# 14mo had head injury, now seems clumsy



## Draupadi (Jul 19, 2007)

I feel like a horrible mother.
In the past two weeks, my 14mo has hurt his head 3 times, all from stupid misjudgements on the part of me and my husband.
First, I took him into the bath with me to shower. I heard that lots of mamas here do it, so I decided to try it. Of course, he slipped and fell.
Then, when I was rushing about the apt with him in my arms, his head hit the wall.








And then he rolled out of bed.















Since hurting his head the very last time, he seems a little clumsy. He just started walking about month ago and was walking like a pro- that is, until he hit his head. Now, he seems to be falling a lot, like he just learned to walk, and keeps tripping on things.
Does this sound normal?
Will it go away?


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## Kay's Celts (Apr 14, 2008)

Hi there Mom,
There are so many variables here that it makes it hard for me to give you good advice.

My standby response is if you are worried have him checked out.

However, here are some of the variables and things to think about. How bad is the stumbling -- is it different from when he is normally tired as some babes get clumsy when tired? With that being said, is he more tired than usual without a logical explanation (besides the bumps on the head)?

Is his behavior normal to you in other ways?

Does he seem able to focus on things?

Is he throwing up? How is his appetite? Any changes there?

Is he sleeping really deeply and it's difficult to wake him up?

How far did he fall in the shower and how hard did he hit?

If you are answering yes to the above questions (more tired, focus, throwing up, appetite, sleeping,) you DEFINITELY need to get him seen asap just to make sure something isn't wrong.

Now again, with all the above being said my little girl has hit her head a number of times and she's been okay ... gotten bruises, cried, etc. But if she had fallen from more than a few inches, fallen hard, and/or shown any of the above signs I mentioned, I would get him in.

I hope this helps.

Take care!


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## lovingbeingmom (Jun 16, 2008)

I wouldn't call these head traumas unless your son was concussed from his falls. I would say you've been worried and you may be noticing things that were there before but not as noticeable.

My kids had their fair share of falls, my son was dropped by my partner at only 5 weeks or something. They're all normal....I think.


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## Draupadi (Jul 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kay's Celts* 
Hi there Mom,
There are so many variables here that it makes it hard for me to give you good advice.

My standby response is if you are worried have him checked out.

However, here are some of the variables and things to think about. How bad is the stumbling -- is it different from when he is normally tired as some babes get clumsy when tired? *Well, the stumbling seems to frustrate him. It does seem a bit different.* With that being said, is he more tired than usual without a logical explanation (besides the bumps on the head)?*No, he doesn't seem excessively tired.*

Is his behavior normal to you in other ways?*Yes.*

Does he seem able to focus on things?*Yes- he does not seem confused or unfocused.*

Is he throwing up?*He did have a bout of vomiting several hours after hitting his head the second time.* How is his appetite? Any changes there?*He's not eating as much- definitely.*

Is he sleeping really deeply and it's difficult to wake him up? *No.*

How far did he fall in the shower and how hard did he hit? *About 5 inches, and it was loud enough for there to be a thud.*

If you are answering yes to the above questions (more tired, focus, throwing up, appetite, sleeping,) you DEFINITELY need to get him seen asap just to make sure something isn't wrong.

Now again, with all the above being said my little girl has hit her head a number of times and she's been okay ... gotten bruises, cried, etc. But if she had fallen from more than a few inches, fallen hard, and/or shown any of the above signs I mentioned, I would get him in.*I think I will.*

I hope this helps.

Take care!

Thank you so much.


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## Draupadi (Jul 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lovingbeingmom* 
I wouldn't call these head traumas unless your son was concussed from his falls. I would say you've been worried and you may be noticing things that were there before but not as noticeable.

My kids had their fair share of falls, my son was dropped by my partner at only 5 weeks or something. They're all normal....I think.


I'm not sure if he did suffer a concussion. After crying very hard for a while, he seemed fine.
I also thought I might be noticing things that were already there. Now, I am not so sure.


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## Kay's Celts (Apr 14, 2008)

Hi again,
I think you are doing the right thing taking him in based on the answers to the questions. Most likely he is and will be just fine ... even if he has a concussion. Most of the time there is actually nothing to do with concussions except watch them closely, but it's usually safer to take them in to be evaluated for the "what if/just in case" scenarios.

(I used to be a neurological/neurosurgical nurse.)

Gotta run and feed our baby.

Take care!


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## KYCat (May 19, 2004)

If you're worried I'd take him in, but I would bet that if his clumsiness has a medical explanation it would be an ear infection not the head trauma. Usually when my ds are diagnosed with an ear infection, we are suddenly reassured that they are not the most clumsy individuals ever but are having some inner ear situation! Good luck.
My youngest at 19 months went for about 3 straight weeks with a big bruise on his forehead. As soon as it would start to heal he'd trip and fall into something else. It was awful!! but he seems to have no long term damage.


