5 year old has frequent nosebleeds
Baby has bloody nose with cold
January 2001
My 6-month old son has
been having
small amounts of blood in his right nostril and has had rusty-colored mucous
come out of his
nose for several days. He had a cold (just a sniffly nose, really -- but there
was some yellow
mucous) for about 2 weeks, worse at night, and I wonder if all the sneezing
and sniffling has
caused the bleeding. I sure hope that's what it is because if not, I'll be
pretty worried! Are
there other things that cause bleeding from the nose? Or perhaps he just
banged it on
something -- his arm, my chin ...
His pediatrician saw him on Tuesday and I mentioned the rust-colored mucous,
but he
didn't seem alarmed. The brighter colored blood happened yesterday.
It has now (Friday) gone away, but I am curious about what was going on. Any
thoughts?
Thanks!
Colleen
It could be an irritated/dry nose and throat. When my son was a baby and
had croup he coughed up an alarmingly large blob of bright red blood and
mucous. (Sorry for the gross description.) Like your doctor, ours seemed
unconcerned and reassured me that my son hadn't coughed up a vital organ or
anything. I find that when my son has a cold, or when the air is dry (as it
is in
indoor heated spaces in winter, or indoors and outdoors in summer) it helps to
frequently use a nasal saline spray. You can get this in a small squirt
bottle at
any drugstore. My son hated this at first but eventually got used to it and
now
can administer it to himself, which he prefers to having Mommy do it.
wheeler
Sometimes bleeding is a side effect of the irritation and dryness that follows
a
cold. If your doctor is not alarmed that's a good sign that you needn't be
alarmed
(vigilant always, but not alarmed).
Heather
Bloody noses for children and grownups can often be the result of a
vitamin C deficiency, particularly when the immune system is needing
more. Guinea pigs and humans are the only mammals who have all the
enzymes but one to make their own vitamin C. Goats crank out 7 grams
a day! So, deficiency is common in humans. Using a buffered,
hypoallergenic (non-citrus based for such a young child) vitamin C
with bioflavonoids can prevent capillary fragility. Spraying a saline
solution (Ocean, Ayr, Salinex) into the nostrils can help. Do not
suction the mucus out afterwards, however. A room humidifier can
decrease drying of the fragile membranes in the nose that can
contribute to nosebleed. Hope this will be useful.
Nori
If your doctor isn't concerned, you can relax. My daughter had her first
nosebleed when she was six months old and thank goodness at the time we were
visiting a
friend who is the mother of four and grandmother of six, because otherwise I
would have
panicked. She's now five, and still gets them, particularly when (as others
have noted) the air
is dry and/or after a cold. Gently pinching her nose right under the bony
part seems to help,
but frankly I couldn't get her to sit still for that until about a year ago.
We've gone through a
lot of tissues! A nurse practitioner told me not to worry unless the nose
bleed goes on for 20
minutes or more.
Lorraine
May 2001
My 5 year old son gets frequent nosebleeds at times. His nose will
bleed for about 20 minutes, passing big clots, even with pressure
applied to his nose. This may happen every day for a week and then he
won't get another nosebleed for 3 months. Certainly dry weather seems
to trigger them, so we put vaseline in his nose. Though the nosebleeds
are rare, they are a big nuisance for him, interfering with his sports
or sidelining him at school as well. Do kids seem to outgrow
nosebleeds? Or does anyone have experience with cauterizing the leaky
blood vessel? As he will be in school for longer days next year, I
don't want him stressing about this.
Jennifer
I too suffered from nosebleeds as a child, just like your son's (lasting a
long time, large blood
clots). I believe dry air may have contributed to my problem. I might try
using a humidifier
in his room at night from time to time, to see if that helps. The good news
is that I eventually
stopped getting them.
Donna
My wonderful husband was just like your son as a child. He had intermittent
periods where
his nose bled every day. Then he would have a period where it was healed and
it didn't bleed.
Then it would start all over again. Today, as an adult he has occasional
trouble. He will have
bleeding with severe cold. A blow to the nose will also cause bleeding that
continues off/on for
days. The trouble is a super sensitive lining that as it is healing it tears
open again with
movement around the new scab. It runs in his family. His father and sister
have both had
their noses cauterized and never experienced trouble again. My husband opted
not to have it
done. When I asked him about it. He said it wasn't until college that it
lessened in severity.
Hope that helps.
Dana
My 10 year old daughter used to get severe nosebleeds until we took
her to a pediatric ENT to have the vessel(s) cauterized. The process
is somewhat uncomfortable (the nostril is stuffed with a piece of
guaze containing medicine that numbs the area for about 15 minutes,
then the doctor cauterizes the problem area),but the results are quite
remarkable. My daughter used to have nosebleeds for 20-40 minutes,
sometimes several times a week. After the first medical procedure,
she didn't have a single nosebleed until a year later. She's been
cauterized 3-4 times since she was about 6 years old.
It's been such a relief to not have this problem anymore. We used to
worry about her having a bad nosebleed during school plays,
fieldtrips, etc.
We've had a good experience with Dr. Robert Wesman (428-3456).
Karen
My son started getting nosebleeds when he was 2 (he's now almost 4). He's
gotten them at
home and school. Since nosebleeds run in our family (I have an uncle who got
them every
day on his way home from school when he was younger) we were fortunate to know
some good
tricks for keeping them at a minimum... The BEST thing we've found to help
reduce the risk
of a nosebleed is to run the cool mist humidifier at night. If you haven't
tried this already, it
works wonders!
Heather
My now 14-year-old used to get frequent nosebleeds and her doctor talked about
cauterization. We never did it since they'd get better as the weather
changed. She got
VERY competent dealing with them by holding her nose for a while. She'd never
go to the
office, etc. so stressing about them was not an issue. She did mostly grow
out of them,
although it can still happen in an overheated house.
Barbara
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