A&E 3yo head injury

[Mummabear04]

Posting for traffic.

DS is 3 years old and just smacked his head on a shop floor. I didn't see it happen, I took my eyes off them for 2 mins and he fell. Got home and he has the biggest bruise/egg on his forehead. Should I take him to A&E? He's not been sick and is calm. Currently one ice pack number 2. I feel awful.

Yes

I'd ring GP surgery for advice and see what they suggest

I took mine to the GP when he faceplanted on tarmac and got panda eyes. At that time many years ago you could get a same day GP appointment without having to call at 8am. If that is not an option for you, then yes, A&E.

I have had many head injuries with mine and only done A&E twice based on this checklist
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-injury-and-concussion/

first time DD got hit on the head by a bucket shot uo in the air at a softplay and the second time she fell headfirst down 3 steps

she was disoriented not acting herself and vomitting on both occasions

first it was just checked out and monitored. Second she vomitted 3 times so had a ct scan and again was then cincussion

Years ago, when I first set up this username, I took two year old DD to A&E with infected chicken pox. While we waited an eternity, she managed to fall off the gurney in the cubicle and the result was an egg like that. The A&E consultant was summoned and she told us that the swelling in and of itself looks very dramatic but it's just a function of the location of the bump and lack of cushioning. Otherwise it's all down to observable things and there's no merit in being in A&E unless you see one of the warning signs of concussion - spare the child the A&E environment unless you have a specific reason to suspect there's a problem. As she was at the time starring in 24 Hours in A&E we took her as a global authority on childhood bumps and indeed DD was absolutely unharmed by her magnificent egg.

Years later, a different child produced a similar egg falling off the sofa. We followed the same advice (which is essentially the same as the NHS website), observed closely, and there were no worrying symptoms at all. However two black eyes emerged a couple of days later and we ended up having to take her to our GP as nursery quizzed us on why we hadn't gone to A&E and wanted to put on their forms that she'd had medical attention. A couple of years later she collided with a wall (luckily at school in front of other adults) and the same black eyes appeared, but because that's not a common outcome of a bump on the head we ended up with a safeguarding grilling at school, a 'strongly advised' ENT referral, and needing to produce photos of the black eyes from years ago to prove that it was just something that happened to her when bumping her head rather than anything we'd done at home. So we learned that various people want you to trek to A&E for the sake of saying you've been. (And that an ENT specialist thinks you're quite mad when you pitch up at their clinic several months later to tell them that your child used to have black eyes.)

I wouldn’t if it was my child, unless they were vomiting or weren’t themselves, lost consciousness. I’m also a children’s nurse…

That looks awful and I'm sorry this happened. Two minutes is quite a long time not to have him in sight. Did you mean two seconds maybe? Was there another child with you because you said them?

I had an injury prone toddler who often had accidents like this. I only took him to A&E once (based on the list linked to above).

I suspect the OP didn't have a stopwatch to hand...

I wouldn’t if he otherwise seems fine, just watch him for vomiting etc which you can do at home.

Personally I wouldn't take a child to A&E for a head bump if they didn't have any additional symptoms, but if you are concerned you should call 111 for advice.

“Two minutes” is a used colloquially to mean “a very short length of time”. For example “I was only gone for two minutes”, or “it’ll only take two minutes” or “we’re two minutes away from the shops”. It doesn’t mean two, actual, measured minutes.

It’s similar to saying “half a mile an hour” to mean “slowly”. “He was driving along at half a mile an hour” doesn’t mean he was actually driving that slowly. Or similar to “a million miles an hour” for something very fast.

I’m shocked that you’ve not come across it before.

I would get her checked by someone, whether than be a&e, GP, minor injuries etc.
Dd was little and tripped bumping her head, leaving a nice big egg.
By the time we were seen she was playing happily. They still did basic checks, including looking in her ears for signs of blood, and gave a head injury advice leaflet.

Fell and hit my own head a few weeks ago. Went to minor injuries ( ours deals with head injuries for anyone over the age of 1, providing the patient didn't pass out, and isn't on blood thinners- under 1, washing out or blood thinners mean the a&e).

I had a cut on my head about an inch long, but was walking, talking etc. They asked me where i was, day of the week, did blood pressure, oxygen levels, checked my trmp and in my ears. Did the same checks plus a few others an hour later ( before glueing the cut).

Thank you everyone! I did take him to A&E because he became a bit drowsy and fell asleep. Maybe I am over cautious but glad I did. He's OK but the dr said he will probably be black and blue with a possible black eye for a few days (apparently the blood needs to drain so can cause a black eye even if he didn't bang his eye). We just have to keep an eye on him.

Just to clarify, he had gone to sit on a stool with his big sister 3 meters away while I was looking for a belt that DH will need for a funeral we're attending tomorrow. I was looking for the right size when he bumped his head. I did have my eye on them hence the phrase "2 minutes" (thanks OP for having my back!)

If you try and bit harder I bet you could come across as even more judgy than you already do.