what to do when your baby gets a bump on the head

Babies are constantly learning. Because of the fear of hurting themselves, they won’t quit moving around and trying different things and neither should you prevent them. Getting hurt is a part of their growing up.

They might fall off from the bed, crib, or chair and hurt themselves. The most common kind of fall is the one of the back of their head. If your baby has got a bump on the head, what are the things you must do immediately?

Do NOT Panic and follow these 3 important steps immediately:

1. To help the bump subside, hold a pack of ice of frozen peas in a thin towel or even a diaper and place on the baby’s bump for about 2-5 minutes on and off for an hour at least.

2. If the bump is really big and causing uneasiness to your child then with the doctor’s recommendation you can give the baby an appropriate of acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

3. The third important thing to do is elevate the baby’s head above the heart level to avoid blood from pooling in the affected area.

Once you have done the above, here are the next few things you must do:

1. Watch out for the change in behavior. If your child cries normally then it’s fine. But keep your child under observation for a few weeks. Keep a look out for change in speech, reflexes, balancing while walking, headaches, vomiting, and the likes.

2. Head injuries can leave a dent in the head. Take the baby to your pediatrician if you see any such dent. For babies who can’t talk or walk, look out for high pitched crying, feeding difficulties, and vomiting.

3. If the baby falls asleep after the incident do not worry, they probably want to take some rest. But that’s very different from losing consciousness. That’s what you should keep a look out for. Do not hesitate from going to the doctor.

When should you call for serious help?

If your baby has any of the following, you have to take the baby to a doctor or call for help ASAP:

a. Loss of consciousness

b. Bleeding

c. Seizure

d. Unresponsive

e. Concussion

f. Prolonged crying or screaming.

What can you do to prevent such accidents?

Babies are always wandering around or squirming. Babies are in their growing stage and they will always look out to explore, how else will they learn?
You can’t always go behind the child and monitor them, but you can make a few changes around to baby proof the house. Small bumps here and there are very normal, but here’s what you can do to avoid big ones:

1. Applying a good amount of padding to every sharp corner that’s accessible to your baby. Coffee table, furniture, etc. are a few examples.

2. Either use a non-slip mat or put skid proof pads under all the rugs to avoid your baby from having a nasty fall.

3. Try and keep the furniture away from the windows as babies tend to take the support of such platforms to climb onto the windows. Not every child will know how to carefully climb down, this may result in a bad fall.

4. Once your child learns to stand in the crib, lower the mattress/crib so that the baby can access the ground without hurting himself/herself.

5. For the windows, you must use guards, do not reply on curtains as they aren’t designed to keep your baby your baby safe. When the baby uses the curtain to take support the curtain rod may fall on your baby. 

Falling, then learning to pick themselves up and move and on is an important lesson babies must be exposed to at an early age. For every small hurt or fall do not pamper the baby to lengths, instead teach them how to be strong.