Any parent will tell you young children learning to navigate the world will often bump their heads but a paramedic has revealed the signs an innocent knock could be something more serious.
Mum-of-two, Nikki Jurcutz, founder of parenting organisation Tiny Hearts Education, has shared a useful guide with the symptoms every mum and dad should know to look out for that indicate a head bump might have affected the brain or skull.
Nikki, who worked as a paramedic for eight years, said parents should call triple zero if they notice their child displaying signs including balance issues, slurry speech, poor concentration, dizziness, and abnormal behaviour changes after bumping their head.
Paramedic mum Nikki Jurcutz (pictured) of Tiny Hearts Education has shared the signs and symptoms parents should look out for after their little ones suffers a bump on the head
Nikki created a useful guide with the symptoms every mum and dad should know to look out for that indicate a head bump might have affected the brain or skull
‘Seeing your little one with a bleeding head or a massive egg can be really awful. What you want to be looking out for with a head bump is… ‘did this affect their brain?” Nikki wrote in an Instagram post.
‘If the answer is YES this is an emergency and you’ll see the signs and symptoms listed.’
Nikki created a handy mnemonic with the words ‘head bump’ for parents to easily remember what signs and symptoms they need to be aware of in the case of a concussion or brain injury.
H stood for headaches, drowsiness, seizure and unconsciousness while E stood for eye problems like blurred vision.
Abnormal behaviour changes as well as dizziness especially when it causes the child to vomit more than once could indicate an emergency.
If a child has balance issues, weakness and is unsturdy on their feet or slurring their speech its best to get them checked out by a doctor.
Parents should call triple zero if they notice their child displaying signs including balance issues, slurry speech, poor concentration, dizziness, and abnormal behaviour changes
Other signs and symptoms of a head injury that could require medical attention include impaired memory, confusion, disorientation, poor concentration and sleepiness.
‘I can’t possibly teach you everything you need to know or look for in one post – there are other things you should consider like the mechanism of injury, height, speed etc,’ Nikki, who teaches baby and child first aid courses, added.
Parents in the comments were thankful for the potentially life saving advice and one shared their own head bump horror story.
‘This happened to us yesterday, small head knock at the playground (no tears or obvious egg, he was otherwise happy),’ one mum said.
‘But my one and a half year old couldn’t walk properly afterwards and kept falling down so we went to ED and they confirmed it was a concussion.’
‘What a really great mnemonic! Definitely saving this,’ a second wrote.
Previously, an Aussie mum issued a warning to parents after her baby suffered a fractured skull from falling off a table during a nappy change.
An Australian mum has issued a warning to parents to take children to the hospital if they fall from a height double their own after her daughter fell off a changing table
She shared her story with Tiny Hearts Education as a reminder that any child who falls from a height double their own needs immediate medical attention.
The mother said her six-month-old daughter, who had not yet started rolling over without assistance, fell from a changing able onto a marble floor while the mum’s back was turned for a moment.
‘I was changing my six-month-old daughter’s nappy on a change table at my in-laws where the wipes were positioned behind me,’ the woman wrote.
The six-month-old was rushed to a nearby hospital where it was found she had a fractured skull but no bleeding or apparent brain damage (pictured: scan of the baby’s skull)
‘She hasn’t started rolling without assistance or much speed yet but as I turned around to grab a wipe, she rolled off the table onto the marble floor landing on her side.’
The mum had seen a previous post from Tiny Hearts advising parents to seek medical attention if their child had fallen from a height double their own so she and her mother-in-law immediately drove the baby to the hospital which was only five minutes away.
‘In the car she was closing her eyes and falling asleep, I kept her awake until we reached the ED,’ the concerned mum recalled.
‘They admitted us for two hours of monitoring, however the junior doctor hadn’t felt the impact site and I was noticing a cephalohematoma emerging.’
After the mum altered a nurse to a cephalohematoma, or large bump on the child’s head, doctors scanned her and found the fractures
A cephalohematoma is an accumulation of blood under the scalp that looks like a raised bump on the head.
She advised the nurse of the bump who got a senior doctor to scan the child’s head and found a five-centimetre fracture but ‘thankfully’ no bleeding or obvious brain damage.
‘I had watched a lecture the day before coincidentally on paediatric trauma that advised that a cephalohematoma is a fracture until proven otherwise,’ the mum added.
‘So glad I was empowered to advocate for my child!’
The post racked up hundreds of likes and dozens of comments from parents thankful for the potentially life-saving advice.
‘This is a good one, I didn’t know this – anything double their height take straight to the hospital,’ one mum wrote.
‘Oh my goodness, how scary and how fragile/tiny does the bubba look going in that big machine,’ another replied.
‘My boy has totally fallen at least a few times double his height and I didn’t take him to hospital. I had absolutely no idea!!!’ a third commented.
The post also included some advice from Tiny Hearts Education head and former paramedic Nikki Jurcutz for parents to remember if their child falls.
‘If your child has fallen from a height that is double their height, they need immediate medical attention,’ she said.
‘Even if they look completely fine. Even if they looked like they didn’t land that hard. Even if it was an accident.’
Nikki said signs and symptoms after a fall don’t always show up straight away and falling from a height twice as tall as the child can put them at risk of a moderate to severe head injury.
She also instructed parents to call triple zero for an ambulance for moderate to severe head injuries.
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