Toddler Concussion Signs: Treatment, Sleep, Head Injury, Recovery

Toddler Concussion Signs: Condition, Treatment for Toddler Concussion Signs

Concussions, also known as closed head injuries or mild traumatic brain injury, is an injury sustained by the tissues or the blood vessels of the brain caused by an external injury. Toddlers are especially prone to getting head injuries as they are still in the process of learning how to balance and coordinate their body movements. Accidental falls and injuries are an inevitable and integral part of growing up, and this exposes children to the danger of concussions. Though there might not be any external symptoms of injury immediately after a fall, ...

Conditions during Toddler Concussion

These include a sudden, unexplained change in the child's speech pattern that makes him/her sound slurry, temporary and erratic loss of newly acquired skills like toilet training, sudden change in the toddler's mood, depressions and loss of interest in games and toys, irritability, heightened sensitivity to light, lack of attention and distraction, headaches, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Depending on the intensity of signs of a concussion in a toddler, the condition is categorized as mild, moderate or severe. Grade 1 concussions lead to confusion and distraction; grade 2 concussions lead to partial amnesia; grade 3 concussions lead to loss of consciousness accompanied by the symptoms like confusion and amnesia. You should never take a head injury lightly, even if your child does not immediately suffer from any overt sign of serious damage to the head.

Treatment for Toddler Concussion

As a preliminary step, apply an ice pack on the region of the head where the child has sustained the injury. This will help relieve the immediate pain and swelling. You must consult a doctor immediately if your toddler cries constantly without any obvious reason, loses consciousness for longer than 5 minutes, vomits, does not wake up from sleep easily, feels drowsy and generally behaves in a disoriented manner or differently from the way s/he used to before the accident.

The first step towards identifying whether your child has suffered a concussion is to observe her behavior closely for at least a couple of weeks after the injury. Any of the abnormalities mentioned above should be brought to the notice of a doctor immediately. If the problem is not serious, over-the-counter drugs can heal the injury and relieve the pain within a week. In very serious, intravenous injections may be required to prevent the swelling of the brain or the surgical removal of blood clots may become necessary.