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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is this a concerning amount of bruises?

62 replies

MummaHud · 29/10/2025 19:17

My daughter is 5 and she is always ON the go, it’s been half term and she’s like the Duracell bunny…

she has no other symptoms but I always worry bruises like this are something to be worried about? AIBU worrying?

Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
OP posts:
TheatricalLife · 29/10/2025 20:39

They look better than mine! I constantly look battered and bruised, nothing sinister going on. Even a light knock causes a bruise. Looks totally normal to me OP.

HarryVanderspeigle · 29/10/2025 20:43

She looks less bruised than me on an average day. Pale skin shows more bruising.

How are people looking at her and thinking hypermobility? Interested as both my kids are hypermobile, but I didn't know there were tells from standing straight.

Pranksters · 29/10/2025 20:45

I expected her to be covered! That really isn’t that many bruises. They’re perfectly normal bruises.

Tagyoureit · 29/10/2025 21:21

My dd5 is also covered in bruises but then she always jumping, hanging off things, falling down, tripping over her feet, falling off the scooter because she went too fast, falling off her bike because shes still learning to ride.

She is more clumsy when shes had a growth spurt, ive noticed, like she needs time to adjust to her new found length.

WiddlinDiddlin · 29/10/2025 21:25

Bruising looks pretty normal, I was an active tree climbing, rock scrambling, go kart building kid, mine were way worse...

I was also un dx Ehlers Danlos - your kiddos knees meet, she's also looking like her knees are hyperflexed backward, and her arches non existant - all signs that others are picking up on as hyper mobile. I'd get her gait checked out and some sort of support for that as whilst its probably not noticable to her now it will cause pain later.

MummaHud · 29/10/2025 21:25

Tagyoureit · 29/10/2025 21:21

My dd5 is also covered in bruises but then she always jumping, hanging off things, falling down, tripping over her feet, falling off the scooter because she went too fast, falling off her bike because shes still learning to ride.

She is more clumsy when shes had a growth spurt, ive noticed, like she needs time to adjust to her new found length.

Thank you. I do remember last Friday she fell over onto some grovel at a farm and landed on her knees and she cried very loudly bless her, and then she caught her scooter tyre on a curb on Sunday and fell over too. Perhaps it’s just a mix of those two things and the bruises have all come out at once.

funnily enough, she seems like she’s got taller and more like a runner bean over the half term, her energy is like a Duracell bunny.. so hopefully it is something as simple as learning her new found lengthy legs!

I’ll see the GP about my health anxiety aswell, as it seems to creep in with my Seasonal Affective Disorder. I always feel so so so anxious especially around health in the darker wet winter months!

OP posts:
TheZanyZebra · 29/10/2025 21:27

You should see my kids, now that's a lot of bruises 😂

Your kid is 5, presumably she's not left alone all day, you can see what she's actually doing and who she's with? How can you be concerned when you are right there?

MummaHud · 29/10/2025 21:28

As in hypermobility, my daughter isn’t very flexible though.. I never would’ve put her forward for being hypermobile but In all honestly I do not know much about it and what does / doesn’t contribute to being hypermobile.

OP posts:
Tagyoureit · 29/10/2025 21:29

@MummaHud keep an eye out obviously but try not to get too worried. If you think of how many times a day the tears come along over a bump/fall etc then those bruises do add up.

MummaHud · 29/10/2025 21:29

TheZanyZebra · 29/10/2025 21:27

You should see my kids, now that's a lot of bruises 😂

Your kid is 5, presumably she's not left alone all day, you can see what she's actually doing and who she's with? How can you be concerned when you are right there?

I’m not worried about what she’s doing or who she is with. I’m worried about Blood disorders & scary things like that…. Not anything else. I have health anxiety ( which I don’t need to be told about myself, I’m already under the GP for medication), so I naturally worry about scary health things, after my extremely premature poorly baby & health scares myself in the past.

OP posts:
Endofyear · 29/10/2025 21:32

Looks pretty normal for a 5 year old kid to me.

LotsOfSmallThings · 29/10/2025 21:35

YABU OP but meant nicely! As everyone else has said, nothing to be worried about there, totally normal kid legs - IMO her level of bruises is a sign she’s out and about, running around, doing stuff a kid her age should do 😊 my DD actually did have leukaemia and there was NO doubt that it was far beyond a normal level of bruising - I’ll find you a pic for comparison. DD is 7 now, finished treatment and totally fine, all better, but incredibly clumsy and her legs look worse than your DD’s most of the time 🤣 and I’m not worried!

