Toddler biting his tongue in his sleep - AIBU to be concerned?

So happy I found this thread. My 13-month-old just bit his tongue during sleep yesterday at 3-4 AM (bled a little) and did it again at 9 PM (bled a lot). I took him to the children's emergency center and was told they don't know why, probably because he is teething. But there is no sign of new teeth coming out and he has been having the same number of teeth for 2-3 months now. He does grind his teeth at sleep, but this is the first time he bit his tongue, I know I heard chewing noise when it first happened, so I don't think it's seizure. But due to family history of seizure and neurological problems and thanks to recommendations from this thread, I am going to get a referral from the pediatrician to get him checked by a neurologist and also ENT doctor. I hope this is only a tooth grinding gone wrong. 🙏

Hi, my son has done this since he was teething. He’s 4 next month! We’ve seen various professionals but never truely got to the bottom of it until recently. Took him to dentist again and he has a slightly fractured back tooth which she says is a classic sign of teeth grinding & that the chances are that he’s nipping his tongue when doing it. She told us some jaw exercises to do & it seemed to help. We haven’t been doing the exercises with him for a couple of months but he’s not done it thankfully.
the exercises are just open mouth as wide as he can & hold for 10 seconds, do this 4 times, then we massage his jaw (cheeks) for 20 seconds. This apparently gets rid of any jaw tension which causes grinding 🤷‍♀️

My son is 4 now - he occasionally wakes up crying from ‘jumping’ himself awake .. but rarely bites his tongue in his sleep anymore. Still no concern from pediatrician or neurologist. They diagnosed him with sleep myoclonus or bruxism (jaw spasms/ grinding) - they still aren’t sure.

Here’s a few things that we did ..

we went to an ENT doctor because our sons tonsils were very large — he had previously had his adenoids out. ENT took the tonsils out around 2.5 years old.

we also started on a daily nose spray (Flonase sensimist Childrens)

im not sure if this solved it OR if it was timing.. because it was very close to 6 months from the point of it all starting at 2, but he never woke up again in a bed sheet of blood.

I’ve recently noticed him grinding his teeth - so we have a dentist Appt scheduled in a few weeks to see what’s happening there.

I know that would help a lot but my son has always refused to have one we have tried everything to try and prevent it from happening.

Dummies and mouth guards are often prescribed even to older children (and adults) for things like extreme tooth grinding and tongue biting.

I know dummies are controversial these days but you might want to consider one.

Hi I have been having alot of issues with my 18 month old son doing this. He has been doing it since 9 months old. I came across this forum and wondered whether you have found a solution to this. The gp referred my son to a pediatrician and they did a EEG, they had him in for an hour and the results came back negative for epilepsy. She then discharged him which myself, the gp, the health visitor and dentist is not happy about. This only happens when he sleeps and I have took him to the emergency room and no look. I have never heard of it before.

Just looking for any advice you may have for me and to see whether your son grew out of doing it? Or did he have to have some sort of medication or gum sheild introduced?

Dies he have a good bite? Been to the dentist yet?

Thank you @Sez655! You are exactly right - it’s so hard! The healthcare system has basically told us to wait it out 😭 your story gives me hope!

I completely know how you are feeling I cried many times as I couldn't work out why he was doing it and I couldn't help him. I was also frustrated with the health professionals as no one wanted to know or help! As well as being absolutely shattered due to him waking up multiple times screaming. I had even tried him sleeping on me a few times and he did it still, therefore I knew that he wasn't having a fit or seizure. I'm sorry that I don't have any answers for you, just hope that your son stops like my son did. However, for all we know he may start again when he gets any other pain 🙁

Thanks for the response @Sez655
My son is still biting his tongue in his sleep and we can’t figure out why! Some nights are worse than others. @SinkGirl did anything happen with your child?

@TiredMomNC he has stopped now (20 months) thankfully! No one had answers, but we noticed that he was doing it when there was another pain ie belly ache, when he had a cold & sore ears! Seems to be a pain coping mechanism in his sleep! Weird but it's the link we found x

Hi @Sez655 - is your 18 month old still biting their tongue in sleep? My 2 year old starting biting his tongue during sleep 3 months ago. He bites it every night and every night, multiple times. We’ve had two video EEGs and an MRI. Neurologists have said they do not see any sign of seizure of epilepsy. Do you have any lead on why it’s happening?

Hi @SinkGirl could I ask what the outcome of this was please? My 18 month old is exactly the same. Been doing it since July 2018 and no health care professional can give us answers, just say it's a habit. But his tongue often looks like your sons, he's sheets are like a blood bath & he drools to the extreme that his bib is literally soaked within 30 mins!! Thanks x

Good luck. Try not to stress. Harder than it sounds I know.

Also, if the Gp fobs you off, ask them how they are ruling out nighttime convulsions? They can't. Only a neurologist or paediatrician with a specialty in neurology can tell you.

Not to scare you but I've been told by doctors here in the US the incidence of neurological issues is higher in under 5s who are multiples, premies and those born after 42 weeks. DS was born after 42 weeks which is why it came up. I had no idea. Def get it checked out by the right specialists who can properly assess your child and tell you if there is a problem or not. A GP doesn't have the knowledge or testing equipment to do the necessary work for a safe diagnosis.

My daughter did exactly that three or four times when she was still little and had a dummy. I think she had lost her dummy in her sleep, and chewed on her tongue instead

It was so horrible to look at that it made my legs go a bit funny. It never happened again after we'd ditched her dummies.

I was going to say you need to video him at night

I occasionally bite my tongue in my sleep and will jolt myself awake doing it but the amount of blood there is the kind I’d expect if I’d bitten my tongue during a seizure- I have epilepsy but don’t have nocturnal episodes.

I would definitely take him to get checked again and see if the GP would make a referral to a neurologist, to be on the safe side. A nanny cam sounds like a very good idea.

It may just be bad or excitable dreams, but of course you want it to be checked out properly. Has it been a particular time when he wakes you after doing it? Im clearly not diagnosing anything but I have nocturnal seizures, also called waking seizures as they occur when I'm coming out of deep sleep, usually after dawn. I bite the sides of my tongue and sometimes cheek. You can see the deep teeth marks and they bloody hurt! Are there any signs of incontinence, I suppose if he is nappies you couldn't tell though?

Is he in a child's bed? It might be worth having bed guards if you don't already, or if it's a low bed, padding on the floor.

I hope there is nothing to worry about and that he is just an excitable sleeper or similar!

OP I grind my teeth in my sleep, and when it gets really bad I often wake up in pain having bitten my tongue. Could it be something like this?

I’d definitely get back to the GP, and would maybe try to set up my phone to record him for a couple of hours overnight to see if I notice anything.

I have a child with autism and comorbid diseases. He has neurological issues which have meant he has small convulsions in his sleep and during the day. He has bitten his cheek and tongue before while having one of these convulsions.

You need to get him back to the GP and referred to a paediatrician and neurologist. I'd also have him checked by an ENT to rule our adenoid issues causing his mouth to get dry and him chomp.