Strange thing happened to toddler face drooped. Seizure?

[worriedcantsleep]

I'm going out of my mind with concern
My 20 month year old dd was drinking her cup of juice this afternoon and had just done a poo so was about to go over to her to pick her up to change her.
I looked over at her and her head was tipped back slightly and the left side of her face had drooped. Her mouth was hanging open on that side, she looked like a drunk person I callout to her and she is now looking in my direction but one of her eyes is unfocused and looking outwards.
I grabbed hold of her and picked her up and she looked like she was losing consciousness. I called shouted her name in her face then my partner came over and did the same and dd appeared to 'come back to the room' as such and started crying.
I would say this whole thing lasted no more than 20! Seconds.

We took her to the changing mat to get her sorted and read to her from her favourite animal book whilst this happened to see if she would interact with me as normal and she did.

What could this have been? After she went to bed I started to google and all that kept coming up was seizures and brain tumours. I'm beside myself and can't sleep . I'm terrified this could be cancer and we will loose her and we love her so much and waited 5 years for her.

Anyone have any experience of this.
A bit of further info
She banged her forehead badly on Saturday afternoon whilst playing. She cried and there is a big bruise.
She appears to be teething her first mollars at the moment and she has been dribbling excessively for a couple of weeks now but she has NOT got a fever/temperature with it.

Sounds like a seizure to me.

Don't beat yourself up over this. You clearly love your DD very much and were concerned enough to ask us on MN for advice. Any neurological signs eg drooping face, eye turning outwards/inwards, limb weakness etc should be investigated by a doctor. You're a great mum, keep going. If you want to feel better about all of this, why not read up on/watch YouTube tutorials on child health and first aid. Before long you'll be the one giving great advice to other parents. Hope you're little one is ok.

Please, OP, don't think you're a shit mother - you very obviously are not. It's far too easy for people sitting comfortably behind their computers with all the luxury of time to think and hindsight to make out that they're perfect, but the very fact that they think it's appropriate to beat you up demonstrates that they aren't.

I hope you get some answers from your discussion with the GP.

@Bertiemcgertie

Not a shit Mum. The bang in itself wasn't a concern, she acted like herself after. The concern was the face droop, and eyes unfocused. That's what made you worry, and that's where you seeked advice to know what the right thing to do.

Hope things sort.

Exactly!

I hope she’s ok, that sounds scary. I’m not sure why some posters think it’s helpful to give you a hard time. As parents we all do our best and use the knowledge that we have to decide what to do and you’re now aware this is something that needs checking out. I really hope she’s ok and there’s nothing to worry about.

Why on earth didn’t you seek medical help especially considering the head injury?! I’m speechless

You are not a shit mother - but if my children had ever been unfocussed and half their face droopy I would have taken them to A and E immediately.

If anyone showed those kind of symptoms I would dial 999 - as it could be symptoms of a stroke.

At the very least learn FAST

Sorry I missed your latest post before I replied. You’re absolutely not a shit mother. You’re a caring mother who sought advice when you were worried. As parents we are all learning and we do the best we can with the knowledge we have. If you weren’t aware that these were the signs of something potentially serious then you weren’t a bad mum for not immediately seeking medical advice. You were clearly worrying about it last night and sort advice and then acted on it and that is being a good mum. When we know better we can do better but in the absence of knowledge you used your judgement as she recovered quickly then you mulled it over later and got advice. I hope she’s ok and please don’t give yourself a hard time about it.

@orpah

Why on earth didn’t you seek medical help especially considering the head injury?! I’m speechless

Well no you're not really speechless at all are you. You are kicking someone down repeating what dozens other have said similar. Do you think you're contribution adds something?

The head injury was 4 days ago people. I would personally not be linking the two.

The droopy face though I'd immediately be thinking seizure and get it checked out. But not all mums would be aware of that possibility. Kids do weird shit all the time and in fact in real life I've had a friend tell me a similar story and she was confused but hadn't taken action either initially.

