Signs of Head Injury in a Young Child

[DrB]

A child can sustain a head injury and not display any immediate signs of a problem. However, signs may and can begin to surface much later indicating that something has occurred.

Should your child show any of the following signs after a head injury, seek immediate medical attention or get to the nearest hospital emergency unit asap.

Here are some indicators that there may be an injury: · A clear, runny liquid coming from the nose or ears
· Arms and legs twitching unusually
· Change in normal behaviour
· Drowsiness or difficulty with awakening them
· Headaches which get worse or will not go away
· Poor balance
· Vomiting that does not stop

[jojo]

The signs of a brain injury can be very different depending on where and how severely the brain is injured. Diagnosing a brain injury can be challenging because symptoms often are common to other medical problems, and onset of symptoms may occur days, weeks or months after the initial injury.

Although children can have the same symptoms of brain injury as adults, however it is harder for young children to let others know how they are feeling.

As a parent, here are some changes you might pick up on if you suspect something has occurred and are present in your child:

Change to their eating or sleeping habits / patterns
Listlessness, tiring quickly - very easily
Becoming easily irritable, crankiness and/or, moody
Changes in your child’s performance or behavior at school
Noticeable change in the way they play and interact with others
Lack of interest in their favorite to do’s, games or toys
Loss of some specific new skills
Loss of balance, unsteady walking

[James]

I thought I'd share this with you. I was reading an article about a school that had just recently enrolled a young child who survived a brain injury and was being reintegrated back into the school system. Long story short, It was established that the child had special needs and was soon placed in a special needs class. However, the school and whomever involved soon came to discover that this environment was not conducive to a child with a brain injury as he was the only child with such a condition and the balance had another conditions such as ADD / ADHD. The bottom line, schools need to understand the diverse needs of their students as well as the injury itself.....

[owen]

In the interest of sharing I am adding this as I have been learning first hand about head and brain injury to a loved ones child. I think other parents should be more aware of this invisible injury and educated about brain injury and what they may be seeing.

"A traumatic brain injury can occur as a result of a number of incidents where the head experiences sudden trauma causing damage to the brain. Damage to the brain can result from; falls, auto accidents, motorcycle / bicycle upsets, skateboarding, rollerblading, whiplash, physical assault, a gunshot wound, aneurysm, stroke, infection to anoxia, concussion and explosives blast injury. Results of a brain injury can mean changes to ones physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral wellbeing and overall psychosocial functioning."

Child TBI Signs and Symptoms
Children that may have sustained a traumatic brain injury can have the same symptoms as adults, however it can be difficult for a young child to let you know what they are feeling or experiencing and thus unable to let you know how they feel. Where you suspect a child may have sustained a blow to the head and you notice some or all of the following symptoms – seek immediate medical attention without delay:
• Changes in eating (will not eat)
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Changes in the way the child plays
• Tiredness or listlessness
• Irritability or crankiness (non stop crying / cannot be consoled)
• Changes in eating (will not eat)
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Changes in the way the child plays
• Changes in performance at school
• Lack of interest in favorite toys or activities
• Loss of new skills, such as toilet training
• Loss of balance or unsteady walking; or Vomiting