baby momentarily passing out after falling

[queen b]

ds, 10 mos, hit his head on the floor today after his sister tried to pick him up. he did the silent cry for a minute, you know where they have catch their breath and then he let out a wail. then he passed out for about 7 seconds and then woke up and cried and i nursed him and then he was totally fine. this is the second time he has passed out like this after taking a spill. the first time was not a bad one at all.

is this normal? should i call the doc? it happened about 2 hours ago.

tia!

[lisalu100]

I would definitely at least call the doctor.

[dislocator3972]

I do not think that is normal. If an adult passes out after a bonk on the head you go to the ER. I would not treat a child any differently. Most pediatricians have an advice nurse you can call, you could call the nurse and ask their opinion.

[odoole]

This is very serious. Take him to the ER and he will need a CT scan. Even if he seems fine now, he could have a brain bleed that doesn't show up until days later.

[pacificbliss]

Agree, call the Dr. Losing consciousness after a fall is serious

[seren]

My son did this all the time. I would call the dr, but be prepared for it to happen a lot more. Ds did not outgrow it until he was 4-4.5. He was the most clumsy child, always hitting his head. You will learn the big signs to watch out for. I always thought throwing up was a big deal, throwing up once is not, throwing up repeatedly is. Check his pupils. At one point ds started shaking as he started gaining consciousness. We did an EEg, but it was normal. Sometimes their limbs just start jerking a bit as they come around. Oh, and the pede said when we went to the ER that it was fruitless to go if they only did an x-ray. It doesn't show anything except a skull fracture, so if we were going to the er they needed to do a cat scan.

[jabeen]

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t082300.asp

"Loss of consciousness. If your child blacks out, even for a few seconds, this can mean that the force of the bump was strong enough to cause a hematoma." (bleeding which can put pressure on the brain)

Definitely should take to the ER!!!!

[pianojazzgirl]

I would absolutely take him to the ER. This is a case of "better safe than sorry" imo.

[Mosaic]

That link is good, and I think a bigger quote would be helpful.

Loss of consciousness. If your child blacks out, even for a few seconds, this can mean that the force of the bump was strong enough to cause a hematoma. A reassuring sign is that you either hear or see your child start to cry immediately after the bump. This means he did not lose consciousness

There's a difference between being knocked out by a bonk on the head and passing out from a hard cry, which is what I think is happeningfrom your description:

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/db4.asp

The typical spell goes as follows - baby starts crying, continues exhaling as he cries, cannot stop the exhaling cry in order to take a breath, starts to turn blue on the lips and face, passes out, finally takes as deep breath and wakes up. He may be groggy for a minute or two afterwards.

This is a normal spell, and does not cause any harm.

Obviously, I'd trust your gut and your doc on this one.

[queen b]

thanks so much for all of the swift responses! i spoke with the doc and he believes that ds is totally fine. he said it sounds like he is just sort of passing out from holding his breath before he lets out the big cry. that was my gut, but i am glad for the confirmation.

thanks!

[dislocator3972]

Oh good!

[CookAMH]

This is probably too late and has already been said, but any loss of consciousness needs medical attention.

ETA: I read the Dr. sears info and that was helpful to me, I didn't know that about the hard cry right after, very good to know. In that case, that is what it sounds like happened to your LO.

[mirranda]

Sounds like my two youngest sisters. The first one passed out at around your son's age for the first time. Mom called the Dr. and he warned her that anytime sister got really upset she may hold her breath and pass out. Sure enough, she did it on semi-regular basis.

Younger sister number two only did it a few times, mostly between age 4-8.