether I should be worried about cv a brain injury or something, or if it's just coincidental that he got some kind of stomach bug 23 hours after conking his head hard.
Nobody else in the family seems sick at all and he hasn't eaten any new foods as far as I can think of.
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amother
Hydrangea
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:52 pm
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Can definitely be a sign of concussion. I would take him to ER asap to rule that out.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:57 pm
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Vomiting within 24 hours of a head injury is concerning. Take him to the doctor or ER now
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amother
DarkViolet
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:15 pm
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I’ve had so many kids head injuries and the vomiting after was a stomach virus…. I think he is fine if his eyes look okay and not dizzy and if he is walking okay. Check behind his ears, does it look bruised ? I would still get it checked out but I think he is okay.
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Ma3
↓
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:15 pm
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Same answer as the others. You should check it out asap.
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amother
Peach
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:29 pm
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We’ve had our share of concussions and the important thing is to keep the child away from stimulating activities. Watching a video for example will make their head hurt and make them nauseous. What was he doing right before he started vomiting?
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:35 pm
| amother Peach wrote: | | We’ve had our share of concussions and the important thing is to keep the child away from stimulating activities. Watching a video for example will make their head hurt and make them nauseous. What was he doing right before he started vomiting? |
Sleeping. He failed to fall asleep on a long relaxing shabbos walk in the stroller. Shortly after arriving home he kvetched to nurse, fell asleep, and then just as I was about to put him down and sneak out he woke up crying and then vomited everywhere.
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Happydance
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:47 pm
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Please don’t freak out. Even if it is a concussion, the treatment most likely is to allow him to rest and stay away from rigorous activities
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:53 pm
| Happydance wrote: | | Please don’t freak out. Even if it is a concussion, the treatment most likely is to allow him to rest and stay away from rigorous activities |
I don't even know what that means for a 14 month old. I don't see how I can stop him from living. it's all I can do most days to stop him eating things that aren't food. Right now he's acting normal as far as I can tell. Dh thinks it would be a waste of time to take a normal looking kid to the ER. I'm not sure because of the vomiting thing.
Meanwhile he also just made a super stinky diaper which I guess is one point on team stomach bug. I didn't think he had enough left in him to produce that. The vomit was a LOT.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:08 pm
| amother OP wrote: | I don't even know what that means for a 14 month old. I don't see how I can stop him from living. it's all I can do most days to stop him eating things that aren't food. Right now he's acting normal as far as I can tell. Dh thinks it would be a waste of time to take a normal looking kid to the ER. I'm not sure because of the vomiting thing.
Meanwhile he also just made a super stinky diaper which I guess is one point on team stomach bug. I didn't think he had enough left in him to produce that. The vomit was a LOT. |
Head injuries can be a big deal, I would at minimum go to urgent care if you can’t get through to your doctor. It’s not a laughing manner.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:11 pm
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You go and rule out anything serious. You don’t play with head injuries. Especially such a young child who can’t describe anything they feel. It’s just irresponsible not to.
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amother
Blushpink
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:11 pm
| amother Wheat wrote: | | Head injuries can be a big deal, I would at minimum go to urgent care if you can’t get through to your doctor. It’s not a laughing manner. |
What intervention or treatment can be done for a head injury?
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amother
Brunette
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:32 pm
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Please go to the ER ASAP. You’d rather spend 10 hours in an ER and it should be for no reason vs. Chas Vshalom 10 days in an ICU cuz you didn’t want to check it out and waste time. (It’s hopefully not this drastic but I’m sure you get my point). Please rather be safe than sorry.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:34 pm
I do not understand what the issue is why you would possibly not go to the ER? If it’s is even a small chance that this could require serious medical attention. Why would you not go and risk it? Even if you have a houseful of small children get a babysitter and go.
Don’t risk it.
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amother
Jade
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:37 pm
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If he fell on his forehead, not the back of his head, he most likely doesn’t have a concussion.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:52 pm
| amother Blushpink wrote: | | What intervention or treatment can be done for a head injury? |
That's kind of what I'm wondering. Also wondering what an urgent care would do.
A different child of mine took a dive off a surface around this age, a little older. Landed on top of her head and seemed definitely wobbly after. It was very scary. We took her to the ER where they basically said she took a hit to the head (we knew this) and should be better in a few days (bh she was). And laughed a little at seeing an alert, active toddler in the ER for no apparent reason.
So I guess I'm just not sure what to think at this point. I just don't know. Dh is very not a fan of spending all night and a huge copay in the ER when the baby looks fine. I wish I had a doctor to talk to who is careful but not alarmist.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 9:53 pm
| amother Jade wrote: | | If he fell on his forehead, not the back of his head, he most likely doesn’t have a concussion. |
Smacked his forehead against a hard but blunt metal edge while running around a playground. I feel like suing the city, I never saw a toddler sized slide with such a hard edge.
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amother
Amethyst
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:09 pm
Concussion is not what you want to rule out, there’s no test for that. You want to get him checked out to make sure he doesn’t have a brain bleed.
I work in the ER and your kid definitely should get scanned if they’re having repeated vomiting, extra sleepy, possibly clumsier than usual too. I wouldn’t risk it.
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amother
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Sat, Oct 05 2024, 11:41 pm
| amother Amethyst wrote: | Concussion is not what you want to rule out, there’s no test for that. You want to get him checked out to make sure he doesn’t have a brain bleed.
I work in the ER and your kid definitely should get scanned if they’re having repeated vomiting, extra sleepy, possibly clumsier than usual too. I wouldn’t risk it. |
What would constitute repeated vomiting? He vomited 4 times within one hour until he was empty. That was between approx 4-5 pm. Now it's almost midnight and he hasn't vomited again (he did drink, nursed, and more recently also ate). So he did vomit a few times but it feels like one episode to me.
I wouldn't say he's extra sleepy. He woke up to start vomiting shortly after he fell asleep for his long awaited nap, and also wore himself out from the vomiting and crying, so it doesn't seem strange to me that he slept soundly for a couple of hours once it settled down. I was worried about his consciousness, so I woke him up after maybe an hour and a half to two hours, at which point he willingly drank (I gave him an electrolyte drink because of the vomiting, I'm sure the sweetness helped with his willingness) and then nursed. After that he was totally active. He kvetched to nurse a few more times so I thought he was going to fall back asleep (he mostly nurses to sleep at this point and eats for food) but each time he seemed like he would fall asleep he bounced off and went back to playing. It's almost midnight and he's still not back asleep but that's not unusual for a day when he napped from about 5:30-7:15 (we've had a lot of that kind of inconsistency over the holiday)
So the question is if he's possibly clumsier than usual. He's a fairly new toddler so that is really hard to assess. I can't figure out whether I'm making something out of nothing because I'm nervous, or if I'm making nothing out of something because I'm lazy.
Is possible but not obvious clumsiness enough to make the ER scan for a brain bleed? Because if they're just going to write me off as an overly nervous mom then I'd rather save my time. But if they would do a scan then I'd want to go and do it and be reassured.
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