Has Your Child Experienced This Type of Head Trauma?

Poor little one! I think depending on the size of the vessel that was broken, the hematoma could form quickly or slowly. Maybe hers was a "slow leak" so to speak. Did they offer to drain it or did they say it would go down on it's own?

I wanted to let you know of a natural remedy to help her. It's homeopathic arnica. It's specifically used for trauma. It can help tremendously. Go to your local health food store. Get Arnica 30c. Give her 3 pellets 3 times day. They are little white pellets that dissolve and will be safe for her. It should help to speed her healing. Good luck.

If I were you, I would follow up very soon with YOUR own pediatrician. Can't be too careful with a head injury/trauma. I hope it is nothing and that she is A-1 very soon.
(Way to go, mom, you're STRONG--I'm afraid they would have needed a second ambulance for me.)

I am so sorry that happened to your daughter. How scary. I have never experiences that so i don't know.
The closest, i've come was when my son, who was around a year, slid off my lap and hit his forhead on the corner of our firebox handle. I couldn't believe the dent in his head. I called the nurse crying and since he was acting fine followed her advice to try ice. He had a big bruise for a long time, and it does seem like it took a few days to really materialize. But again nothing like what you are dealing with.
I hope she is fine and that you aren't too worried.
God bless.

My daughter had a pretty bad concusion when she was 6, it caused her to have seizures for a while. I am pretty sure that they have stopped for good. Please do get a second opinion. Head trauma like that can leave long lasting problems.

My little sister had this and she had a fractured skull. She also ended up with seizures for a year after that. Get a second opinion.

When one of my twin boys was 8 months old he fell and hit his head hard on our hard wood floor. We didn't take him to the doctor immediately because he just cried a lot and everything seemed OK. Then a couple of days later I noticed the same thing you describe (4 inches diameter, soft and watery mass and no apparent bruising) so I took him to the doctor who said it's probably just a hematoma (broken blood vessels right under the skin and above the skull) but to be prudent he sent him for an MRI because he wanted to make sure his skull wasn't fractured or there was no bleeding in his brain. If they already did a CT scan, this may have covered this but I would take him to your doctor just to make sure. It shows up a few days later because it's bleeding slowly. Hope she's OK!

As long as you keep up with regular visits to the doctor as needed and requested and pay attention to any changes your child should be fine. I had a hematoma above my eye when I was seventeen and the best the doctors could tell my parents was that they would keep an eye on it (I was severly messed up from a car wreck at the time) but for the most part it would disappear on it's own and if it didn't there is medication for that. It is normal for a bump or bruise to show up a few days later. Have you ever noticed even when you get one it looks worse a few days later, it is the same principle. I wacked my head really hard the other day and while I had a small lump it was bigger a couple days later but doc said no worries just have to watch out for those doors...LOL. I did experience a great deal of head trauma from the car accident and it resulted in a seizure disorder, migraines constantly, a short term memory issue and, brain swelling for a while, skull fractures a few other things but I have adjusted well by listening to the doctors and my parents.

see pediatrician asap to make sure

A hematoma is a collectionn of blood and serosangnuos fluid. It can collect slowly or right away based on the trama. It will appear as a bluge in the tissue that may or may not present with discoloration based on the compasition of the fluid inside and the pressure its exerting on the over tissues. A hematoma will be slowly absorbed back into the body. It can look scary, but it the bodies way of protecting the injured tissue and letting it heal. Continue to monitor her for abnormal behavior and make sure the area of the hematoma remains intact , as intact skin is the bodies best defense against infection :)

HI K.! YES!! When my youngest was 3 yrs old she had a 2inch lateral skull fracture and a large hematoma that showed up two days later. She fell off the basement stairs of the house we were renting at the time. We thought she had hurt her arm because that's what she said hurt at the time (she was walking up the stairs and no one actually saw her fall). While she never lost consciousness at any time she was very sleepy afterwards (we actually thought it was because of our busy day). She fell on a friday night and I discovered the hematoma on Monday while we were waiting for a parade to start. After a couple of frantic phone calls we went to get xrays the next day per our Doctor. We were told that the hematoma was better out than in and as long as she had no other symptoms of head trama she would be fine. We were also told no helmets or hats or pressure on her hematoma for 6 weeks. Our Dr. was concerned that I would become "over protective" and told me that thousands of kids get this type of injury all the time and she would be fine! I think keeping her off her bike (no helmit no ride is a strict rule in our house) and not getting over-protective was the worst part of those 6 weeks. I don't know why it takes a couple of days for the hematoma to show up, but it is scary! Doesn't it feel just like an infants soft spot?! Anyway it's been 9 years and our youngest is a normal, healthy, active 6th grader now...I think of all the things we have been though with our girls from chicken pox to stiches to broken ankles that was the scariest! Thank goodness we have never had a repeat of that particular injury! Best wishes.

