A B737-800 flight attendant reported a three year old child injured when a passenger seat arm rest f...

Narrative:

Passenger traveling with his family informed another flight attendant that his daughter was injured by the armrest falling and hitting her behind the right earlobe. I checked on passenger and family and provided an ice pack. The child who is 3 years old was crying and had a large bruise behind her ear and a swollen earlobe. I checked the armrest. It would not stay in the up position properly. It would retract and snap forcefully down into the down position. I informed the captain about the armrest and that the passengers had requested emt to meet the flight. I checked on the family every 20 minutes. The little girl seemed to be better by the end of the flight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-800 Flight Attendant reported a three year old child injured when a passenger seat arm rest forcefully fell and struck the child behind her right earlobe causing a large bruise and swollen earlobe.

Narrative: Passenger traveling with his family informed another flight attendant that his daughter was injured by the armrest falling and hitting her behind the right earlobe. I checked on passenger and family and provided an ice pack. The child who is 3 years old was crying and had a large bruise behind her ear and a swollen earlobe. I checked the armrest. It would not stay in the up position properly. It would retract and snap forcefully down into the down position. I informed the captain about the armrest and that the passengers had requested EMT to meet the flight. I checked on the family every 20 minutes. The little girl seemed to be better by the end of the flight.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1255530
Time
Date	201504
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Pax Seat
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness

A B737-800 flight attendant reported a three year old child injured when a passenger seat arm rest forcefully fell and struck the child behind her right earlobe causing a large bruise and swollen earlobe.