Dangerous Nosebleeds

G. ,
take her to a ear nose thoart specialist ,maybe hane algery test ran on her if its getting the bad you need to something soon
L.

My 10 year old daughter was recently having bad nosebleeds as well due to allergies/dry weather. I finally wound up taking her to see the ENT and they do a procedure that will cauterize the vessel inside the nose that keeps bleeding. We had to go back twice as she was bleeding out of both sides but have not had one nosebleed since then. Also, a saline spray during the day is good and my doctor also recommended a product called Ponaris. I found it at CVS and you have to ask the pharmacist for it behind the counter. I put a little on a q-tip and swab her nose with that at night. It is very soothing and has worked great!! Good Luck.

Nosebleeds often occur when the mucous membranes are dry. You may try a saline nasal spray and a humidifier in her room at night. Air conditioners dry out the air in your house and can cause the nasal dryness. If it is caused by alleriges, get her to an allergist... who may have some better advice! Good luck!!

Hello G.,

I know it is very scary to see so much blood, but the nose has a lot of vessels that bleed easily. What I have seen ( I'm a nurse of 19 years) is that due to allergies, dry air, etc, the nose bleeds at night. Put a humidifier in your daughter's room while she sleeps, this will add moisture to the air. If you cannot get a nose bleed to stop after 10 minutes of holding pressure, you should seek medical attention.

Good luck!
B.

Yes I have had this happen to my 5 yr old daughter ever since 1 yr old. Then, I asked her primary care physician, and like you said allergies and very thin blood vessel. Said it was ok, that she would grow out of it. Over the years she has had nosebleeds here and there, sometimes several day in a row, sometimes none for several weeks. A couple of months ago she started having nosebleeds while we slept but she would wake up and handle her own nosebleed. Motherly instinct would wake me up everytime though and had me very worried. First thing that crossed my mind was anemia, or worse leukemia. So I scheduled an appointment with ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). He said the same thing I heard about 4 yrs ago, but prescribed Nasonex. One spray every night for 1 month, and hasn't had a nosebleed since.

I noticed that the nosebleeds increased with the pressure, not necessarily the heat. I hope this may be of some help.

As a child, I had a nosebleed when I got too hot. But, my son had very frequent nosebleeds & the dr said that the blood vessel was too close to the surface. He cauterized it & it is fine, now. See an ear, nose & throat specialist.

My daughter suffers from nosebleeds. The dr's always told us it was allergies. I finally took her to a ear nose and throat dr and she had a sore in her nose. I say seek out a specialist!
Good Luck

Hi G.,

I had nose bleeds like this as a kid. They would start for no reason and sometimes last hours. I could blow my nose or scratch it and start a gushing nose bleed. It went on for about 4 years before my parents found a good ear, nose and throat specialist that found the problem. I had blood vessels that were too close to the surface inside of my nasal passages. He solved my problem in a simple and painless procedure in a matter of minutes and I haven't had a nose bleed in 22 years. He simply cauterized those few vessels and I was good to go. It may not come to that for your daughter but if it's an ongoing problem, I would get her into see a ear, nose and throat specialist.

Hope this helps...
A.

Hi,

My friends daughter started having nose bleeds that were pretty significant likes yours and her doctor ran a series of test and she ended up having low platelets due to a virus she caught that caused her body to attack her platelets so she now will always have low platlets. I was shocked by this...a virus caused it all! Please go back to your daughters doctor or go see a different doctor, there is likely something going on causing the nose bleeds.

My 4 year old does the same thing. I wouldn't worry about underlying scary conditions as some have suggested unless she has some other symptoms. My DD has frequent severe nosebleeds that often times take 10-15 minutes to stop and cause her to gag b/c of the bloodflow. She also bleeds in the night on occasion. I have taken her to the doctor, and believe it or not this is a fairly common affliction in kids! Apparently cauterization is not an option for a child so young, my doctor assures me that she is too little and an ENT will not perform the procedure. She had me put vaseline on a q-tip and run it around the insides of her nose (just up to the tip) and give a little pinch after. It thickens the lining of the nose so those tiny tender capillaries don't bust so easily! Do that twice a day for a week. It works well. You may have to repeat every now and again especially as seasons change, allergies are high, and if the weather is very dry.
Most importantly though, don't freak out when it happens, you'll scare your daughter to death! I just stay calm, make jokes about her "silly nose" and she's okay with it all.

