Would you have gone to A&E for this?

[yellowishgiraffe]

On Friday night my 12 month old DS was cruising around the coffee table, he lost his footing and fell forwards knocking his face against the table. It wasn't a particularity hard knock, the table in question has rounded edges and corners so pretty child friendly (or so I thought). He cried for a little bit, I calmed him down with his dummy and a cuddle. His face went red in the area where he knocked it, so I applied some ice to it for as long as I could get him to hold still, which wasn't long.

He did not seem to be in much pain after the initial shock. He did not throw up or show any signs of concussion.

The next morning he woke up with a bruise around his eye, but his eye wasn't swollen or red inside and he didn't seem bothered by it at all.

I have obviously been taking note of the bruising and it has been improving daily. I imagine by the weekend it will be just a faint shadow.

He has had an unrelated viral infection with fever which has been going on for a week. I took him to the GP about the fever and he was more concerned with his eye.

He is of the opinion that I should have taken him to A&E because he could have an orbital fracture. Honestly, that didn't even occur to me.

The white of his eye has stayed white, he's had no problem moving his eye or pain since the initial knock, as far as I can tell.

GP basically said that if I don't get injuries like this seen too it could be considered a non accidental injury and it could raise concerns, as anything on the face is considered a head injury.

He said if anything changes I should take him to A&E for an X-ray. I'm really shocked as I genuinely didn't think it was a big deal and now I'm not sure what to do. Do I take him to A&E for a 6 day old bruise and get an X-ray? Or just leave it?

I just feel terrible. We're we stupid not to take him for something like this?

Pic attached for reference...

I won’t have gone to a and e for this.

I wouldn't. An "orbital fracture" isn't something I would ever have considered!

One in two GPs graduated in the bottom half of their year.

I wouldn't of either. No wonder a&e is always rammed if they expect you to go for something as minor as this 🙄

Sorry but I think I would have done at the time his face came up like the first picture. I’d probably have tried the GP or out of hours.

I wouldn't have gone either under the circumstances ☹️

I wouldn’t have taken him. If he showed some signs of being in pain after the initial shock had worn off then I would have had it checked out, but in the circumstances you describe, you have behaved perfectly reasonably. GP was massively over the top in concluding this would be treated as a NAI.

No I wouldn't have gone for that.

You did the right thing, I would only consider a&e if the crying was uncontrollable, the bump looked severe, baby was sick or struggled with consciousness!

No I wouldn't.

No I wouldn’t have gone.

I’d only have considered going if dc wouldn’t stop crying/ seemed in severe pain, or if they seemed floppy sleepy etc , or if there was a deep cut.

Toddlers are always falling over and hitting their heads!

Nope, I did phone 111 when my 1 year old ended up with an egg on his forehead when a heavy coffee table fell was pulled down on him, but was mainly because it landed on his chest.

They said to go straight to a&e because of the head, which I wouldn’t have done off my own back. Dr took one look at him running around playing and said he was fine.

I wouldn't have gone in the circumstances you describe.
If I went to A&E for every possible injury for my youngest I'd have moved next door to A&E or bought my own cubicle or wrapped him bubble wrap and made him lay on the carpet all day and night.

No I would not have gone either.

@WhatwouldCJdo I was in hospital with DS again at the weekend and did look longingly at the new build houses on the approach road to the hospital

bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-gb/1172

Perfectly appropriate concern from your GP about an issue that can be very serious.

It is understandable that you might not have considered it A&E worthy, and parenthood is full of judgments like that - but that doesn’t mean the GP is an idiot. And the fact that people agree here doesn’t mean you were right.

There are many, many symptoms or signs that can be underestimated unless you have medical training. That’s the point of the training, and I mean that in a non patronising way!

Don’t feel guilty, OP, we have all over reacted and under reacted at times, but please can we all give GPs a break! (I’m not one btw!)

Whew, thanks everyone. I feel better that so many of you would have made the same call.

@cantitbesimpler I don't mean to have a go at the GP. Generally I'm a rather safe than sorry kind of person. I appreciate his concern and taking the time to discuss it with me. I was more upset that I as a parent had made the wrong judgement and was questioning myself. So I just wanted to see if it was something other parents would have thought was appropriate for A&E.

No, I wouldn't and I'm massively anxious so I think you were entirely reasonable

I understand, OP, but there was a flurry of agreement that you did the right thing and the GP was over cautious.

I would gently repeat (!) that you actually did do the wrong thing here. Bumps near eyes should always be investigated and it may be a relief that everyone agrees with you, but all that means is they would all have done the wrong thing too!

And I am not suggesting you have anything to hide, but it can be a safeguarding issue if injuries aren’t seen at the time.

I would have rung 111 to check but been surprised if they said a and e

Nope! Pretty much exact same thing happened to my 14 month old on Thursday last week, except the very sharp corner went right between his nose and eye - thought for a minute his eye was a gonner! But my relative is a pharmacist and I rang the GP too later and they both said it was fine unless he passed out, vomited etc. GP didn’t even want to see me. My 2 boys are always hurting themselves but that one really shook me! But 2 HCPs saying that to me makes me think your GP is a bit OTT.

You would have been surprised then, Lumene. Because when the 111 triage nurse discovered it was close to the eye, they would have said go to A&E.

Depending on how close the injury was to the eye, you may have got the wrong advice there Bendy. Passed out/vomited is important for head injuries but in addition an injury near an eye would need a bony examination, check for double vision etc. Maybe your dc’s injury was far enough away from the eye, but the OP’s isn’t.

Eye injuries can look spectacular anyway. This was mine about 2hrs post injury (it got worse!) and there were no fractures

non accidental injury!! All depends whether the thought of social services being involved is a worry or not. My kids health, keeping them up all night or wasting nhs time are factors and I always worry if I should shouldn’t take them but worrying about being accused of non accidental injury😝

You would have been surprised then, Lumene. Because when the 111 triage nurse discovered it was close to the eye, they would have said go to A&E.

Quite possibly which is why 111 is great and why I would have rung it instead of taking the word of an unidentified person online at face value.