Is it true that no bump after a big fall means it's serious?

[winnybella]

DD (18 m) fell twice today, in a space of a minute, on the back of her head. I gave her some juice and she spilled it and slipped on it and fell, hitting the back of her head on the hardwood floor. Few seconds later she managed to slip past me as I was wiping the floor and slipped again on the yet unwiped juice. Again huge fall.
I don't normally panic and as she seemed fine (4 hours between the falls and bedtime) I thought I'll just watch her as I know that's what her doctor would recommend. But I had a look on the web and found some people saying that if there's no bump after a serious fall that could mean a brain injury.Her head is a bit pink at the back, just a small patch, but I can't really feel a bump.
Is it true?

it can be because it could indicate that any swelling is internal rather than external

tbh if it were me, and she has been absolutely fine ever since i would just keep an eye on her and do nothing

did she cry straight away? any drowsiness/glazing over? any unusual irritability? sickness?

Like any head injury, it's important to look at other things aswell. If she was knocked out/vomited/drowsy afterwards then she needs seeing. It is possible for children to have a bleed after a head injury, there would be signs to this though, vomiting, drowsy, odd behaviour so watch out for anything abnormal in the next few days. It's very rare that this happens though.

Winny, NO this is nonsense. Use your common sense as you were already doing

Agree with Thisisyesterday. My doc told me if little ones cry immediately (after initial shock) they're probably OK. As TIY said, swelling could be internal but I lose count of how many times my DD has fallen like this, no bump and I just kept an eye out for concussion signs (dizzy, confused, dilated pupils, floppy). According to DH you only need to panic if you see clear liquid coming out of ears and nose. Apparantly this is brain fluid...DH thinks hes helping bless him.

Anyway, I've had DD fall 5ft onto a concrete floor (don't ask), down a flight of steel steps (really don't ask) and catch her head on the bannisters on the way down. She's still alive .

Thank you.

No, she seemed totally fine, I mean she cried right afterwards, then behaved as usual, ate well etc, plus I checked her pupils.

It's just that it really were nasty falls, her feet went forward and she hit her head/back with a huge bang- normally I wouldn't panic about a little bump iyswim.

I was reading about epidural haematomas and such like and it scared me.

Should I just check on her her throughout the night? Wake her up or just observe for unusual breathing, colouring etc?

I could go to A&E, but I doubt they'll do anything if she seems fine. Haven't got a car, so would have to call a taxi and wake her up. It's been already 6 hours ago.

no i wouldn't worry about waking her

fwiw, ds2 fell off his chair backwards a while ago, and hit the back of his head on a wooden toy

he had 2 or 3 funny "turns" when he just started to sit there and glaze over and then start to fall asleep

a&e kept me waiting for over an hour and then just told me to keep an eye on him!

so i think with the absence of any other symptoms that would indicate a serious head injury you're probably fine to let her sleep, but just keep an eye on her for the next 24 hours to make sure she is ok

Ok, thanks, will go and check on her now.
Poor thing, I feel so guilty, I shouldn't have let her out of the kitchen with an open cup of juice and certainly after the first fall I should have made sure she doesn't get past me before all was wiped, but I think I thought it was all dry- actually I'm not sure what I thought as the memory is a bit blurred now. Feel shitty though, it was totally preventable.

how is she now winnybella?

She's fine, although she scared me yesterday by falling asleep in her highchair during lunch- it was perhaps 10 minutes after her nap time, so I guess that was the reason, but I immediately thought 'Oh God, she's slipping into a coma!" . Mind you, she never falls asleep like that anymore and she wuldn't even stay awake for strawberries with cream!
Seems fine to me, thanks for asking.

oh good, glad she is ok! they pick their moments to do odd things like that and scare us don't they? lol