Hello,
I had nose bleeds everyday/night til I was 15 and finally I had my nose coterized. (spelling sorry). My son had is left side done when he was 5 due to excessive nosebleeds at night and during the day so bad they would make him leave school b/c they would not stop and were distracting to his work and his class.
He is 10 now and having them everyday atleast 6 a day and at night 3 times a week. I have humidifiers ect. having the air on helps, but looks like he will be going back to get this looked at again!
It is VERY common, but a pain. Not only for the child, but for the parent who has to clean up and take care of the child. My son gets upset after about 3 nosebleeds in a day, b/c it is taking over his life.
Good Luck ...dont worry its not the end of the world, but I do have empathy...its NO FUN!!

G.,

It is most likely nothing serious. My twin daughters still have nosebleeds and they are 16. One of the girls has always had them-from the time she was less than a year old. The nose bleeds a lot and it looks scary but it isn't bad. My daughters have blood vessels that are close to the top of the inside of the nose and so anytime they get a cold and blow their nose a lot or the inside of their nose gets dry (like from the dry weather) it bleeds. We see an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor and he has verified that is the problem. It is easy for him to see the vessels that are too close to the surface by looking in their nose with a light. We have tried cauterization but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You can try a humidifier in the room where she sleeps and also you can put vaseline inside her nostrils for moisture. She might be too young for this but we use Afrin regular nose spray to close up the vessel if we are having a hard time getting the nosebleed to stop. It makes the vessels constrict. Our ENT is Dr. Jeffrey Zapalac and he is wonderful with children.

Good luck!

A.

My daughter also started have some pretty bad nose bleeds as well. Her pedi has never been worried about it being a problem. Some kiddos just have very sensitive little blood vessels in their noses. Sure enough, my husband as a kid, had frequent nose bleeds as did his sis. They were so frequent that they actually had the blood vessels carterized (sp?) to stop the bleeding. This should be an option for you and your little girl, so you may want to ask about it. We have since started to use saline drops and vaseline every night to keep her nasal passages moist. She too would get them more so at night, occasionally during the day. The drops and vaseline have really helped out dramatically.
Good Luck!

my son has nose bleeds if he eats chocolate so start watching what your son is eating. Tyler will get a nose bleed if he eats or drinks lots of sugar and then is in heat. Good luck and hope this helps.

This is very normal. When the nosebleeds happen (or any other bloody incident), don't panic. If your daughter sees how upset you are, she will get scared and panic anytime she sees blood. Panicking could cause problems if she ever does have a serious injury. I have had occasional nightime nosebleeds when the house air is dry. I normally feel the wetness and it feels like just a runny nose. If I don't feel it, I wake up with a pillow full of blood without feeling ill the next morning. Even thought it looks like a lot of blood, it really isn't.

When my sister was little she had frequent nosebleeds. This usually happened in the late spring and throughout the summer, normally after she had been running out in the sun and was over-heated and she has really bad allergies. It was probably her blood pressure being raised from playing combined with thin, dry blood vessels in the nose.

She visited the pediatrician and he cauterized the insides of her nose. Her doctor did both sides at once so that she only had to go through it and heal once. My sister was about 8 years old at the time, so this was 26 years ago. That was last time she had regular nosebleeds. She played sports and was active, so she a couple of nosebleeds later, but just typical ones like most kids have, so keep in mind that cauterization will not prevent ALL future nosebleeds but it will prevent 99.9% of them. I wish they had suggested the nasal sprays and humidifiers, but they didn't really do that back then I guess.

Don't worry, your angel is just fine.

My son had this same exact problem until he was about 5. He had horrible nose bleeds that would not stop, sometimes 3 in a day. His daycare would always call me. His doctor was never concerned although I was. He also had them very frequently in the night and never woke up. Blood EVERYWHERE. I was also extremely worried about choking. It ended up being sinuses and we used the saline nose spray (walgreens brand) about 3-4 times a day and it did help some. He eventually grew out of it.

