How many times kids taken to A and E

[louise5754]

Hi I'm just curious. I wondered how common it is for kids to go to a and e and for what reason?

I've been speaking to a lot of mums today and it seems to happen a lot more than I thought.

Dd1 (age 12) numerous times with svt. 1xJammed hand in door, 1x fell off bars in gym and couldn't put weight on leg (OK sprained knee) 1 x awful high temp as baby and gp sent in.

Dd2 (age 10). Fall in playground. 1 x Nasty head injury, 1 x stopped using arm completely for 3 days as a toddler - gp sent her - all fine. 1 x climbed onto dining table chair (I was watching whilst bf baby - asking her not to but all happened so quickly), she fell off and hit head on hard floor and knocked herself out.

Ds1 (age 7). 1 xReally nasty broncholitis as a tiny baby. 1 x nasty fall in swimming pool and knocked himself out for 30 mins. 1x jumped over neighbours wall and a nail ripped skin in leg that needed suturing.

It sounds awful that they have been so many times.

ds(15):

18 months - GP sent him with breathing problems, admitted with bronchiolitis for 6 days
6 yo - nose glued back together after accident at school
12 yo - suspected broken wrist
14 yo - broken elbow

Those who have gone for fever/tonsillitis/rashes - is that because of there being no out of hours GP services?

DD aged almost 4, I've taken probably 26 times in 4 years. She's always ill or having accidents.

Loads of times here.

• vomiting the morning after a bump to the head (tried to get GP appt, they wouldn't see her and sent us straight to A&E)
• sent by GP with fever that wouldn't go down

-serious joint infection

• hurt wrist
• toddler holding her wrist awkwardly, turned out to be celluitis

I think that's it. Our out of hours are at the same place as A&E, so we've been many times to the ooh service. For instance 6 month old with a perforated eardrum on Boxing Day. Joys of parenthood.

Ds has been 3 times, once with a very high temp that wasn’t coming down, again when he fell and banged his eye on the corner of a table at nursery and the last time when he fell and gashed all the front of his leg.

Dd1 four times - pneumonia, suspected meningitis, a broken elbow and a broken wrist.

Dd2 twice - broken wrist and suspected broken wrist (2nd time there was no fracture).

Dd3 - lost count all to do with allergies/reflux as a baby.

I turned up at a&e with two children that needed seeing at the same time on one memorable occasion - ds with his leg and dd with her broken elbow. Both happened at opposite ends of the street at the same time!

DS6 - never
DD3 - once she slipped and high her head on a concrete step.
DD1 - never

Dc1-age 18 - once
Dc2-age16- once
Dc3-age 12- 6 times

DS is 11 and has been about 6 times for various things. He's a little bit accident prone...

My 2 year old DS has been several times.

Sepsis as a newborn. Bronchiolitis as an 8 week old. Recurrent severe tonsilitis (one episode of which he was blue lighted in). Pneumonia and a couple of nasty head injuries.

4 year old has been twice, both for injuries

DD - 5 times and admitted to the ward 3 of those times (septicaemia, croup, concussion)

DS- once and he was admitted for observation.

Neither has broken a big bone (yet) - don’t count toes and fingers!

Eldest 3 times in 8 months, head injuries at school, middle 3 times, broken wrist, gashed leg and burst blood vessel. Youngest once, head injury at school.

Three DC all in & out over the years with sports injuries. I've lost count of how many times. Thankfully we've never had anything serious.

DS 3 has been once, he pulled his (luckily plastic) highchair down on himself when he was 18m and gave himself a split lip and nose bleed. DH was only a few metres away.

Never for poorlyness touch wood

8 year old = never
6 year old = once for a 7 cm long cut just which was gaping open about 1/2cm and required stitches
4 year old = once,she tripped while running down a bill and the impact of landing on her face snapped 3 of her teeth in half so she needed seeing for possible head and neck trauma

DS1 was there loads. He has asthma, so lots of bad chest infections when he was little. I also jammed his hand in the door once by accident and he fell in a pond last summer.

DS2 has only been there once with tonsillitis when he came out in a very bad rash.

There's no normal. I'd never been to hospital myself for anything until having the DC in my 30s.

Eldest 4 times, all head / face injuries, all but one at nursery or school. Completely fearless and accident prone, got much better once in junior school.

Youngest twice. One head injury and once swallowed a lithium battery. Both those at home.

DS6 once when he got a berry lodged up his nose.

DS5 over 20, mostly by ambulance for asthma attacks and once for a seizure.

Dd1 - once so far. Had a fall at nursery, chipped tooth and cut chin and lip. Both doctor and dentist wouldn't see us, so A&E was the only option.

Dd2 - 4 times. Twice referred from OOH (Bronchiolitis and a high temp.) Once Bronchiolitis but bypassed OOH as we were closer to A&E. 4th time Croup and had started going a bit blue around the lips.

DS has asthma (thankfully improved as he's got older) so has been to A&E several times with severe breathing problems - twice in an ambulance. Then once with a strangulated umbilical hernia (sent from GP), once with suspected meningitis (sent from out-of-hours and thankfully wasn't) and once with an injury which required x-rays and dressing. Touch wood he's managed to stay away from the place for nearly 5 years now.

Think I have taken DD 3 times.

Twice in one week when she was about 2, poss younger. One day she fell whilst running about and hit her face quite hard giving herself a black eye, bruises and bumps. Second time, about 3 days later, she pulled a chest of drawers onto herself. Luckily smallish but she was holding her arm, refusing to move it. Fortunately no issue either time in the end.

Third time when older and she broke her foot.

DS1 (now 20) never

DS2 - (now 17) blue lighted age 5 when he fell On a shard of glass and slashed his wrist down to the bone almost died.

By ambulance when he got knocked over on his way to school aged 8 thankfully not serious

Twice taken by us for X rays after sporting injuries. Nothing broken thankfully

Ds1 14 twice, once when he cut his head open at my sisters and once when he was diagnosed with diabetes.

Dd 11 never.

Ds2 7 once when he ran into a post and bust his nose blackened his eye and got a huge lump on his head.

Our Minor Injuries Unit is within A&E and shares a reception - they triage you and decide whether it's an A&E job or MI. So for my kids:

DS1(age 13) - 7 times (? May have forgotten a visit or two) - A swallowed magnet at nursery, they didn't know how many he'd swallowed, stitches twice after he fell, a broken ankle, suspected broken wrist, nasty ripped off fingernail injury (extendable invisible dog leads should be banned!) and an allergic reaction that our GP thought was meningitis. DS1 has dyspraxia like me and is very clumsy! I have ended up in A&E far too many time in my life too.

DS2 (age 6.5) - once (scalded, was fine after prompt treatment thank god). He was still in the hospital system as 'Baby Roomba' as he'd never attended in 6 years which surprised the receptionist.

12 yr old - once - broken elbow
10 yr old - once - caught with a blood pressure tablet in her mouth age 10 months. Was fine.
7 yr old - twice - leg burn from iron age 2, long story! Suspected broken foot age 5. Wasn't broken.