One big ugly bump

I came home early today to get some of my unfinished work done. When I got home, Andrei is at my sister-in-law’s house which is just a few steps away from ours. After a few minutes, my SIL brought him home and he was so happy to see me. After hugging me and babbling some words I can’t understand, he started playing with his cousins. I was getting ready to eat dinner when I heard Andrei cry. Apparently, his forehead bumped into the floor while playing. I thought it was nothing at first but oh how wrong I was. When I lifted him, I saw that a bump was slowly emerging on his forehead. Before I reached the fridge to get some ice (which is around ten running steps to where we were standing), it has turned into one big ugly bump.

Andrei - all sweaty and puffy-eyed from crying

 This is a first time for him. He didn’t want me to put ice on his “bukol” so we were struggling with each other. The bump did subside but only for a little bit. I let him watch TV afterwards, observed him and made sure he stayed awake. After more than three hours of observing him and not seeing any extraordinary, I let him sleep. I'm just so glad that he's okay now.

Here are some helpful tips on what to do when your child bumps his head (http://www.askdrsears.com): 

1. Don’t panic. Stay calm. If your child sees you remain relaxed, he is more likely to calm down.
2. Ice, ice, ice! If your child will let you, gently hold an ice pack (a "boo-boo bunny") to the bump (bag of frozen vegetables works great!). This will decrease the eventual size of the bump. Apply the ice for 20 minutes and then take a 5-minute break, then 20 minutes again. Offer your child a treat to eat during the icing to consol him.
3. Many children will kick and scream if you try to apply ice. You can decide if it is worth it. The main benefit from ice is cosmetic appearance. Rarely, a large bump will leave a tiny pea-sized residual hard calcium deposit felt under the skin. Applying ice may help prevent this.
4. Stop the bleeding. The skin on the face and scalp is extremely rich in blood vessels. Cuts on the face and scalp will bleed much more than other areas of the body. Simply apply gentle pressure to the cut using a cloth (may have ice inside it). The bleeding will stop with time. Children virtually never lose too much blood from a cut or bump, even though it may seem like a lot.
5. If there is a cut over the bump, wait for the bleeding to stop, then examine in closely. Click here on Cuts, Scrapes & Stitches to help you decide if it needs stitches.
6. You need to observe your child's mental status. Try to keep him awake for at least an hour. After that, you can allow him to take short naps, but no more than 20 minutes without observing him.
7. Observe your child. If your child is alert and conscious, walking, talking, playing, and acting like she was before the fall, administer a dose of parental sympathy, apply an ice pack to the cut or bump for twenty minutes, and begin a period of observation before calling your doctor. The reason for the period of observation is because doctors often rely more on how the child behaves after the injury than what happened at the time of the injury. If the brain has been injured, signs may show immediately, or they may appear slowly during the next twenty-four hours. After the period of observation, depending on your baby's condition, you may or may not wish to call the doctor. Besides any when-to-call-the-doctor list there is an overriding inner voice. Trust this monitoring system as much as the most sophisticated electronics. If it tells you something's not quite right, call your doctor to report baby's condition, seek advice, and above all tell the doctor why you are concerned. 

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 I'm pretty sure all of us have our own share of "bukol" stories. After all, it's a "painful" part of growing up.