Depending on the severity of the head injury your child may have a concussion. It is recommended that with any head injury you take your child to the hospital and ensure that they remain awake the whole time your bandaging them, icing their heads, and driving them to the hospital. That being said it’s not recommended to skip the doctor. If you chose not to see a doctor right away monitor the child very closely for at least 24 hours for anything unusual. Lets get on with how to dress the wound, what questions to ask, and what to do in general.
First thing you want to do is talk to your child and make sure that they still remember things and that they aren’t seeing double vision or Dizzy. Don’t stop there keep talking to make sure that they don’t fall asleep. If they have a concussion sleep can mean they never wake up. Check the wound is it bruised, discolored or perhaps pierced by a sharp object or corner? If you see none of these signs it’s likely the impact was not hard enough to do any major damage and the only real thing to do is just to monitor them for a while.
If the injury is bruised put some ice on it to slow the bleeding this will also stop some of the pain. A bruise is caused by bleeding internally and puts pressure on the skin and possibly the brain. If he injury is a piercing injury do not clean it just cover it to slow the bleeding and go straight to the doctors.
If your child is complaining at all before or during the car ride stop immediately. Call an ambulance let the paramedics make sure that your child is safe for travel. Once the paramedics have taken a look they may decide a doctor visit is unnecessary. If this is the case you may go home or continue to the doctors office it’s at your discretion a doctor will want to do a MRI.
Watch for any unusual symptoms here is a list of things you’re watching for:
Becoming unusually drowsy
Behaving abnormally
Developing a severe headache or stiff neck
Loss of consciousness, even briefly
Vomiting more than once
Here are some things NOT to do:
Do NOT wash a head wound that is deep or bleeding a lot.
Do NOT remove any object sticking out of a wound.
Do NOT move the person unless absolutely necessary.
Do NOT shake the person if he or she seems dazed.
Do NOT remove a helmet if you suspect a serious head injury.
Do NOT pick up a fallen child with any sign of head injury.
Hopefully you read this before you needed to, otherwise you’re so panicked right now you may not get past the first paragraph.
