Paediatrics@home

Minor Head Injury

Your child has been diagnosed with a minor head injury.

We know this can be a stressful time with lots of information from healthcare providers. It can be difficult to absorb everything.

We hope the following pages will be helpful in providing you with the education and resources you need to support your child from home.

What is a minor head injury?

Head injuries are common in childhood and adolescence. They can occur when a child hits their head or when there is a blow to another part of the body that causes the head to move quickly back and forth. Most head injuries are minor.

A concussion is another less common but more serious type of head injury. Your physician has decided that your child does not have a concussion. If you would like to learn more about concussion, please refer to the concussion page.

Click continue to learn more!

How minor head injuries are treated in the emergency department

Most minor head injuries do not need any specific treatment in the emergency room. On rare occasions, your physician might suggest doing a CT scan of your child’s head to see if there is a more serious injury. However, most of the time this is not necessary and will limit the radiation exposure for your child.

What to do at home

Click below for information on ways to help at home.

Wound Care

If your child has a minor cut, keep the wound clean with regular soap and warm water at least once a day. If your child had a deeper cut that required stitches, glue, or staples from the physician, please refer to our laceration weblink for more information.

Pain management

To help alleviate pain, you can give your child acetaminophen (Tylenol) and/or ibuprofen (Advil), so long as your child does not have allergies or other reasons not to take these medications.

Unless your doctor advises you otherwise, give the dose recommended on the medication package. Safe Acetaminophen Dosing for Infants and Children Mount Sinai - Ibuprofen Dosing for Infants and Children

When to seek medical attention

Here are some signs that, if present, should lead you to seek immediate medical attention for your baby:

  • poor feeding
  • repeated vomiting (throwing up) after a head injury
  • inconsolable crying
  • appearing very drowsy or unable to be awakened
  • seizures (convulsions)
  • tense bulging of the fontanelle (the soft spot on top of the baby's head)

Here are some signs that, if present, should lead you to seek immediate medical attention for your child or teenager:

  • headache that does not go away or is getting worse
  • repeated vomiting (throwing up)
  • confusion, agitation or unusual behaviour
  • problems with vision, speech or walking
  • weakness, numbness or decreased co-ordination of an arm and/or leg
  • drowsiness (sleepiness) or decreased level of consciousness
  • seizures (convulsions)

Follow Up

Please follow up with your primary care provider unless instructed otherwise. Of course, if you feel your child needs immediate medical attention, please do not hesitate to call 911 or bring them to your closest emergency department.

We hope this has been useful. Thank you for using Paediatrics@home!