how hard is too hard?

Dd fell today in the house today while cruising along the furniture. This happens sometimes but she fell backwards and it just seemed like she fell so hard. I am worried she hit her head too hard. I mean she was ok after a minute or two of crying but still it was scary. I watched her and she seemed fine (she is napping now) but how do I know? I felt it and I didn't feel any bump or anything.

 

I don't know how you tell for sure, but I tend to be pretty laid-back about it. I figure if they stop crying after a few minutes and act normally afterwards, they are fine. Their heads are really pretty hard.

Amy actually tipped her high chair over backwards once (I was out of the room, bad mom). She had to have banged back into the headrest pretty hard (it was a plastic booster seat, not padded), but other than being terrified, she was fine. And during the cruising stage, both my kids had almost constant bruises/lumps on their foreheads from crashing into things.

 

This will be the first of many spills. If they calm down and are not disoriented, then I would assume all is well. And again, this will be the first of many. Just wait until they figure out how to run when they can barely even walk.

 

I remember the ER dr telling me their heads are stronger then we think! (I basically threw my baby out of his car seat when carrying it from one room to another! Still cant shake that guily moment away!). A few times recently, my boys have slipped when wearing socks and have fallen as if they slipped on a banana peel and landed directly on their back with their head hitting the floor. They cried for a minute or two and then moved on.

 

i've heard that if they cry right away, that is a good sign. you can use ice for a bump. if the child had lost consciousness or vomited, you might want to go to the dr.

 

I asked our pedi about it, since both my kids seem to be very accident-prone. He told me unless they fall farther than 3 ft, there is very little chance of concussion. He was really laid back about it & said they act different or vomit, etc if there's a concussion. Still, there's been times after a bump I go back & forth between a light, making sure the pupils dialate!

If she does get a bump, Hylands makes some tablets called Bumps & Bruises that works pretty well. At this age, I keep a little ice pack in the freezer at all times.