Baby hit head - Drs, Hospital, or keep an eye?

[Pavlov]

I have a bed quite low to the ground, with a solid wooden edge around it. Bear cub aged almost 8 months fell off it backwards, and hit either the edge of it or the edge of the cot.

He screamed the absolute place down, and almost immediately, on the back of his head, at the bit that sort of sticks out, a lump the size of say a 50p? bit bigger perhaps has come up, was red in the middle, where the impact is, blue around, and now after 15 mins it is blue and the swelling around it is red.

He did not want to be put down for 10 mins, and was quite crizzly, but then I gave him some bm, which he took happily and now he is fine.

But I am worried as it was obviously a hard hit so should I go to the gp, to the hospital or keep an eye on him?

I feel bloody terrible. I had left him and DD looking at books on the bed, while I ran to save the washing from the sudden downpour (all on the same floor not that it made a difference, then DD was following me and as I turned to walk back into the bedroom, I heard this horrid horrid pipping scream (only was I could describe it).

I was trying to do too much, DH is at work for the first time in ages (helping out a friend) doing hard physical work and I wanted to make the place nice so he didn't have to do anything.

OVER an hour ago, by the time I posted...I am calling them back, ffs.

Keep an eye for the symptoms above. Heads are very hard.

i called back, and a dr called me back immediately.

Dr said that there were three broad markers that he would ask me to follow, adding that in his experience mothers were best placed to know what is 'normal' in their baby, as the baby cannot tell us if there is something wrong. He said

'he behaves as he always does, nothing knew or unusual in his behaviour' = no cause for concern, not an emergency
'he is behaving a little differently to how he normally does, but it is behaviour that has been seen before' = some cause for concern, and needs to be checked out asap but not an emergency
'he is behaving differently to how he normally does, and he has not displayed that behaviour before' = an emergency and needs to be seen immediately.

He said, there is a spectrum with this and how I proceed is how i feel in myself about his behaviour and wellbeing. He said he will happily see him now, or I can wait to see how he is when he wakes from this nap, he said wake him if he sleeps for longer than his normal nap time, although acknowledged his naps are random anywhere from 30mins-2hours, said the fact he woke when i stroked him was a good sign.

He is on the other side of town as he is the emergency Dr so might be just as easy to get to A&E if I become concerned tbh.

meant to add there:

I will get a bag ready, and my friend is on stand by in case I need him, and I will get dressed in appropriate attire (currently wearing lounging pants and top!) so if I feel he is not doing ok in half hour (that would be around 2 hours) we can go to either the Dr or A&E in relative calmness without freaking DD out.

Although she is a bit upset (she is 4) She said to me 'i didn't look after him mama, i am sorry' oh that broke my heart! I gave her a big hug and told her it was absolutely not because of her that he hit his head, I told her she looks after him brilliantly and she did nothing at all wrong, accidents happen sometimes (i was tempted to blame me instead but felt it would be best for her to think that accidents happen, rather than maybe feel i did something wrong...although, i did)

Well it all sounds pretty good. Although unless I am mistaken, the GP has said, 'Erm, you decide if he's ok or not'

FWIW, if that was my baby, with these symptoms, I would be happy to monitor them at home. But - DH and I are both HCPs and we live 5 mins from A and E. If you aren't happy with him, take him regardless, they frequently check well babies and wouldn't mind.

You can still ring NHSDirect for some advice if you want. 0845 4647.

Yes, that is pretty much what he said!

Bear cub woke from his nap, just as I walked in to wake him, lifted his head, gave me a dozy smile. I cuddled him, and he cuddled me back, DH is home from work, and he gave his dada and his sister lovely smiles. AND, in fact decided now would be a good time to respond properly to his name for the first time, and it was lovely.

He is now sat on the floor surrounded by a million cushions and DH and DD and he are watching The Sound of Music and he is laughing and squealing with delight as normal.

DH saw the red bump on his head and said 'oh my god that looks awful' good job he did not see it a couple of hours ago then!

I shall keep a close eye on him. it is almost dinner time so will see if he eats his food. But, I think he seems fine. I have the car again now so if I need to, I can take him immediately to A&E if I am worried later.

Thanks for all calming me down and thinking rationally.

Pavlov - I have some wonderful Arnica cream - I have a tendency towards scepticism, but thought I would try it and it is AMAZING. I've been called by school to warn of a big bump on ds's forehead and eye - despite cold compress at school. It was up like an egg and starting to colour up nicely despite only being a couple of hours - I applied the cream, although I couldn't go too near his eye. I repeated at bedtime. The following morning there was hardly any bruising on all the patch that I could put cream on - but the bit directly above his eye and his eyelid were black - and you could see the smudgy line of where I got the cream to! Might be worth seeing if you can get some to see if it might help? (I bought mine in the standard large chemist shop that appears in most towns....)

Oh Arnica! I did not even think about using that! I have two tubes of it as DD bruises all the time due to being a climber! I also swear by it, have used it myself and also took the pilules during and after birth to help heal internal bruises. I shall pop some on now. It brings the bruise out nice and ugly and disappears very quickly (i know from personal experience, having to attend court professionally with a stinking black eye after hitting my eye on a chair falling over, it was the last day of work before christmas, the tequila was flowing and my legs got drunk before i did )

He has been fine this evening, the what was an enormous horrid ugly lump has disappeared into a big red mark, almost swollen but not quite if that makes sense. He was a little grimbly with his tea, but ate it anyway, and could be teething. I was wondering if perhaps he has a little headache from the bump though, if he is not settled when he finishes his milk and goes to sleep then i will give him some calpol.

How is he today?

mistle thank you for asking. He is absolutely fine. In fact, it has possibly bumped his moving bit of brain as he started crawling forwards today, after standing properly from sitting on his own yesterday evening! He has a large red mark which is blue around the outside and its going to be a horrid bruise when it comes out properly but it appears to be completely superficial.

Thankfully. Although, he fell backwards on the floor today, and although not hard, we have wooden floorboards and i think he got the same spot so hurt him a little more than normal. And then he clunked himself on daddy's chin with his forehead and cried more than normal.