Is there a way of telling if a child is sleeping or unconscious?

[WhatFreshHellIsThis]

DS banged his head really hard earlier on the table. Didn't black out, cried straight away, hasn't vomited or anything, but I'm still worrried.

He's asleep now and I went up to check on him and can't wake him, but he did open his eyes once and if I tickle his palms or the soles of his feet he twitches.

Is there a definitive way of making sure he's just sleeping, and not in some unconscious state?

Call me anxious mother....

oh dear poor ds. no useful advice but bump for you

btw - he probably is asleep x

if they stir and respond then they are not unconscious.

absolutely no response would be worrying, but to twitch and open eyes is often enough (so I was told when DD3 was kept in on obs after suffering a concussion when she was tiny).

oh, and rubbing their ear-lobes can makes them stir too....I used to have to do this to wake DD3 when she was very tiny and needed to be fed as she was poorly a lot and so would sleep thro feeds.

How old is he?

He's probably just in deep sleep -- when DS is fast asleep you could march a brass band through his room and he wouldn't stir.

How old?

You should be able to rouse him, I would say openning his eyes and looking at you counts but it would depend on age I think.

BUMP

thanks! he's just VERY deeply asleep, so I shook him and got nothing, but have got the odd twitch from tickling and he did open his eyes for about a millisecond.

shall check every so often.

i hate worrying

He's 2.5 - he does sleep deeply once he's off, and he was very tired

Sounds like he's fine then. Kids' heads are very bump-resistant.

right, if h is stirring even the little amount, stop fretting....he is more than 99.9% fine. honestly.

DS2 had half a brick dropped on his head two years ago, he was then 3.

cue me rushing him to hospital.....

he was FINE, bar an egg sized lump. the nurses said that heads are actually surpisingly resistant to bumps.

DD3 had a concussion thro me falling on the stairs carrying her, when I was 6mths pregnant, and falling on her. and that was only suspected!

please, don;t fret. by all accounts he sounds fine, and just is very tired.

unconscious means you get no response whatsover..

if he even moves a little to get away from your tickling or grunts then he's asleep

the fact he opened his eyes means he is not unconcious

I'm sure he will be fine

thank you for reassurance! have been up again and managed to get a deep sigh and a twitch out of him, so am going to try and stop worrying.

it was quite a bump.

He's probably going to wake up tomorrow vaguely annoyed with me for some reason he can't quite place due to me poking and tickling him all evening!

When DS2 had head injuries, I was told to rouse him when I went to bed and once in the night. He didn't have to wake up, just give a response.

Just got another stir and he rolled over - result!

have had a celebratory glass of wine.

oh, just to say........DS2's half brick dropped on him......

it was from a 6ft wall...he was at the bottom, DS1 was on the wall, holding the brick

BOYS!!!

it was an accident......DS1 did not know that DS2 had come out to call for him and DS2 made DS1 jump(and drop said brick).

like I said.....all fine.

((joke))

To be safe, if you are worried wake him...he sould go back to sleep if you do.

hello

thought i would just let you know that DS woke up this morning safe and sound, no lasting damage!

(well, certainly not physical - hard to say on the mental front, given that he's always mad as a brush! )

thanks for support, all