Infant Head Injuries: Avoid Head Injuries on Your Infant

Your baby's first step may be one of the most wonderful and amazing scenes to witness. But it could spell the start of a string of disasters. Those first steps could also be the start of a series of injuries and bumps.

A bump on the head is already a part of the baby's growing up years. For some, an ice pack is the solution to the problem. However, there are instances wherein you need more than an ice pack and tons of love to heal the lump. The more serious head injuries include dizziness, nausea, and even rendering your baby unconscious.

Head injuries are the greatest cause of death by injury among children and the elderly. Children unbuckled to their seats can go through the windshield. Biking without a helmet can cause serious head injuries. Children can also fall from windows if there aren't window guards.

Fortunately, it is much easier to treat head injuries nowadays than before. Technology is available like CAT Scans and MRI to better see the brain and give a more accurate diagnosis of the injury.

Head injuries may be accompanied by bleeding. If the bleeding from the scalp did not stop after 10 minutes of applying pressure, the injury might be serious.

Watch head injuries for 24 hours and observe any symptoms like extreme drowsiness, headaches, neck pain, vomiting, fever, blurred vision, seizures and difficulty in walking or talking.

For head injuries, you can follow these steps to cure the pain on your baby's head:

- Apply an ice pack directly on the lump to reduce the swelling.
- Don't take any medication without the doctor's advice.
- Limit your activity within 24 hours.
- To make sure the patient is still conscious, wake the child every hour or two.
- Check an adult's responsiveness and breathing by waking him or her up every few hours. Talk to the person and ask for personal information like name and age to check that the patient is not confused.
- If accompanied with symptoms like headaches, vomiting, confusion and unconsciousness, call for local emergency assistance.
- Apply pressure to the wound if the head is bleeding.
- Clean the wound and put a bandage.