Head injury**EDITED**

Mom of two boys here - ages 25 and 6 (yeah, that's not a typo - there are 2 girls between them). Anyway - the oldest has made more than a dozen ER trips, probably 8 or 10 sets of stitches. Youngest, only once for a very high fever. I used to be an EMT. With head injuries - immediately use ice. Put ice in a plastic bag, cover with a thin cloth or towel and hold it there. Try to keep it iced for 1/2 hour or so. You'd be surprised how much swelling that keeps away. Look at their eyes, make sure pupils are the same size. If they vomit, take them in right away (unless you can tell it was from crying). If they get really sleepy, and it's not bed time anyway, call the ER and ask. Sometimes they will have you wake a child once every hour or so after a head injury.

I am curious what you mean by a thick blood clot and the bright yellow stuff. How big was the clot? Are we talking about yellow stuff like an infection? If that yellow is like pus, he might have an infected cut and need antibiotics.

If you feel worried take him in it is alway better to be on the safe side. If you don't want to wait it out in the ER take him to Care Now or a clinic open on Saturday. Also you might call your doctor they might be open on Sat. and Sun. for a short time.

My daughter did the same thing at age 1-1/2. She fell and hit her head on some wooden bleachers. It swelled immediately. I took her to the ER that night only because she threw up twice and that is a sign of concussion. She had a cat scan and luckily everything was fine. After her follow up with her ped, he told me the knot could be there for up to 6 months and she also had 2 black eyes that showed up about 1 week later. Everything turned out fine. (the pictures even made a cute scrapbook page-LOL) If he is acting normal and has not thrown up at all, Im sure he will be fine. Keep him on Motrin, as it has a anit-imflammotry in it. But always go with your instincts, if you feel he needs to be checked out- take him. If you go to the ER, head trauma is moved to the top of the list, so you wont have to wait. Good Luck to you.

You should be fine. My little guy has hit his head before, similar to this and the Dr. said a bump is good and expected...it is anything concave that you have to worry about. I was told to watch him for about an hour to make sure he was acting normal, after that he would be fine. If you are really worried, call your nurses hotline. They should help ease any concerns.

I have two boys also and so far we have had 3 broken bones, 1 set of staples for a scalp laceration, and 1 tooth extraction due to a fall which "killed" the nerve. Oh the joy of having boys! I agree with the other Mom's that he is OK. It has taken up to a month for some of my boys bruises to go away.
That said, I am also a big advocate of following you're instincts. If you think something else is wrong, have it checked out. Better to be over cautious and be called a worry wort than miss a serious injury or illness.

I am sure you are fine. We had a similar incident a few weeks ago with my 2 y.o. I was panic stricken, calling my husband home from work, calling my mom (who lives in Austin - lot of good that would do), taking pictures of the injury with my cell phone and sending it to everyone asking their opinions... My poor husband rushed home and got home about an hour later only to find my son sitting in his chair happily eating dinner :) We also had two black eyes the next day and he fussed when he accidentally touched it or laid down on that side of his head - but he is totally fine now. Those toddlers are MUCH tougher than we give them credit for. With all that said, if you really don't feel comfortable, then take him to an Urgent Care (not an ER). If you can see through your motherly love and concern, I am sure you have a good gut instinct on if you truly need to take action. My guess is that since you are asking us, you don't feel it is that urgent and are just looking for some reassurance. Trust yourself. I really believe that a mother just knows, with no doubt, when you need to do something. God bless.

I know it is horrible watching your baby suffer and be in pain and our first instinct as a mommy is to rush them to the doctor. Let's look at this rationally, he hit his head on the 12th. 5 days ago. If he'd gotten a skull fracture or had a bleed inside of his head he would have been throwing up, very sleepy all the time, not acting like himself. Second, you called your doctor. Your son didn't lose consciousness or throw up so it sounds like he just really bonked his head good. Third, he says it still hurts. Of course it does. He hit his head really hard. When you've bonked your head doesn't it hurt for awhile? Give him some tylenol and let him play.. This is the first of many owies and if you overreact your son will too. My rule of thumb is take them to the ER if they are blue (not breathing), having a seizure, bleeding so much you can't get it to stop or have a broken extremity.

My kids have had sooooo many accidents, none so far that truly required stitches or medical attention from a physician, thank goodness. However, our pediatrician's nurse always tells us that we are the best judge of determining if your child is sick enough to bring them in. And she's right! We are our children's best advocate. If your doctor says he's fine and you feel otherwise, take him in anyway. Why should the doctor care, as long as you pay for the visit or it's covered under insurance. At least they can look at it and you'll feel better about it.