TheZanyZebra · 29/10/2025 21:35

MummaHud · 29/10/2025 21:29

I’m not worried about what she’s doing or who she is with. I’m worried about Blood disorders & scary things like that…. Not anything else. I have health anxiety ( which I don’t need to be told about myself, I’m already under the GP for medication), so I naturally worry about scary health things, after my extremely premature poorly baby & health scares myself in the past.

I have more bruises than she has, and I am as healthy as can be.

LotsOfSmallThings · 29/10/2025 21:38

For you OP and anyone else worried re leukaemia - this is DD’s bruises the day before & the day she was diagnosed. Very, very different from normal childhood bumps and bruises!

Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
Is this a concerning amount of bruises?
TheZanyZebra · 29/10/2025 21:45

LotsOfSmallThings · 29/10/2025 21:38

For you OP and anyone else worried re leukaemia - this is DD’s bruises the day before & the day she was diagnosed. Very, very different from normal childhood bumps and bruises!

Poor thing, that does look bad and would worry any parent.

Very brave of you to share, I hope she's ok today.

LotsOfSmallThings · 29/10/2025 21:59

TheZanyZebra · 29/10/2025 21:45

Poor thing, that does look bad and would worry any parent.

Very brave of you to share, I hope she's ok today.

Ah she’s fine now thank you - a few long and gruelling years of treatment but we were incredibly lucky, she’s a trooper and came through with no lasting issues and no apparent side effects, finished treatment nearly 2 years ago now and no relapses or problems since. But I see people post with worries re bruises on children fairly often and I’m happy to share photos if it helps people feel reassured that their little ones are just standard busy/clumsy kids. As you can see, when it’s indicative of a problem it’s pretty unequivocal - there’s no way DD’s bruising could have been put down to regular kid stuff.

uglyfeet · 29/10/2025 22:14

No you are right to be worried. 2 weeks a massive bruise grew on my top thigh.

2 weeks later I was fighting necrosis fasciitis.

Today 6 months on I still learn about nf.

PortSalutPlease · 29/10/2025 22:53

That really just looks like normal bruising. My legs look like that right now and I’m pretty sure DS’s do too.

Brbreeze · 30/10/2025 07:16

I read this last night when the photo hadn’t loaded and expected it to be much worse. I’m 35 and my legs are covered in considerably more bruises than that at the moment 😂
I would say that’s completely normal and very similar to my three year-old.

mumoftwo99x · 30/10/2025 07:20

Very normal - my DS has way more including his arm/elbow too. He’s just recovered from a black eye which he got from running headfirst into the school metal gate during playtime 😩

millymollymoomoo · 30/10/2025 07:33

Totally normal on shins and knees. My kids always has far more than that

Anditstartedagain · 30/10/2025 07:34

Now the photo has loaded. Compared to my kids and friends, I would say that’s well lower than average number of bruises.

MrsPrendergast · 30/10/2025 07:41

Do you have health anxiety, OP?

Edit -I've just seen that you do. Apologies

Maybe get some help with your anxiety? Talking therapy might help

StillAGoth · 30/10/2025 07:42

OP, brusies are completely normal.

Yes, bruises can be a symptom of something more serious but not all bruises are equal. Once they are yellow/green, they are old bruises and healing.

LotsOfSmallThings has very kindly shown you examples of her daughter's leukemia related bruising and you can see that your daughter's bruises look nothing like that. The shape, location and colour of some of her bruising was, as she said, very obviously not caused by bumping into something.

That is also different to a large bruise developing on an adult's thigh without obvious cause.

Bruises on skin in bony areas, such as knees and shins) is, as others have said, normal and comes from just bumping into things, falling over etc and don't even need much impact in children. Some people do bruise more easily than others.

I used to be covered in bruises after a night dancing in a mosh pit which I always equate with childen running around in a playground!

I was also 'covered in bruises' (including soft areas) as a child but that was a result of being hit at home.

If you are really worried, speak to your GP for reassurance (after all, opinions on a MN thread does not equal a medical diagnosis) but bruises on knees or shins, no where else (particularly soft areas), with no other symptoms and, tbh, I wouldn't even have wondered if I should be worried when mine were children.

But also, bruises on soft areas do happen I had a cracking bruise on my thigh a few months ago after walking into the corner of a table in the classroom! Sometimes, I notice a bruise and have no recollection of walking into a table but assume I must have done.

Bruising like your daughter's wouldn't concern me.

Starlight40 · 30/10/2025 07:43

I would say this is normal. The bruises are where I would expect them to be.x