Emergency and Urgent Care - Head Injury Advice - Children under 5 years old

Your child has now been assessed and is now well enough to go home. We have checked their symptoms and they seem well on the road to recovery. When you get them home it is very unlikely that they will have any further problems. However, you should not leave you child alone for the first 24 hours. You can let them sleep but try to check on them every hour or so. If you are unable to stay with them, please make sure that another responsible adult is with them and reads this leaflet.

Things you shouldn’t worry about

Your child may feel some other symptoms over the next few days which should disappear in the next 2 weeks, these include:

•    Mild headache
•    Feeling sick (without vomiting)
•    Dizziness, irritability or bad temper
•    Problems concentrating or problems with their memory
•    Tiredness
•    Lack of appetite or problems sleeping

If you feel very concerned about any of these symptoms in the first few days after discharge, you should take your child to their GP.

If these problems do not go away after 2 weeks, you should take your child to the GP.

Things that will help your child get better:

Baby (under 1’s)

1. Offer milk feeds as normal (it may be of benefit to offer small frequent volumes initially to reduce risk of vomiting), and light weaning diet if your child is on solids (try to avoid rich foods).
2. Your baby should be as alert as usual and easily woken from sleep.

Toddler

1. Offer light diet.
2. Avoid sweets and chocolate.
3. Keep your toddler as quiet as possible at home; no outdoor or vigorous play as this may result/cause vomiting.

Long term problems

Most patients recover quickly from their accident and experience no long-term problems. However, some patients only develop problems after a few weeks or months. If you start to feel that things are not quite right for your child (for example, memory problems, not feeling themselves), then please contact your GP as soon as possible so that they can check to make sure your child is recovering properly.

Things to watch out for

If any of the following symptoms do return, you need to bring them back to their nearest Hospital Emergency Department or phone 999 immediately:

• Should your child look lethargic or unwell (feeling sleepy) that goes on for longer than one hour when they would normally be wide awake
• Double vision
• Vomiting – 3 or more episodes in a 12-hour period (with at least 30 minutes between episodes)
• Difficulty waking your child up
• Unconsciousness or lack of full consciousness (for example, problems keeping eyes open)
• Any confusion (not knowing where they are, getting things muddled up)
• Any problems understanding or speaking
• Any loss of balance or problems walking
• Any weakness in one or more arms or legs
• Any problems with their eyesight
• Very painful headache that won’t go away with painkillers, or worsens after painkillers
• Any fits (collapsing or passing out suddenly)
• Clear fluid coming out of their ear or nose
• Bleeding from one or more ears
• New deafness in one or more ears