This article is from the book, The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Children , by Denise Foley, Eileen Nechas, Susan Perry, Dena K. Salmon and the Editors of Prevention Magazine Health Books. To send a link and summary of this article to a friend, click here .
Children run, jump, climb, skate, bike . . . and fall, crash, slam and bump.
Jeffrey Fogel, M.D., a pediatrician in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and staff physician at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, says that bruises are so normal that if he sees a young child without bruises on his legs, he wonders if the parents are being overprotective. Some bruises require at least an evaluation by a physician before you begin any home remedies. And in very rare instances, bruises that appear spontaneously indicate serious diseases such as leukemia. The blow is to the side of the head above the ear, an area at high risk for fracturing. Your child has trouble walking, talking or seeing, becomes drowsy or unresponsive or has one pupil that is larger than the other after receiving a bruising blow.