When your baby falls and bumps their head, mama calls the doctor and the doctor said..

When your baby hits his/her head for the first time it is no joking matter. A wave of fear, nervousness, and helplessness overcomes you. I was out at a work meeting when I came home to my husband and baby. My baby was cheerful as usual, but then my husband looks at me intently and says “I **cked up.”

I immediately get that sinking feeling in my stomach and he goes into how the baby fell out of his swing. I remain as calm as I can and pick up my baby, analyzing his body for any bumps or bruises. He looks fine. I then call my sister who has toddler twins (that fell constantly) and asked her what she recommended. She gave me a few stories about how the girls fell and then said to call the pediatrician just in case. We make the call and the doctor calls us back within 20 minutes.

The doctor was calm and asked us for a play by play. She said the couple she spoke to prior to us had the same thing happen.

We were instructed to do the following:

1. Scope out his body for any bumps or bruises.
2. Pay special attention to the baby’s head exactly where he fell.
3. Be aware of any troubled breathing or changes in breathing patterns.
4. Be aware of any projectile vomiting.

I couldn’t hear the monitor well at night, so I slept in the nursery with the sleep machine off to hear better. I checked on him every hour or so (I couldn’t sleep anyway), and then monitored him for a full 24 hours for any changes in behavior, vomiting, or trouble breathing.

He seemed fine. In  the end, I’m glad we called the doctor and I stayed in the same room as him. It gave me a piece of mind.

Written by our Founder & CEO, Lindsay Bell