What do you do for a bump on the head?
By GuateMom
@GuateMom (1411)
Canada
June 3, 2007 11:20am CST
My 17 month old just fell off his very low chair and and banged his head on our concrete floor. He instantly got a massive goose egg on his forehead. Now, I´m from Canada and in my family, the most we ever did for a bump like this is put ice on it. But, my husband and everyone else here in Guatemala insist that you have to rub it with a coin to make the bump go down, or it will stay that way!
I didn´t let them do the coin thing because I felt that my son had had enough pain. But now my husband is mad at me for leaving it. My son is happily playing now, so he is fine, the bump just looks ugly.
So, I want to know if other parents think the same way I do, that goose eggs go away on their own, or am I just wrong? It is really hard to be a mom sometimes. :(
1 person likes this
6 responses
@lauriefnp (5109)
• United States
3 Jun 07
Put ice on it for as long as your son will sit still and let you. If he's up and playing again, I would say that he's OK. Just make sure that he has no changes in his energy level or behavior- you might want to awaken him from his naps throughout the day to be sure that he is OK. Other than that, leave it alone. You're right, it just looks ugly. I would think that rubbing a coin (or anything else, for that matter) on it would irritate him and make him cry more. It's hard to deal with cultural differences and beliefs, but you're doing the right thing. I'm glad that your son is OK.
1 person likes this
@apakabar2007 (1693)
• Netherlands
3 Jun 07
What I've learnt from my childhood and when there's nothing (medicines) around...I just rub my bunch of my hair on my daughter bump immediately the moment after she fell off and bump her head or blow warm air from my mouth to a piece of cloth and press it on her bump. But we have found a medicine that works instantly on bump....we called it green cream (actually it called Arniflor) homeopathie medicine and it works like a charm.
1 person likes this
@Modestah (11177)
• United States
15 Jun 07
definately ice it... or if that is too uncomfortable a flexible zippy type bag with some frozen peas in it is good.
the coin thing sounds dangerous to me - you do not want to push that pressure back into the head - the fluid in the lump is protecting the spot that got hit, let nature take its course, but the ice will reduce the swelling some (not just push it back into the skull) and also reduce any bruising.
