People say If your child hits his head, keep him awake. The reality of this is if someone is monitoring your child they can safely fall asleep. the facts Did you ever get conked on the head as a child, only to find that your mum’s top priority was keeping you awake?
You didn’t black out, it didn’t really hurt, you weren’t seeing double, there was not a drop of blood, but your mother was adamant that you stay as alert as a night – shift worker. Even to this day, many adults think that when a child (or anyone) gets any kind of bump on the head, allowing him to fall asleep is extremely dangerous to the brain. But if the head injury is not serious, usually it’s okay to let your child go to sleep, especially if he is still taking regular naps and is used to getting that midday rest, or if it’s bedtime.
“Head trauma,” “head injury,” and “blow to the head ” all sound very scary and painful — and they can be serious depending on the nature of the injuries sustained. But those are also phrases used to describe more minor thumps and bumps. Your child gets clocked on the head with a toy truck. He gets smacked by an errant rubber ball. He slips in his plastic swimming pool. Even when we take precautions, these kinds of things can happen. When does a bump on the head signal a more serious condition, such as a concussion or a head injury that requires a doctor ’ s intervention without delay? If any of the following conditions apply, contact your doctor immediately. Your child may be perfectly fine, but these symptoms might indicate a more serious head injury:
Once again, use your parental common sense. Consider how he got hurt (what caused the injury; how great the impact was; if he fell a great distance onto a hard surface or fell onto soft ground; got hit by a heavy, hard object or by a soft one, and so on) and observe your child closely. If he is his normal, lively self, then he ’ s probably okay. Most childhood bumps on the head are just that.People also think that If your child didn’t black out after a fall, it’s not serious. The reality of this situation is after a fall, your child can lose consciousness so briefly that you may not even notice. It’s possible to lose consciousness for seconds — such a short span of time that as an observer, you may not even notice. Any loss of consciousness due to a blow to the head indicates an interruption in normal brain function. Therefore, a child should always be checked by a doctor, even if the injury seemed minor and the loss of consciousnesses was momentary.
What if your child did not lose consciousness? It’s still possible that they may still have sustained a concussion, an injury to the brain that disrupts its normal functions. (A concussion is considered a “ closed ” head injury, meaning that nothing has penetrated the skull and there is no open wound. When there is no blood, we may be tempted to think there is no serious injury.) During a concussion, the brain literally gets jostled around in the skull, potentially causing bruising of the brain as well as nerve and blood vessel damage. Though that sounds horrendous, most concussions — which are more prevalent among older kids doing contact sports — are not serious. Though brain function is disrupted, the brain isn’t necessarily damaged. Concussions are often graded into three levels:
Most concussions are mild. However, if your child has any of the symptoms listed after a head injury, or if you’re dealing with a child under six months of age — no matter how minor it may have seemed at the time — contact your doctor.
We may think of concussions as an injury that happens to school – age (often helmet – less) skateboarders, cyclists, soccer players, and other athletes; but babies, toddlers, and preschoolers can get them, too.