Why does a 9-months-old become irritable after a fall?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have a nine-month-old daughter. She fell down from the bed yesterday. I do not know whether she got a hit in her head. I looked at her gently to see whether she has any signs of an injury. After making sure that there is no injury, I started consoling her because she started to cry uncontrollably. When she stopped crying, she started to be drowsy but I did not let her sleep. After that, she vomited a lot. After an hour, she went to bed for sleeping. I am monitoring her keenly. After 24 hours of monitoring, I noticed that there are some changes in her sleeping pattern and she cries very easily, becomes angry easily, and exhibits extreme emotions.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern. According to your statement, your baby cries easily, becomes angry easily, and exhibits extreme emotions due to a suspect of fall from the bed. Young children who cannot talk will show things going wrong by doing actions. They act fussy or irritable. If your child is fussier than normal, then it can be a sign of something that goes wrong. There are some reasons such as lack of sleep, hunger, frustration, being too cold or too hot, insect bite, and fall from height. Any childhood illness can cause a child to be irritable. They include ear infection, toothache, cold or flu, bladder pain, stomach pain, constipation, and pinworm.

Just observe your child for another 48 hours. You should see for other signs and symptoms of concussion or brain injury. The symptoms are being fussy while eating, changes in sleep pattern, crying more in a particular position than other positions, crying more than usual, and being increasingly irritable. As you have watched her for 24 hours, you can watch her for another 48 hours. In the meantime, you should exclude other causes that are responsible for making your baby irritable.