So my almost 4 year old woke up this morning and one side of his face hurts. I ask him to touch his ear to this shoulder and he won't even bend his neck on the side that hurts. He says it hurts too much. He says it hurts when I touch his check on that one side as well. It's been 6 hours since he's been up and it still hurts. I just left a message with his doctor and waiting for her to call me back. It is so strange. He was fine yesterday and I didn't see him get injured and I was with him. We did go to McDonald's playground yesterday and he said he hit his face on the slide but he didn't even tell me about it till today. I was with him there and if it really did hurt he would have told me about it then and he would have been crying.. So I don't think it was from that. Plus that was earlier in the afternoon and he didn't complain about anything hurting at all yesterday. He slept in his normal bed last night. Trying to google this but not finding much. His cheeks aren't swollen. He looks normal. Any idea?
Update: Still waiting for doctor to called me back. Okay, the meningitis scares me. I looked it up and I don't think he has that. He doesn't have a cold or fever or rash. Just stiff neck on ONE side of neck and on that side his face hurts on that side. He is playing, happy, everything normal (besides not bending his neck on the side that hurts). If it's meningitis he would probably have other symptoms right?
Update: He is fine now... Gave him a warm bath, massaged his neck and then later that day he said it didn't hurt anymore. It was strange! Maybe he just slept wrong or something!
Probably just a pinched nerve from sleeping on it wrong. If the doc doesn't help, take him to a chiropractor and they will help. A lot of chiros have cash plans and its only $25 or $30 for an office visit and adjustment. Good luck.
I'm not usually an alarmist, but neck pain is alway important to have checked immediately (according to my pediatrition). It can be the first signs of meningitis, which of course if very serious.
Of course, he could have knocked a vertibra out of place and the surrounding muscles didn't stiffen up until he lay still for a while in sleep. While waiting for a dr. call back, I would ice it or warm compress it. (whichever usually works best for his muscle aches) A chiropractor can easily put it back in place.
Please have him seen by the doctor and checked to rule out meningitis. As another person here noted, a stiff neck is a symptom of meningitis and it's hard to tell, as a layperson, whether the stiffness is that or something far less serious like just "sleeping wrong."
Check his whole body for a rash. If he has a rash anywhere, that also can be a sign of meningitis and if he has both the rash and the stiff neck you must get him checked immediately -- do not wait until tomorrow. I would not wait until tomorrow even with just the stiff neck. If there is no rash, you still should have him checked ASAP.
Again, not to scare you, just to let you know that these things usually are nothing, but the one time they are something, you won't be able to tell-- only a doctor can.
If there's nothing wrong medically, yes take him to the chiropractor. It wouldn't be a pinched nerve but if left untreated can cause that later. And the spinal column houses your nervous system which controls all bodily function, so you don't want to mess with that! Ice can help for now.
I'm sure you've heard from the doctor by now but thought I would offer an idea anyway. When my daughter was in pre-school she started complaining on a Sunday night that her face hurt. No injuries. We gave her some Tylenol & I planned to call the dentist in the morning, thinking maybe it was something with her teeth. When she woke up Monday morning she was complaining that her ear hurt too so I took her to the pediatrician. It turned out that she had both an ear infection & a sinus infection. I don't know why but it had not occurred to me that a child that young would have a sinus infection. Pediatrician looked at her teeth, saw nothing wrong, said to give her a few days on the antibiotic & then, if she still complained of pain, to call the dentist. Once she started the antibiotic she had no more pain. I hope your little one feels better soon :)
Could be a lot of things... first things that come to mind:
1. Slept "wrong" on his neck and it hurts! Try a heating pad on a very low setting or a warm bath with a massage.
2. Sinus infection. I get them frequently and when I do my face hurts, my neck hurts and I don't want to move my head and neck at all.
Either way, a trip to the pediatrician is probably a good idea. If it's nothing, then at least you know. If it's an infection of some kind, he can start some meds and feel better!
He would be very lethargic and just suck if it was meningitis. Its bad. My first thought was he slept wrong. I know when I do that I can not move my neck at all and nothing helps! Massaging makes it worse. My other thought was sinus pressure but im still thinking pulled/ cramped neck and shoulder muscle. Let us know!
My 3 years old daughter complained that her face was hurting, we took her to night time peadiatrician while there she threw up her dinner and immediately said she felt better. turns out she had a bad dinner, I'm not sure why she said he whole face was hurting but after throwing up we went back home, she was definately back to normal.
