to have NOT called an ambulance?

[LaaDeDa]

DS, aged 14 months, fell down the stairs from the very top on Tuesday eve. He rolled over 3 times, landed on his back, cried immediately, had blood coming from his mouth and nose and got up.
I was out but dp sorted out the bleeding and checked him all over and then observed him playing, laughing etc for about an hour until he became tired and went to bed (he'd been on his way to bed when the original accident happened). By the time i came in he was asleep but able to be woken so we kept checking him through the night.
The next morning he vomited so i took him to local minor injuries who asked why we hadn't called an ambulance the night before.
My reasons for not were - how he'd responded following the fall basically. If i'd have felt he was non-responsive or vomiting through the night i would have done (and at the first bout of sickness did go to the hospital) so i was quite surprised they expected the emergency service to be used in that circumstance.
I really thought we'd done the right things and attended hospital at the right point so am genuinely surprised that the use of an ambulance at that moment would have not been wasting the resources.

So - in those circumstances would you have phoned an ambulance? Or am i the meanest, stupidest mummy going - as you can tell i am thinking that yes, i am :-(

I wouldn't have called an ambulance but would have sought immediate medical advice or taken to A & E. DS1 did hit his head when he was about 16 months and vomited immediately after and we spoke to out of hours or NHS Direct.

Saying that I would have no qualms about ringing for ambulance if and when I had made that judgement call eg when my DCs were young often had severe breathing difficulties. Sometimes they will send a paramedic on motorbike to make an assessment.

Sometimes have rung NHS Direct and they send an ambulance.

I think the waste of resources is a spurious argument. If I judge that my child/parent/friend needs an ambulance (without it being a clearly unnecessary situation) then I would stand by it.

Have never been made to feel like a timewaster by Amb or Medical staff esp where young babies/toddlers are concerned.

So she should have woken him up and taken him to A+E to have been told to carry on doing what she was doing at home anyway?!

OP - I'd have done exactly the same as you and your DP.

But lowenergy, maybe when she'd taken him to A&E they WOULDN'T hve told her that - after checking him out properly. The point is, she didn't know how bad the injuries were because she's not a doctor. Maybe him being asleep was the very worst thing that could be happening to him - we don't know.

Given the recent sad death of Liam Nesson's wife from a bump on the head - I think i would have called the emergency doctor at the very least or popped lo in the car to a&e - we live very close by.

NHS direct take AGES to call you back by the way.

Took dd to a&e when she was only 14mo from a trip on the pavement - landed flat on her face, blood everywhere, lips swollen, graze on her face, it never occurred to me not to get her check out - they were great and did not make me feel like i was wasting their time, gave me antibiotics in case swelling did not subside.

You have to do what your gut instinct tells you.

I think I would have gone to A&E rather than calling an ambulance. But once there, could well have been told off for either not ringing an ambulance OR coming in when it wasn't necessary!

Don't worry, we all make the wrong decision sometimes. I have grey hairs from the time ds ate rat poison. (I honestly didn't know it was there...)

Btw, I was told off for arriving at A&E in am ambulance someone else had called after I was hit by a car... you just can't win! But better to be cautious with small children and big falls.

I haven't read all the posts, but in the same circumstances I would have done just what you did. Deffo no ambulance, and given my experience of A & E over the years, I wouldn't have gone there either, as the bleeding stopped quickly, and he was happy to play afterwards.

Obviously you monitored him, and he remained responsive, so I can't see that hanging around an A & E department for 3 or 4 hours would have been to any advantage.

Hospitals are busy, full of germs, and best avoided unless you believe you REALLY have a serious problem.

I second what clumsymum says - as I put in my first reply, OP kept an eye on ds and took him staright in when he started being sick and that's all the docs would have advised in the first instance anyway probably. I have 4 boys and have seen A&E more times than I care to remember with various hideous accidents through play and rough and tuble around the place and more oftne than not you can sit around, anxiously trying to keep the spotty really ill kids away from your own children only to be called through 4 hrs later and told keep an eye on him, if he starts being sick then bring him straight back....
The deed is done, it's easy to say in hindsight that maybe A&E should have been the first port of call, but this is how we learn and make notes for future parenting decisions!
BTW I would NOT have called NHS direct - waste of time, they tell you to go straight to hospital whatever the problem, to cover their backs as it's impossible to realistically diagnose anything over the phone.

Agree to about NHS direct.

I once rang them as my mother was suffering short bouts of severe dizzyness and vomiting, when staying with us.

They surmised she may be having a heart attack, and instructed me to call an ambulance immediately.

Seeing that I knew this was bunkum, I didn't followed their advice, persuaded my Dr to see her that same afternoon.

She had an inner ear problem, very unpleasant, but nothing serious at all.

have not read all the posts but would have taken my Dc straight to A&E and sat up with them all night am amazed how many would not!!

one of our mums at school fell downstairs and DIED of a head injury recently. Look at Natasha Richardson, got up and walked away, thought she was OK, ended up dead

Because of my location in relation to the hospitals in our area with paeds I'd have called an ambulance. If we were closer/didn't have crappy roads en route then it'd have been an a&e trip in our own car.

Oh Loobey, that's so sad.

Clumsy - I'm actually impressed NHS Direct thought it might have been a heart attack. Heart attacks in women are under-diagnosed because they have different symptoms to men - not necessarily the classic pain down the left arm.

