Bumped head, huge egg, WWYD?

[slappinthebass]

My 2 year old was standing leaning over the back of a dining chair and it tipped forward and he has hit his head on our (tiled) kitchen floor. He has a humongous egg on his head. I was set to take him to A&E, but when he had stopped crying after a couple of minutes, I checked the NHS website guidance and it says A&E is not necessary even with a bruised head unless they were unconscious after they fell or if they have been vomiting. He refused a cold compress, he's eaten some lunch, I gave him some Calpol and he's gone down for his usual nap. But DH thinks I should have taken him to hospital, and I just was hoping if I could have some reassurance? I don't want to distress him by waking him up from his nap to sit in A&E for hours upon hours but obviously will if necessary. I've looked through some old posts and read people advising to take them with a lump on the head, but this is not what NHS guidelines say?

first aid advice for head injuries I wouldn't be too concerned if he's not showing any of the symptoms on the link. At my last first aid course, the trainer told us that bumped heads with lumps were were less worrying than no lumps - if there's a visible lump that means the swelling is external, not internal and causing pressure problems in their skull (if that makes sense?).
But if you have any worries at all, call 111 for advice.

I took DS2 in your situation and got short shrift from triage and they wrote to me and cc'd my GP .
I was "advised" that a more appropriate course of action would have been an NHS Walk In/minor injuries unit or 111 and that I should think carefully about the correct pathway should my child have a similar accident in the future. He hasn't, DS2 is usually very careful. DS1 on the other hand might as well have his own room there.

Our minor injuries do testing for concussion and if there’s any sign they send you over to a&e. DS1 had an accident at school but couldn’t do the eye tracking test so we were referred.

Thanks both. We have taken him for a similar injury last year, with a smaller head egg, but that was a fall outside and he needed a little cut gluing.

@NannyR thanks for that. Reassuring about the external lump but now I am worried about skull fracture.

Grear Ormond street hospital have an article on skull fractures saying all lumps need X-rating for fracture? But this is the NHS website:

Go to A&E after a head injury if you or your child have:

•	been knocked out but have now woken up
•	been vomiting since the injury
•	a headache that doesn't go away with painkillers
•	a change in behaviour, like being more irritable
•	problems with memory
•	been drinking alcohol or taking drugs just before the injury
•	a blood clotting disorder (like haemophilia) or take blood-thinners (like warfarin)
•	had brain surgery in the past

You or your child could have concussion.
Symptoms usually start within 24 hours, but sometimes may not appear for up to 3 weeks.

So according to the NHS website he doesn't need to go. I will see how he is looking after his nap if it is still absolutely huge I think. I don't even have his car seat so would really rather wait if we do go. Once he's had his nap DH will be home with it so I can reassess then.

I think i would ring 111 at the very least

My DC have both had injuries like this and the first one we took them to A&E (on the advice of 111) after that though we’ve tended to stay at home if they seem well. Could you call your GP and speak to them? Or try a minor injuries clinic if you want reassurance?

Fwiw, A&E have always just had a look at them and asked a few questions. They’ve never been x-rayed even with a nice bump on the head. They said as long as there was no loss of consciousness (cried immediately) then to just keep an eye on them.

@chilledteacher how big was the lump on your DC's head? The online parenting groups I'm on our absolutely rife with people pressuring others to go to A&E for symptoms of tummy bug (could be appendicitis, could be dehydrated) and temps of 39-40 that go down with Calpol/ibuprofen which always makes me feel a bit slack, but also that the wait times wouldn't be so long if others followed the official NHS advice which is why I'm such a stickler for it.

Reason I haven't rang 111 is because I've rang enough times to know they would make me wake him up to run through all the 'is he responding' questions. And he'd fail half of them because he's in the middle of a nap.

He’s only two and has had a huge bang to the head. Take him to A&E.

I just can’t believe triage would turn a toddler away.

Never, ever ask Mumsnet whether A&E is appropriate, because you’ll always get loads of people saying it’s for life and death situations, which is bollocks.

I'd call 111. He's very young still.

It was a good egg. Bear with me-I'll find a pic

Not the clearest but this was the bruise the next day

A friend is a paramedic and he always says that if the child cries immediately, isn’t dizzy and no loss of consciousness then a big bump should actually be quite reassuring it’s just the body protecting the bumped area. Keep an eye but if eating, drinking and otherwise behaving normally not to worry. I’ve used this advice with all of mine and they have had some huge egg size bumps on their heads over the years since tiny and all survived without any adverse effect.

@Haworthia I was shocked too! I complained and had NHS Guidelines quoted. If he hadn't been a toddler we wouldn't have gone.

@slappinthebass my daughter has some kind of 'fit' every time she hits her head we don't take her to A&E because we get 'if shes sick more than 3 time in an hour come back' they don't do anything for bumps unless they were unconscious or start throwing up... they don't do scans or x-ray because they don't want to expose DC to radiation.

My husband fainted on Saturday and smashed his head on the toilet.. he was out for FIFTEEN minutes, I thought he was dead!! They didn't even scan his head.