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

I'll bet hes fine... my DS had a rough week last week. He slipped and banged his head on a little wooden chair and had a nasty bruise by his right eye... then like two days later he fell head first off a kitchen chair onto hardwood floor. Screamed and cried for a couple minutes and bruised badly (the second ones still vaguely visible), but hes fine otherwise. The one off the chair was scary though. But I'll bet your DC's fine. Take'm in if your worried, but almost certainly there just fine


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## amyleigh33 (Nov 2, 2006)

If you are even the least bit concerned, act on it.

But I wanted to share that my DD started walking around 11 months of age, and was really good at first, then a month or so later she kept falling a lot and she still seems to fall a lot more than she did the first few weeks after learning to walk. My theory is that she was a lot more cautious at first than she was after a few weeks, and now, but now she is skilled enough in her walking that she can be less cautious without falling. She has not had any serious (or non-serious, really) head injuries ever.


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## katheek77 (Mar 13, 2007)

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I know how scary that is. When DD was 14 mos old, I had her in a outward facing front carry, and *I* fell, and she smashed her head (right near her temple, to boot) on the concrete sidewalk. She had an egg the size of, well, an egg. Not two days after that, she fell in a friend's garage, and smacked the SAME place on the concrete. A day later, she slipped in the tub, and, like a magnet, smacked that spot (and I know it was that spot because it would start swelling up again). We were told to watch for the things Kay mentioned up-thread.

I agree that because of the vomiting and change in appetite, I would take your LO in. It may be nothing - pure coincidence, but, I'd err on the side of caution, especially with a non-verbal little one. I hope everything turns out clear.


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## baileygirl (Feb 26, 2007)

If you think there was a real head injury, I would definately take him in asap! I will say DS has been walking for 8 months now, and he still has his clumsy days...especially when he gets new shoes.


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## Harmony96 (Jun 3, 2005)

s:







s: I've "helped"







DD hit her head way more times than that, and she's always been fine. She'd get mad at me and cry, and she'd even have a little egg or a little mark or whatever, but she was fine. I hope your DS is, too.







s:


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## Draupadi (Jul 19, 2007)

Thank you so much, Mamas, for your reassurance.
The doctor didn't seem too worried about ds and pretty much told us to watch him.
And that was that.
The good news is that ds seems like his balance is improving. His appetite seems off, but otherwise, he seems fine.
Thank you again.
It's so hard being a first time mama. I feel as if I do everything wrong.
I was actually scared that if I told the doctor how ds injured his head 3 times, he might think we were abusing him and called CPS.








I get so frightened sometimes about things like that.


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## FancyD (Apr 22, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WilliamsMama* 
he might think we were abusing him and called CPS.









That's pretty unlikely. Toddler have accidents, and are clumsy. I err on the side of caution with head bumps, JIC.

I'm glad he's all right!


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## prothyraia (Feb 12, 2007)

Within the same week my son slipped on the ice and knocked himself out, and then slipped on a puddle in the bathroom and knocked himself out (for just a few seconds each time) when he was around that age.







He was fine, I was a wreck.


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## Kay's Celts (Apr 14, 2008)

I'm so glad your little one is okay. I figured your doc would just tell you to watch him, but I'm still glad you had him checked. I'd rather err on the side of cation.

Take care!


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## stacyann21 (Oct 21, 2006)

First of all, you're not a bad mom! Some children are more clumsy than others. My son used to hurt himself badly almost every single day. I felt the same way you do, trust me. Since my niece has been walking I noticed that she falls just as much as he did but she lands on her bottom rather than on her head, like my son always did. He had a pretty bad fall at around 10 months. A huge knot on his head, some serious crying and a lot of sleeping







I pretty much felt like the world's worst mother. When it comes down to it, there's really nothing you can do, besides taking some obvious safety measures. Babies have to learn to walk and that is inevitably going to include some falls (moreso for some than others). Now, at 19 months, my son rarely lands on his head. He falls less altogether and he's much better at "catching" his falls before his forehead goes bump.


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## Carlyle (Mar 31, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *WilliamsMama* 
Thank you so much, Mamas, for your reassurance.
The doctor didn't seem too worried about ds and pretty much told us to watch him.
And that was that.
The good news is that ds seems like his balance is improving. His appetite seems off, but otherwise, he seems fine.
Thank you again.
It's so hard being a first time mama. I feel as if I do everything wrong.
I was actually scared that if I told the doctor how ds injured his head 3 times, he might think we were abusing him and called CPS.








I get so frightened sometimes about things like that.

Did you tell the doc about the bout of throwing up? That is a definite sign of a concussion. If you didn't tell the doc about that, it's worth calling back to ask whether there's any other testing you should do given that information.


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## LuckyMommaToo (Aug 14, 2003)

Quote:

Did you tell the doc about the bout of throwing up? That is a definite sign of a concussion.
I just wanted to pop in and say that this is not necessarily true. I find Dr. Sears has excellent advice about this kind of thing. Here's a link to his advice about head injuries. (And a friend's ped recently confirmed it -- her DD threw up after falling off the edge of the couch, but the ped said that on its own, that was not worrisome.

Anyway, as always, trust your instincts, and here's the link:
http://askdrsears.com/html/10/t110245.asp

-e


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