How to tell if your 3 YO has a concussion

So somehow during dinner tonight DC (3) managed to take a flying leap from his booster seat and landed squarely on his forehead. The poor thing didn’t even have time to put his hands out to break the fall. Immediately a HUGE (like 2.5 inches in diameter) goose egg popped up on his head. Of course, being the hypochondriac that I am I immediately thought he for sure had a concussion. The hubs is working late every night this week and so I am flying solo with all 3 kids. I began to panic.

Naturally, I did what I always do in a crises and called the closest medical professional that I know. My dad. Who, in fact, is a dentist.

“DAD!!!!!!! CAMP JUST BUSTED HIS HEAD ON THE HARDWOOD FLOOR!!!! WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF A CONCUSSION?????”

“Um. I don’t know is he acting weird?”

“HE’S 3!!! YES HE’S ACTING WEIRD!!!! EVERYTHING HE DOES IS WEIRD!!!”

“Sweetie, why don’t you just Google it?”

“AREN’T YOU A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL?! SHOULDN’T YOU KNOW THESE THINGS??”

“Are his teeth ok?”

“WHAT? YES HIS TEETH ARE FINE IT’S HIS HEAD!!!”

“Welllllllll, I’m a dentist so if his teeth are ok I think you should Google ‘Signs of a Concussion’”

“UGH! You are NO HELP!!!”

So then I sat down at the laptop and Googled “SIgns of a Concussion”. This is what I found.

• brief loss of consciousness after the injury

• memory problems

• confusion

• drowsiness or feeling sluggish

• dizziness

• double vision or blurred vision

• headache

• nausea or vomiting

• sensitivity to light or noise

• balance problems

• slowed reaction to stimuli

So let’s break this down.

1. Brief loss of consciousness- Nope didn’t experience that as evidenced by the ear-piercing banshee like screams only muffled by the dense hardwood smashed against his lips
2. Memory loss- This one is a little tricky. How does one measure “Memory Loss” in a 3 YO? I mean we call the kid “Sundowners” because every time he wakes up he demands breakfast. Now this would be normal in the mornings but he also does it after naps. Sometimes I give in and make him eggs for an afternoon snack because I just don’t have the energy to battle it anymore.
3. Confusion- Again a slippery slope. As I was putting him to bed tonight he started crying because he wanted to make his “lego helicofter.” I told him it was time for bed and that we could work on it tomorrow. “NOOOOOOOO,” he screamed. “I DON'T WANT TO DO IT TOMORROW I WANT TO DO IT IN THE MORNING!!!!!” Um….okay. Well, I’m confused at least.
4. Drowsiness or feeling sluggish- This has NEVER been the case with DC. He’s the type of kid that gets amped up when he gets over tired. It’s awesome. Picture running full speed straight into the wall, crashing into it, bouncing back so hard his feet flip over his head in a back roll. He stands up shakes his head and does it again towards the other wall. THIS is the way MY child exhibits exhaustion.
5. Dizziness- See above
6. Nausea or vomiting- Nope not tonight although he does vomit if you look at him cross-eyed on most days. This kid has the weakest stomach of anyone I’ve ever seen. I once reached ninja-level parenting when we were in the middle of a crowded Five Guys and I saw the early stages of a puketastrophe. I quickly grabbed the fry cup, dumped the fries out on the table, and held the cup over his mouth just as he let loose. No one in the restaurant was any the wiser. We simply discreetly discarded the defiled cup and went about the rest of our meal.
7. Sensitivity to light/noise- So I can’t even flush the toilet until he leaves the room because “IT HURTS MY EARRRRRSSSSSS!!!!” How would one measure an increased sensitivity in a case such as this?
8. Balance problems- Really? Under normal circumstances he can’t walk more than 5 steps without tripping over his own feet and plummeting to the ground. 
9. Slowed reaction to stimuli- Well that depends. Is the stimuli the sound of my voice? Particularly when I’m giving some sort of over complicated instruction such as “Hold your pee-pee down or you’ll pee all over the floor?” This versus the sound of my voice saying “You may have 1 piece of candy.” It’s all relative I guess.

I believe that there should be some sort of adjusted toddler concussion scale WebMD. Because this list was simply useless. So I kept him up a little later than usual (regretting every minute of it) and finally put him to bed hoping for the best. I’ll let you know how it turns out in the morning.

-Ashford