Hi K.,

I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but should your daughter fall again like that again on her head, you should not shake her or even look to pick her up. She could have an injury that could be exapserated even further. Rather, you should look to stabalize her head and neck and seek help.

T. :)

Hi K.,

I am glad you took her to the Doc.

Your child experienced a brain concussion. The blood pooling presses on the brain nervous system that causes the child to lose consciousness.

How is the child doing now?

Hope she is doing well. She will recover quickly I am sure. Keep an eye on her.

All the Best. D.

Ohmigosh, K., you must be panic stricken for your baby. I have some experience with adult head trauma -- I got a concussion from a fall skiing many moons ago, and my 21 yr old got a much more severe concussion once from falling off a galloping horse.

The concussion and any symptoms are caused because the brain bounces around inside the skull when it gets hit. Then, like a bruise anywhere else, it swells. Sometimes (like with mine) the initial symptoms weren't all that bad. (I did pass out on the slope, then we skied the rest of the day, but my husband kept telling me I was going really slowly and he didn't think I was quite right. 8 days later, I wallked into my office at the bank where I was a mortgage officer, sat down at my desk, looked around and said, "What is it I do for work?" It was the most bazaar experience of my life, and I had to reteach myself how to process loans, and how to do my job. In 3 months I was fine again. My daughter was in college, and she ended up working with the office that caters to students with disabilities because it was as if she had ADD. Her fall was in August, and she wasn't "normal" again until January. Sadly, none of the doctors prepared her for any post-concussive syndrome, so I did, because I had had one myself, and knew the symptoms didn't show up right away.

The other thing that happens in life, is that when we get tired, our brains swell, too. When you wake up in the a.m., it is smaller than it is when you go to bed at night. Regularly. So when it is swollen from an injury, the individual is going to be more tired than usual, and rest and not getting over tired or overly taxed is the best way to help it to heal. I think our daughters took so long because she was in school, and not getting much sleep. Her real recovery began over Christmas break, when she was home and had nothing to do. Just rest, relax and read novels instead of text books.

I would pay attention to the swelling. If it increases in size, go to the ER again, or to an urgent care center. Get a referral to the head specialist. You are dealing with your baby, and you want to be sure you get ALL your questions answered, and you know what to expect, and get follow up care. In the meantime, if she likes stories, do a whole lot of reading to her, and looking at books, and talking to her. Her brain is at a point where she's learning lots of stuff, and you may find she has to releard some of it while her brain is healing.

If you can't afford to get medical care, or don't have insurance, talk to the pastor, because I'm sure the deacons fund will want to help, especially since it happened at church.

Also involve them in praying for your daughter. (When my daughter awoke on the ground after falling off the horse that stumbled while the two of them were racing, she didn't know how she got there, only that her back was killing her and she couldn't feel her legs. She was in Michigan and I was in PA, and I heard this, and was going to call the prayer chain at our church while I waited to hear whether or not she was parelized. I picked up the phone, and a voice in my ear said, "She doesn't need a whole bunch of people praying for her. She only needs me, and I'm already there." A little later, I thought maybe I should call a good friend of mine who is a wonderful "prayer warrior", but when I picked up the phone, I was immediately reminded that God told me not to call anyone. He was there ahead oaf me. The next call I got that day was from the ER when her sister arrived there. And the next call came from the pharmacy. She was okay. No spinal cord injury, but well bruised, and she does have a bulging disc that we assume was caused by the trauma . . . and . . . .The good news about prayer? Later, in October, I visited her at college, and we talked about her head, and I told her how God had told me not to call anyone, cuz he had the situation in hand. She swallowed and said, "You know what, Mom? I don't think we'll ever know how badly I was hurt. I couldn't feel my feet. And something happened in the ambulance. My back still hurt, but the hurt changed intensity, and I began to feel my feet again." . . . . So was it a miracle ? Was her spinal cord severed, and did God fix it ? Or did the swelling in her back decrease, and the result was that she could once again feel her extremeties? We'll never know. But we do know God was there in that ambulance with her, and the X-rays showed no breaks. Prayer works. And remember, that God loves your little one even more than you do. He'll be right there every step of the way.

My prayers and my heart are with you.

barb

Sorry to hear about your daughter's fall. The lump would show up later because it takes time for injured tissue to swell.

If her behavior in any way seems abnormal, ask your pediatrician for either a CT or MRI. Both will give a good image of the brain. That will show any swelling, bleeding, etc. Children's brains are very maliable and they heal quickly. That said, if you have any concerns and your ped disagrees, get an eval from a pediatric neurologist. You and your husband know your child's behavior better than anyone. You ped will be able to assess if she's normal relative to her age, development, but not necessarily more subtle changes - not sleeping well, change in temperment, change in attention spam, etc. Good luck

You must be worried terribly - I agree with another response to get a 2nd opinion. I would call CHOP as they have numerous satellite offices. It may take you a month to get an appointment but think that her going limp so often after is a red flag to me. Good luck and prayers to you both that it's nothing serious!