Baby’s first boo-boo
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This morning I found myself turning to the section I dreaded most in Dr. Sears’ The Baby Book. As I walked down the stairs, with Baby propped on my left hip and some odds and ends in my right hand, the little guy decided to throw his head back and hit the post on the stair railing. He wailed. I felt terrible. Just minutes before, he was cooing and smiling, and now I’d watch to see if a bump would swell on his forehead.
I tried to apply an icepack to his head but he kept pulling away from it. He settled down fairly quickly and my mother’s intuition told me to just keep an eye on him; there was no reason to call the doctor.
I later recalled my older kids’ early boo-boos and trips to the ER. These moments often upset us, as parents, as much as they upset our children, and sometimes maybe even more.
It became a running joke in my family that my husband and I frequented the ER when our older boys were younger. At four months old, our oldest was lying on my side of our queen-sized bed, next to a clean mountain of laundry. I was just a few feet away and it seemed that the moment I turned my head, he managed to spring off his feet over the mountain of laundry, over my husband’s side of the bed, and onto the floor beside the bed. I heard a loud thud and then a scream. I was in a state of total panic.
I called the pediatrician and spoke with a nurse, who almost chuckled (How dare she!?) over my words. She told me that they usually received several calls a day from frantic parents whose babies had taken their first falls off of the bed, sofa, etc.
When our second son emerged from behind a Burger King Play area, bawling as a goose-egg swelled on his forehead, people watched in horror. Everyone told us to get him to the ER (our oldest had already had stitches at least once by then).
Fortunately, there was no need for his stitches that time, just a very big boo-boo to take care of.
Today, I read the “Lifesaving procedures and first aid for common emergencies” section in my Dr. Sears book. Thank God, Baby did not exhibit any of the signs which signaled a serious head injury. The Good Doctor said that babies normally retreat into sleep after trauma. My baby did not nod off.
Scary signs to look for if baby does go to sleep are:
- change in color from pink to pale or, even more alarming, blue
- change in breathing and twitches on one side of the body.
It is easier to watch for signs of danger when baby stays awake: changes in balance and coordination, vomiting (which is sometimes just a reaction to falling and being upset-not to worry in this case!), and changes in his/her eyes. Eye changes include crossed or rolling eyes, one pupil larger than the other and behavior such as tripping or running into things, indicating that his eyesight is diminished.
Thankfully, my baby just has a little red mark on his forehead. I need to remember that sometimes babies behave unpredictably and are stronger than we think. I don’t want to make any trips to the ER with a screaming little boy, gushing blood, etc, this time around.
Which reminds me: we’ve got lots of baby-proofing to do by the time our little guy is on the move. We better get started!
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