I guess, like me, blows to the head that your children are given, they will worry you about the possibility of a brain injury, in this sense I will be distressing the moments after an accident of this type has occurred.
We have found in the Family section of the AEPED some recommendations about “What should be monitored in a child who has suffered a head injury”, and we bring them together with contributions from another text in the same section and prepared by the Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergencies.
However, you should never forget that it is the health professional who must carry out the relevant examinations and cures, as well as offer advice to the parents of the injured child. In any case, I think we can all use the information and recommendations below.
What symptoms can my child have after a head injury?
In general, you will only have pain in the area of the stroke and you will not need to receive health care. But if you have vomiting, loss of consciousness or drowsiness, blurred vision, headache, irritability, speech disorders, gait or coordination, although many of these symptoms may be transient., urgent medical attention must be sought. If major injuries are suspected, the child should not be moved, especially his neck if we suspect that a cervical spine injury has occurred.
The importance of any head trauma is determined by the possibility of associated brain damage. Children under one year are at higher risk of having brain injuries. In addition, they cannot express many of the symptoms or explain the circumstances of what happened. Some of the most serious head injuries that occur in this age group are the result of ill-treatment caused by their caregivers. Most injuries only cause injuries to the surface of the head such as bruises (bumps), wounds and pain in the area of the blow
Guidelines for monitoring
After a strong blow to the head, after the initial assessment of the pediatrician, A responsible adult must accompany the child at all times, and should evaluate every 2-3 hours (and for 24/48 hours) the presence of the following signs. Before its appearance, or the worsening of the general state, it is urgently necessary to go to an Emergency Department:
- Excessive sleepiness, difficulty waking you up. (Despite this, it is not necessary to keep the child awake if it is time to sleep, just check if he wakes up easily).
- Confusion, disorientation.
- Persistent crying, irritability.
- Headache maintained or of great intensity.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Convulsion.
- Weakness or numbness of any member.
- Visual disturbances, asymmetry in pupil size.
- Appearance of blood or a liquid through the nose or ears.
- In general, before any symptom or sign that you consider abnormal or worries you.
Technically, craniocerebral trauma is defined as any physical or functional alteration caused by external traumatic force that causes physical damage to the brain (for example, the brain) or any of its covers (skull bones, etc.). In colloquial thermal, it becomes a strong blow to the head
Head injuries they constitute a very frequent accident in childhood. Mostly they do not have relevant consequences, but sometimes the trauma can be serious, especially in the smallest. In these, the most frequent cause is accidental falls, from an elevated site (changing table, chair, cot ...) or from its own height to the ground, in children who have already begun to walk. The following in frequency are those that take place as a result of traffic accidents.
After a blow to the head, and - in addition - surveillance, these may be useful tips that from the AEPED offer us.
- Keep the child in a quiet and quiet environment.
- If you have any type of bruise on your head, apply local cold.
- Raise the head of the bed a little.
- Offer cold liquids in small doses so as not to favor vomiting.
Our role as parents will go through maintain enough serenity to carry out our performance, this is not easy but it is necessary to remain calm.
