“Daddy…I bumped my head”….
I’m sure all parents can relate to the thought that their child can be “accident prone” and considers asking the question when their child keeps bumping into things “is there something wrong with my child?”. Be at ease parents, it is very unlikely that there is something wrong, but if you do feel concerned do take your child to be seen by a specialist as your child may have symptoms of dyspraxia.
As children grow they tend to be clumsy as a result of them trying to master new skills such as standing, running, jumping, running with objects in their hands and understanding their depth perception. As they are adjusting to their new height and senses, its no wonder they are clumsy. Think of a young lady starting to walk in high heels for the first time, at first they may stumble, trip and wobble but then after a while the body’s proprioception (definition here) starts to balance out the new height that has been added.
“This is great A, we got a gist of why children fall over but what point are you trying to make in this post?”
Well… Today my daughter was being so awesome (like her daddy) as she was running around the nursery, tripped over and hit her head really hard against the wall (not like her daddy) that the Mrs was really concerned. Being a mother my wife promptly grabbed an icepack and placed it on to princess’ head whilst she was whimpering “I hit my head”. As a qualified first aid trainer I could see that she had not sustained a serious head injury and knowing this I had forgotten that my wife does not know symptoms of a head injury, so in this situation I may have portrayed myself as the father who gives his child “tough love”.
In this blog I will give you insight as to why I had such a calm demeanour in this matter.Here is what you may potentially see when a child or an adult has sustained a head injury.
Nausea
Confusion
Mild headache
Short term memory loss
Pale, clammy skin
Brief period of unconsciousness (usually 3 minutes)
These above symptoms are signs of a concussion which is result of the brain being shaken within the skull. Usually the adult or child should recover completely if there are no other complications at hand.
If it were a serious head injury like a compression, where the brain is under a lot of pressure caused by bleeding or swelling within the skull. Here are the symptoms you may encounter.
Deteriorating levels of response
Loss of consciousness
Intense headache
Condition becomes worse, Fits may occur and there is no recovery
Deep, noisy, slow breathing due to pressure on the area of the brain that controls breathing.
Unequal pupil size / both pupils may dilate due to the increasing pressure on the brain.
Leakage of blood or fluid from the ear or nose.
Please be aware that a compression may occur as a result from a skull fracture (broken bone). Usually when a head injury is this serious you would be able to see a soft depression on the scalp, deformity on the head or the lack of symmetry, bruising around one or both eyes or blood in the white of the eyes.
Had my daughter experienced any of the above?
Not even the slightest, she sang the majority of the way home. However this does not mean that she is completely okay, I had to assess her behaviour throughout the drive home and had to discern whether or not she needed extra medical attention.
Parents, friends, siblings, neighbours and co-workers if you are in any doubt please call 999/112/111, better to save a life than being macho about an injury.