My 3 1/2 year old has been having nose bleeds lately too. Their little capilaries in their noses are so sensitive that the slightest thing irritating them can cause a nose bleed, even rubbing on the pillow. Try putting a humidifier in her room and swabbing her nose with Aquafor or Vaseline. That has worked wonders for us. She doesn't have nose bleeds anymore and it gave her capiliaries time to heal. If she does have a nose bleed, try pinching off her nose for 5 minutes, although this is a very long time for a 3 year old. Also, you can put a cold compress on the back of her neck, it's on old wives tales that seems to work. I hope this helps.

My children have never had any nosebleeds, but if I were you I would start by getting a humidifier in your home. Also, you might want to get a saline nasal spray to help keep her nose moist. Do not allow her to pick her nose or blow her nose no matter how stopped up it feels, the clot needs time to heal.
In a children's health book that I have it says that nosebleeds are rarely serious, but if your child bruises easily or there's a history of clotting problems in family then you need to alert your doctor because the nosebleeds could be a sign of a bleeding disorder. It also said to head to the emergency room or call your doctor if:
*you cannot stop the nosebleed
*the nosebleeds are frequent and last longer than 15 min
*your child has trouble breathing
*they have bleeding from other places such as the gums
*the nosebleed begins after a blow to the head

No mama wants her baby to bleed so I would go out today and get the humidifier and nasal spray. If they continue and your doctor doesn't seem to care, you may want to get a second opinion. No doctor is perfect. Good luck and God Bless you and your daughter!

I used to have this as a child too, although I was a little older. Mine always occurred during the summer, and were caused by my nose drying out. They could happen at any time, and sometimes my nose bled quite a bit. I was never in any danger, and I doubt your daughter is either, although it can be pretty startling to see! At 3 your daughter is old enough that her brain will automatically make her move if she wore to start choking (and that's on blood or vomit or anything else), so I wouldn't worry about. I think your doctor is right, but you might want to try moisturizing the inside of her nose (my mom used vaseline) and see if that helps.

I will keep this short since everyone has given you such good advice. My son had nose bleeds and I was told to pinch his nose but not told where to pinch it, come to find out you should pinch the upper bridge of the nose. It made a huge difference on stopping them when he did have one. My son grew out of his nose bleeds. On a morning show the other day they said if you put something VERY cold on the persons back that is having the nose bleed that will stop it because when they gasp and stop breathing momentarily, it causes their blood vessels to contract. Worth a try. I know this is stressful and scary for you.

HI G. I have experienced this exact thing with my little boy. It started this year but he was 7 he is now 8. Take her to Dr.Lankford at Austin Regional Clinic. My little boys blood vessels in his nose wear worn thin. The Dr. Carterized his nose and we were instucted to sleep with a humidifier every night. The process takes about 2min. She will take a nitro stick and seal the vessels in the worn spot. It was not painful for my son at all, just a little scary because he had never had this done before. It was the best thing we ever did. His nosebleeds were sooo bad it was scary. He got alot at in his sleep and at school but soaking his clothes with blood. The vessesls are thin from allergies. Dr. Wendy Lankford is the nicest, most gentle Dr. I have ever met. Me and son both go to her. I hope this helps you. B. K

As you can see, nosebleeds are a scary thing, but really common. They run in my family, and I remember my mother being petrified when they would last hours and we'd have to go to the hospital. But as everyone has said, we outgrow them! I only get them as an adult when I have really bad allergies or a cold. There are lots of sprays and flushes that really don't help a lot. The best tricks are to squeeze the bridge of her nose firmly between her eyes, or put an ice pack in the same location. Don't let her tip her head back because the blood drains into her stomach and then in addition to the nosebleed she'll be sick to her stomach. Good luck! She'll be fine. And don't worry too much about nosebleeds while she sleeps. Keep a box of tissues in her reach. She'll get used to the feeling soon and start waking up.

my girls just turn 5years old and she star it to have nose bled last year .I got so scare the first time but ,now she get's them a lot and as im typing im making an app for her because she had a nother one yesterday night she get's them when she's a slep but, she always get up and tell me.I have to girls very closet on age 11 month and when the 5 years old was 1 the other one push her and she fell on her face and after that it happend more you know they were both small.Any way my point is that it could be many reason take your 3years old to the doctor and if you don't like what you hear go with a second opinion.