I may not have called an ambulance but either way I'd make sure he got to A&E and am very that you didn't at least call NHS Direct when it happened!

Not read whole thread but wanted to post my opinion then go and see if others agree or not rather than being swayed by others remarks...

This is an interesting one. I am actually a doctor but it often doen't help as I am totally unable to be objective with my own children and often take them to the docs at the drop of a hat.

yet I wouldn't have taken mine in the situation you describe until the time you describe (when he vomited). So no, YANBU at all.

They might have asked why you didn't call 999 as one of the things you are told to look out for when assessing if an injury to a child might not be accidental (NAI - in other words child abuse) is a delay from the time of the injury to seeking attention. But this is only in line with other stuff. If the injuries your child had did not fit with the fall you described and you had waited to bring him they would probably have been worried about NAI. However what you describe in your OP is clearly both reasonable and in keeping with what happened. You have to consider NAI in all children coming into A&E as if you don't consider it you will miss it. I would have fleetingly considered it and then realised there was no cause for concern immediately (based on OP).

Off to read rest of thread now!

I'm really glad he is OK. As the blood wasn't obviously from a scratched nose or bitten lip, I would have taken him to A&E or called NHS Direct (nearly put First Direct then - infact I did call them once and told them that my child was unwell ). The blood from the nose and mouth would have been the concern for me - and if your DH was worried about internal bleeding, then I would have got that checked out.

I'm not trying to have a go either - just being honest.

I'm glad he is OK but I would definitely have called an ambulance - we live a long way from nearest hospital and ambulance would get to us quicker than we could get there. If I lived nearer in that situation I would have taken him to hospital. I would not have let a child go straight to bed (checking through the night or not) after a potnential head injury.

I'm actually very surprised how many people say they would have done what you did. I'm sure the NHS would rather an ambulance was called to a 14 month old who fell down the stairs than not, even if that turned out to be an over reaction.

And many of the people saying they would have done as you did are doctors or nurses, so fair enough they are experienced enough to make a judgment call. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, hence I don't take risks.

After reading thread I just wanted to add that i certainly don't think that those of you who would have called for an ambulance or gone to A&E under your own steam are wrong. I think this is one of those situations where you need to assess your own child in relation to what has happened and your own experience in how to deal with any potential problems and make your own call.

I wouldn't have called because I would be happy that ds screamed straight away then got up and played as normal. Despite the bleeding (which would have had me in A&E if it didn't settle for the reasons already described) which settled - if this had been the marker of a basal skull fracture then it would not have just stopped and I am with diplodocus when she said that hcildren do commonly get nose bleeds (my 2 do anyway) after relatively minor knocks.

I have worked in A&E and hope I never made parents feel that they wasted my time. Adults is another matter but I honestly don't thin kany parent who is concerned is doing wrong by seeking medical attention however minor the problem. But if you feel happy that your child is fine, and you watch them closely for any change as the op did, and you are happy with this decision having considered all options I don't see how this can be criticised in this situation.

Tragic cases like Natasha Richardson do happen but they are not common and they are certainly rare in small children whose bones are still soft and don't fracture as easily.

Alicet - the ambulance question does make sense in the context of non-accidental injury as you describe. I wouldn't have actually thought of that (being in the position of knowing it was entirely accidental and my reasons for not attending a+e straight away) but that does give a different perspective.

I'm pleased to say that the vomiting was entirely due to a horrible tummy bug and not the fall. His nursery have had several children sent home with the exact same symptoms but in conjunction with the fall it was very worrying.

Thanks for all replies. Been interesting to read and sparked a few other threads, i've seen!

Good grief, if it had happened to my 15 month old I would have been traumatised!
A fall down the stairs, bleeding from the mouth and nose, these are so outside the scope of things I deal with, that I would have phoned for an ambulance. I would have probably been shaking too much to drive.
I have no medical training and would not be in a position to assess the injury. For all I know it could have been a potential head injury and I would rather take a proactive approach than reactive one.

My dd2 fell over one NYE and hit her head on a fireplace at SILs, she was ok, cried straight away, but vomited 2 hours later, took her to A&E.

I think that I would have done the same as you.

Similar name btw .

clumsymum

My grandmother had the same symptoms as your mum - dizzyness and vomiting. We followed the advice and rang an ambulance. Thank goodness we did as she was suffering a major heart attack and her heart had stopped by the time the ambulance arrived. A few weeks in intensive care and months in hospital she ended up fine.

I think you need to take the advice of health professionals seriously. Why make the call if you are going to ignore the advice?

In the op's circs I wouldn't have called an ambulance but would have went to a&e as a precaution.

What was the point in you calling an ambulance, when you were watching over your child during the night - that's exactly what would have been done with your child in the hospital.
I had the horrible experience of my 8-month-old daughter crawling up 5 steps of the stairs then falling and landing on the ceramic tiled floor banging her head in the process leaving a huge bruise.
I brought her to an out-of-hours GP, who ordered a skull x-ray which showed a fracture! She was admitted for the night, the nurses observed her in the same manner as you did, OP.
If she disimproved, she was going to be brought by ambulance to a hospital which was an hours drive away, no different to what would have happened with OP's child.
She was discharged the next day, thank goodness.
So YANBU