Unexplained bruise on babies back HELP

[areandare]

I have noticed a little bruise on my 11 month olds back (see pic). It doesn’t seem to be bothering him and there’s no lump under it or anything.

He isn’t walking yet but is very mobile, constantly crawling, climbing and cruising on the furniture.

I am beside myself with worry this evening. I noticed it a few days ago but didn’t think much, but tonight I’m a bag of nerves worrying in case it’s something serious. If it were anywhere else I would assume he had just knocked it on something but his back is a very odd place to have a bruise.

He HATES being put in his car seat and high chair, and also bounces like mad in his jumparoo.

I am so worried about this. Has anybody ever experienced this before and what was it? I’m going to take him to the GP on Monday.

He is totally fine and his happy playful self. Thanks in advance 😢

If it is on the spine, it's quite a natural place to knock (as are knees, shins etc). Just leaning back on the coffee table abruptly would do it.

If it were deliberately done by another person, it would probably be larger - do you have any particular reason to be worried? Are you afraid of your partner...?

My child accumulated a new injury of some sort pretty much daily from this point until…. Well still ongoing actually, no end in sight.

@Kingdomofsleepthanks for commenting. It’s right next to, practically on the spine.

Absolutely not!!! It has 1 million percent not been done deliberately by anybody. I’m worried in regards to illnesses with symptoms of unexplained bruises.

@MidnightPatrolthank you so much that has made me feel a bit better (not that your child is injuring themselves but that it’s not abnormal)

Hes so non stop he’s always got bruises on the usual places where he’s banging into things etc, but this just freaked me out as it’s his back.

That’s a very easy place to bump by falling or sitting backwards. Are you normally very anxious? If there was underlying issues then there would be a whole lot more bruises than that. At that age and stage of mobility I’m surprised there’s not more anyway!

@liveforsummerthank you. He does have the odd bruise on his forehead and shins , the usual spots which don’t worry me but this one has for some reason.

I am extremely anxious. Before becoming a mother I was so chilled, now I worry about everything with him. I never thought I’d be like this!

i would be tempted to change the appointment to one for you. If you take your child to the dr for a single, small bruise on their back (in a spot that’s easy for a baby/toddler to bump) they’ll be making a note on a record somewhere that you are an over anxious mother and you won’t get taken seriously in the future. You really don’t need an appointment for that. If there were multiple bruises that you couldn’t explain, then maybe. If there were other symptoms that were causing concern as well then definitely.

It’s ok to be worried about your child, but you’ll make yourself sick with this level of anxiety, so it’s worth a chat with the gp about how you’re feeling and if there’s any support they can give you.

I’m not saying this to be mean. I’m saying it because the toddler years will destroy your mental health if you don’t nip this in the bud now.

My child had a line of bruises similar to this along their spine, when they were a baby. Turned out it was from the jumperoo

You say he hates going in the car seat. What car seat do you have? I remember there was Joie (i think?) car seat on a parenting group I’m in on Facebook that was causing small bruises on little ones backs as it had really thin padding and there was something in the structure of the seat pushing into their backs. This was last year so not long ago. Or something from the pushchair?

Hes so non stop he’s always got bruises on the usual places where he’s banging into things etc

I would definitely count the middle of the spine as one of those places. I sometimes get a bruise on my own spine even, and my kids do often too. Try not to worry.

The kind of classic places where small kids get bruises from ordinary knocks are knees, shins, forehead, middle of spine. Places like back of the thigh or inside of the arm, or cheekbones, might give me pause for thought about whether someone had done it deliberately. But not your picture, it's a common place to get knocked.

I must say I'd never have considered some kind of medical issue for just one or two tiny bruises, and I'd put myself on the more anxious end of the spectrum.

@Tillow4everi agree, im definitely a worrier and my mind goes to worse case scenario.

Everything that I’ve read online states that the back isn’t an easy spot to bump, but I think this is my problem I’m googling things and making myself feel worse.

He’s only been to the doctors twice in his life (not including his injections) once for a chesty cough, and once for conjunctivitis so it’s not as if I take him all the time. I just really worry and overthink things like this a lot.

My oldest son had bruises in the same place, initially no idea where from- it was the high chair.

My daughter who is almost ten months currently has bruises on each knee, one on the side of her head and a scrub on her toe, all from crawling, cruising and as of this morning falling onto a toy from standing.

Thank you for reading it as I intended and not as an attack - I know tone isn’t easy to convey! I completely understand you worrying, I’ve had more than my fair share of those kind of worries over the years. If you are feeling very anxious, ask for help - I wish I had!

@AvidMauveCrabwe have a Joie car seat! He kicks up such a fuss while trying to get him in so it could well be that. Thank you for sharing

@Kingdomofsleepaww I’m glad to hear that the spine is a common place to get a bruise. I probably wouldn’t have considered it either until I went down a chat GPT rabbit hole on his symptoms - do not recommend!!

@MDDRhighchair could be a possibility! He’s so fair as well I feel like bruises show up more noticeably.

Im glad it’s not just my little boy, it’s as if he sees hazards and goes for it! No fear at all lol

@Tillow4everI didn’t read it that way at all 😊 really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

This thread has made me feel better already to be honest and made me realise maybe I’m being overly cautious! I don’t think I will book that GP appointment on Monday they’d probably think I was mad coming in for a bruise on an otherwise happy healthy baby 😆

It’s the tiniest bruise I’ve ever seen.

Try not to worry and definitely give chat gpt a swerve - i find AI has a knack of guessing what you want it to say. (If you rephrase your question it gives the opposite answer.)

Over the next few years your LO will get so many more bruises... even places like the ankles, elbows, knuckles, even toe-knuckles (whatever those bones are called) get bruised if your dc runs and kicks barefoot. Basically any protruding bony area is likely to knock on something and bruise.

As you've got the GP appointment, I'd go and get some reassurance there, but delete chatgpt from your phone!

@Kingdomofsleepnow that you mention it, that is so true. It always tells me what I want to hear!

I know you are right. He does get bruises and I never worry because he’s so busy, it’s just because of where it was I didn’t think it was possible for him to have knocked that part of his body but after reading these replies it makes sense, especially with car seat/highchair.

I haven’t actually got an appointment for him I was just contemplating taking him on Monday. I think after some reflection and helpful replies, I’m going to hold off doing that

That's really good that you're feeling reassured! Mumsnet is so good for that, I remember the first time I used mumsnet, I had a tiny bit of brown spotting in early pregnancy.

I just thought of another thing about the AI - I think it's been programmed to default to "go get medical advice right now!" if you ever ask a medical related question, because it doesn't want to get sued. I mean it definitely won't do any harm to go to the GP, but it's just that it fuels your anxiety if that's always the answer to any question.

My anxiety was pretty bad in the first year of my dc1's life... So I really get it, I know how you feel!

If he was a non-mobile infant I’d be concerned but a mobile nearly toddler is very different, there’s a hundred ways he could have bumped himself or rolled onto a hard toy or something on the floor or yes his high chair or baby seat. He probably didn’t even notice it so wouldn’t have cried or alerted you.

If a non-mobile baby, or loads and loads of unexplained bruises, I would be worried.

but a tiny one-off bruise on the spine seems fine, especially as others have said the jumperoo can cause them.

Have they been in a shopping trolly by any chance? My 11 month old was getting these bruises and I noticed a pattern of it being after food shops! I’ve ordered one of the seat inserts now as I think the back of the trolly seat has been digging into his back!