I had the same problem as I was growing up. Especially around 3-4 years old, I woke up with a bloody pillow 2-3 times per week. The doctor had me on iron supplements and was going to cauterize the vessels in my nose if the iron didn't help. They did get better as I got older--less frequent anyhow. I still had bloody noses all the time as a kid. So you may have to just ride it out....never had cauterization (but may be an option for you). As someone who had them in their sleep regularly, I don't think your daughter can choke on her blood.

Please forgive any typos, I'm sending this via my iPhone. My SIL has been dealing with this with my 3 y/o nephew. Her mom is a nurse & told her that her brother had the same problem as child. She said to try doing the "Little Noses" saline drops & putting a humidifier in his room at night. She said that if that didn't help, the only thing the pediatrician could do is cauterize the blood vessels in his nose. The saline drops & humidifier helped him. They live in Pennsylvania, where the climate is dry, which can make matters worse for kids who are prone to bad nose bleeds, but here in Houston, we spend most of our time in air conditioning, which can also make nose bleeds worse. Obviously you can't turn off your a/c, so try those 2 things. If that doesn't help, call her pediatrician & see what the doctor says. Maybe there is another alternative to cauterizing that we don't know of. Good luck to you & your sweet pea!

As scary as it seems, these are very common. My son is almost six and still has them frequently due to allergies. He has had several while he was sleeping. My doctor had recommended using a humidifier in my son's room to keep moisture in the air. It seems to help overall, but does not prevent them completely. If you haven't tried a humidifier, I would give it a shot. Her nasal passages might be extremely dry from the allergies and that leads to the nosebleeds since the capilaries are close to the surface and burst when they aren't kept moistened. You can find them pretty cheap in the cough and cold section of wal-mart. = )

Hi G., I'm so sorry that your little one has been having nose bleeds. You should push the Doctor to do further testing. You are right nose bleeds like that are not normal. I have heard of brain tumors that start with nose bleeds. I'm not insinuating that your little girl has a brain tumor but you do need to have her checked.

Good luck,
Elisa M

My son always got nosebleeds at night while he slept. I never worried about - my doctor said it wasn't a big deal. He has grown out of it. My daughter is now getting them and sometimes it seems like she is going to bleed to death, but the doctor told me that if it continued to bleed alot for about 3 hours, then you have something to worry about. She is fine before and after, gets her tissues and waits it out. I hope she will outgrow it to pretty soon.

I wouldn't worry.

J.
www.livetotalwellness.com/janislanz
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You need to put a humidifyer in her/your room. The extra moisture will keep her nose moist. Also make sure she is drinking plenty of water, especially if she is taking some kind of allergy medication which has a tendency to dry you out. Also make sure she is keeping her fingers out of her nose when she is awake, the friction or picking can cause sores that can break back open as she dries out. Good luck and God bless you both.

I would MAKE the doctor check for SOMETHING!!!!! Nosebleeds from allergies to me is not an acceptable answer! If that is the reason then some type of medication or treatment needs to be given so that they can reduce how often they are happening. That could be a sign of something internal going on! Good luck!

I've never had an issue with nosebleeds but my brother in law does, well actually did. He lived his whole life in Colorado where the air is dry, when he moved to Houston he had a lot less because of the humidity. With that said, have you tried a humidifier? I would definately try that, it could help. I would also find a good ENT for a second opinion.

Good luck.

Get a second Doctor that deals with eye, ear, nose and throat. There are nasal sprays that help the nose bleeds. In time I'm sure you will get to the root cause. In the mean time, I've never heard of anyone dying from a nose bleed. Relax and enjoy your daughter this one of my favorite ages.