So stop being so bloody judgemental. This isn't you and your probably surprise yourselves with how your actually act in the situation.

Well OP you are clearly not a shit mother, and your instinct that you could wait until the morning for a medical opinion appeared to be spot on since 111 concur that A&E was not needed.

@JohnMiddleNameRedactedSwanson

Hope she is OK, OP. Don’t be fobbed off - she needs to be seen in person. Don’t underplay the situation to 111. It is scary but if you use the specific terms ‘head injury’ and ‘suspected seizure’ they will help you to get the help that she needs.

I agree with this. 111 call handlers aren't clinicians and you can't rely on them to fill in the blanks for you. They're taking you through a series of questions on a system and there are certain key terms which you must use to get them to put you through to a clinician. 'Suspected stroke or seizure' would be the ones in this case.

Why do people feel the need to repeat the same comments over and over again? I think the OP gets she should of dealt with it quicker

Hope she is okay OP

Regardless I hope you're with a doctor now and that your DD is OK

Glad the doc will be in touch. None of us are perfect parents. Hope your daughter is okay.

You are not a shit mother.

You noticed a problem, didn't know what to do, and asked for advice.

That's what good mothers do. Carry on.

@worriedcantsleep

Just to add her face went back to normal straight away as far as I can see though I wasn't sure when looking at her smile afterwards that her mouth might have been ever so crooked but I was highly stressed and may have been over critical . I will check in the morning. I think until I googled I didn't realise the potential seriousness as she went back to normal though a bit subdued before bed so I didn't seek medical attention at the time but will be contacting the doctor this morning when they open. Also for the last couyof weeks she has just been randomly laughing at nothing. She's an only child and I've nothing to compare this to. I feel like I could throw up with worry here

Why would you let her go to sleep without seeing a doctor?!

I hope your DD is ok. You sought advice when you needed it.

OP, you're not a shit mum. This is Mumsnet, if you had called an ambulance or gone to A and E you would have had people rip you apart saying you were wasting the emergency services time, you just can't win on here sometimes.

Hope your little one is ok

I’m so sorry for the awful, shitty messages on here.

When I was a first time parent there were SO many things that made me think “OMG!” And then my parenting community would reassure me it was normal, fine etc and I was over reacting. It makes sense that after so many strange and terrifying children do that are normal, that you might mistake this for another one of those things that yeah, could do with being checked out but isn’t urgent.

Please can we all bare in mind that some people are navigating this whole parenting thing with no support systems, no friend to turn to or relative to advise. This pandemic has made those people all the more isolated and vulnerable. I don’t know if OP is one of those people but let’s bloody well hope not with the awful messages on here. It doesn’t take a lot to be fucking kind.

Oh OP you’re not a shit mum, parenting is bloody tough and is hard to muddle our way through at the best of times!

Hope the GP goes okay today xx

[quote LadyPenelope68]@littlewedding
Do you think every time a child bumps their head they are taken for medical review hmm
No, don’t be so stupid. But when someone says a child banged their head “badly” and it’s a child this young, then yes.[/quote]
Wow I love it when internet strangers call me stupid! Have a great day now.

You’re definitely not a shit mum and I would love to know how to be a perfect parent like all of the PP criticising you. Please don’t be so hard on yourself, you are not the first person to post on fb/mm etc before immediately acting on something and you won’t be the last. At least you’ve learnt a lesson for the future. Hope your little one is ok

OP, I hope your DD is OK and that the GP visit is helpful. You sound underconfident and depressed to me, and as a first time mother who has spent the first half of your child's life more or less isolated, it's not necessarily the case that you've had the sort of advice and access to professionals that others take for granted.

I think posters on here can be horribly judgemental and aggressive. Please don't internalise this and think they speak the truth. No parent is perfect (I'm very much not) and you asked for advice because you didn't know what to do. Please take care of yourself.