Toddler fell and no response - really scared

[Twiglets11]

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post or what I’m asking, but I’m just really shook up about what happened.

My little boy is 19 months, and for the last couple days he has had a really high temp (up and down but going up to 40 degrees). Yday he had a high temp and was very unsettled, tired, crying etc. long story short, I took him to a & e, and they gave antibiotics for ear infection.

Thats some of the history to provide more context. Today he woke up and slept a bit longer, still very tired.

He perked up a bit and was running around in the living room, when he fell and hit his head on a door of a cabinet. It wasn’t a very bad fall, but what happened has scared me so much and I can’t get it out of my head.

he fell, and didn’t cry, so I picked him up and suddenly his head went back and eyes rolled back. I took him outside and it woke him a little and then he vomited. He was still out of it for a bit and then at 10 minutes later finally cried.

I called an ambulance and they observed him for 5 hours, said he was ok, then we came home

I just can’t get the whole event out of my head, and I’m not sure why he reacted like this, and so scared of something happening in the night.

i am an anxious person, so that’s not helping here I guess.

thank you for reading If you made it this far

That sounds so scary, I hope you are OK. You definitely did the right thing getting him checked out. I think it's natural to be feeling nervous about the night. Can you sleep in the same room with him and set an alarm to check him, or takes shifts with a partner?

I’m sorry that happened, must have been really scary. It does sound like he got a bit of concussion or stunning from it - whereabouts on his head did he hit it?
In my experience observation in hospital would be 6 hours and then with no visible signs of deterioration would be sent home.
what’s he like now?

Was it concussion? The vomiting might have been his body's way of ridding itself of food to process and concentrating on healing the bump to the head

That sounds really scary, I not medically trained but it sounds like he was concussed. I assume they didn’t think there was cause for concern if they observed him for 5 hours but he’s your child, you know him best, if you’re at all concerned take him straight back to A&E. X

Thank you, yes, we have brought him into our room tonight. We won’t both fall into a deep sleep, as never can when the kids have a temp, so will keep an eye

That’s not too unusual- happened my DS and the consultant in A&E said it’s just the body’s way of dealing with the pain and shock. If they go unconscious immediately, it’s more worrying. But if they pass out after a second or 2 , it’s not as dangerous. You get such a shock though!

between the ambulance coming home and observing him and then in a and e, it was 6 hours

He was crying a lot in the ambulance and hospital (though they said that was a good sign). He was better when he settled a bit, babbling and pointing to things in his book and the room etc. They checked he can walk around in the waiting room and his reactions etc too.

he’s sleeping now, but was ok when he came home too.

He didn’t hit his head that hard or from high. And they didn’t say it was concussion. He has been ill with a very high temp, not eating and tired.

@Anoisagusaris thank you. Yes it seems it would have really shocked him, especially as he’s feeling weak at the moment

That sounds really nerve wrecking. Glad to hear he's ok. Just wanted to add we recently saw a nurse practitioner when Ds bumped his head really hard and she said if he throws up once it's ok auf apparently normal. They are only concerned if they throw up more than once.

Not sure if this helps or not, but I was told by a dr that if they hit their head and cry immediately they’re generally fine. If they don’t cry immediately it’s more likely concussion has occurred. This was 15 years ago though so advice might have changed.

@SameToo that was the scary part, he didn’t cry, his eyes went back and it’s almost like he blacked out. Unfortunately he has had worse fall before and always cried

he hasn’t thrown up so far since then

You've had an awful fright, be patient with yourself.

I was exactly the same after DS had a head injury at the same age a few months ago. I kept seeing it happen on repeat in mind, could hear the noise over and over again and had nightmares about it. I panicked any time he stumbled or looked like he could possibly injure himself.

As with most things though they're so resilient and bounce back so fast, he was back to climbing everything he could the next day and apart from a scar on his head you'd never tell the difference.

It just took time for me to be ok with it, you'll be ok soon too. But it'll take some time.

OK so I have experience of this. My boy used to do it as a toddler. Always with a shock or bump to the head. As far as I understand its a catatonic breath hold. He would bump his head, freeze and pass out. Happened 4 times in total. Terrified me the first time as I couldn't bring him round for maybe 30 seconds.

