We all know toddlers have big heads. It’s no secret. I always used to get a good laugh from my kids as they were just learning to walk. As they leaned over, once the head started to fall, the body was sure to follow. Since I was a medical student and resident when my kids were that age, watching them weeble and wobble around the room provided hours of inexpensive entertainment in between studying for my board exams. But unfortunately, sometimes those falls result in more significant head injuries, with skull fractures, bleeding in the brain, and concussions.
The challenge for us as parents is determining when our children have sustained a “significant” head injury that we need to take them to see the doctor or when we can just observe them at home. For this reason parents often rush their kids to the ER after even a seemingly minor bump to the head.
