Head trauma among infants might be the result of accidental or intentional actions. One serious form of head trauma is shaken baby syndrome. Early in life, the head of an infant is tender due to the soft spots or fontanels. A soft spot is a region in the skull that has not fully grown together to enable rapid growth after birth. Even though the head is brittle, head trauma does not arise as simply as most might assume. Remember that an infant is expected to endure mild to moderate head injuries.
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General head trauma
The indications of mild head trauma among infants include the following:
- Irritability
- Lethargy
- Poor swallowing or sucking
- Lack of smiling or vocalization
- Diminished appetite
Infants and toddlers might strike their head several times during their development. - Seizures
- Rigidity
- Changes in the level of consciousness
- Difficulty breathing
- Irregular pupillary size in one or both eyes
- Inability to raise the head
- Difficulty in focusing the eyes or tracking movement
These indications require immediate medical care to ensure that a concussion or other head injury has not occurred.
Concussion
Infants and toddlers might strike their head several times during their development. Even though these mishaps can be tender or result to bruising, they are often undisruptive.
The indications that necessitate medical care include the following:
- Momentary loss of consciousness
- Changes in the state of consciousness
If an infant appears confused or out of balance, it is an indication of a concussion. The following are indications of mild to moderate forms of head trauma that do not necessitate medical care:
- Crying longer than 10 minutes
- Bleeding from the nose or ears
- Repeated episodes of vomiting
- Drainage of clear fluid from the nose or ears
- Rapid swelling above the ear
- Inability to talk or walk normally
- Severe or intensifying headache
The infant might have neck pain, skull indentations, seizures, large-sized bump and/or any alterations in the behavior.
Head trauma to a child below 6 months old or loss of consciousness that lasts for any span of time and/or after a significant injury requires further assessment by a doctor.
Disclaimer / More Information
The information posted on this page on infant head trauma is for learning and educational purposes only. To learn to recognize the signs of head injury, register for first aid training at one of our training centers located throughout Canada. The training centers are in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Kelowna, Saskatoon, Victoria, Surrey, Mississauga, Winnipeg, Red Deer, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.