@addler thank you, I really needed to read that with how I was feeling

I very much wanted to respond to your post as I think what your son had was a 'reflex anoxic seizure'. This is not epilepsy and is something that can happen in this age group. The only strange thing you mentioned was that your son vomited which in my experience this hasn't happened after one of these seizures. In my experience the child I know fell backwards from a kneeling position at just over one year old. There was no cry and when lifted arched back and her eyes rolled back then went limp for about 10-15 seconds. Which was terrifying as I thought she had died. She then cried. The ambulance attended and the paramedics knew what it was thankfully. She has had in total about 13 of these. Usually following a bump to the head but around 2 years old they could be brought on by extreme emotion. From then on they have reduced in frequency and had the last one age 4. She always seemed more susceptible to them when she had a temperature or was ill. She has not needed any medication or specialist care and hopefully she has grown out of it. I hope this may help you get to the root of what happened.

My dd used to do this, but preceded by a cry out. Then she didn't breathe, her eyes rolled back and she passed out. Within seconds she breathed again and came round.

Once she had a very minor seizure when she came rooms, so had a full hospital check up and EEG, but the consultant was entirely unconcerned. He said the same as our GP did the first time, that the body's autonomous systems would always cause her to breathe again when she lost consciousness.

He asked how old she was, and I said that she would be four in two weeks. He said that he'd bet a weeks pay that she never had another episode. He said that these episodes were extremely rare beyond four years of age. And in her case he was right.

It is definitely the body’s way of coping with the pain. My toddler accidentally smacked me on the cheekbone with a hard object and I felt dizzy and sick - then vomited!!

We had a bit of a similar experience, my little boy fell just from sitting but on a stone floor, then after a few seconds started vomitting followed by retching uncontrollably. I was terrified and called 999, the paramedics watched him a while but as he seemed OK they didn't bring him to hospital. He had also been ill. He's been fine since. It's tough when they're ill as it can really muddy the waters, but fundamentally I think as he's not a tiny baby, if there was something wrong, you'd know from his behaviour.

That sounds scary but can be a normal response after injuring themselves. Agree with the one vomit is also normal. I’m sure they gave you info on what to look out for but here’s a link to the head injury advice leaflet we use (there’s also other helpful topics on childhood illness and injuries) what0-18.nhs.uk/professionals/gp-primary-care-staff/safety-netting-documents-parents/head-injury
hope he’s feeling better soon

Hi , I'm a bit late for this post but hoping you could help @addler

my son today (2.5 years old) on a bouncy castle at a stay and play , I was meters away standing with my mother in law and he looked like he was about to get down, the next thing i looked and he was kneeling on the wooden floor with a crying face but completely froze, when i ran over to him he was holding his breath I picked him up and he let out one cry and then passed out with his eyes rolling to the back of his head and flopping like a rag doll, i screamed for someone to call an ambulance and then we rushed him outside the room where he eventually came round after what seemed like 3 minutes but was about 50 seconds ... he was crying and just in shock with how many people was crowding him. Anyway the paramedics came and did his obs and all seemed to be fine , he was back to himself and wanted to go back an play. The rest of the day he's been his normal self apart from the odd rub on the head. I have now set my alarm for every hr to check on him. I have never been so scared in my entire life I thought the worse had happened and I k ow I am going to get flash backs of this for a while. Was your child okay ? Thank you x

My son slipped off side of bath at about two and same happened. Eyes rolled back and flopped in my arms about 5 seconds after I picked him up. I was hysterical. Came back round within seconds then did it one more time few seconds later. Within about a minute he was normal. Rushed to hospital and he was sick once on way. Was fine and dandy and enjoying the hospital with 30 mins and has been fine ever since. Most terrifying experience. I was quite literally hysterical.

He’s 13 now btw and I still feel horrible remembering it! I was naked as had also been in bath and I was so panicked about who to ring etc and I knew I had to find a towel at some point but I couldn’t let him out of my sight/ arms.

My son was fine since I had posted this, it was just very scary

Mumof2xxx87 Please read what I posted further up the thread as what you describe sounds like a Reflex Anoxic Seizure. Your experience sounds so like it. Especially them being totally fine after the episode while everyone else is in shock.