Unexplained bruise on baby

[Ftsmel]

Last night when I was bathing 4 week old DS I noticed a red mark on his back. I panicked and phoned 111 straight away I thought it was meningitis as it didn’t blanch. We were sent to see an out of hours doctor who said it looks like a bruise and it does blanch but not completely he got a second opinion from another doctor who agreed with him. He said to go home and monitor it if it gets worse to phone back or phone the GP. He was reluctant to get paediatrics involved since I don’t know how DS got the bruise they would consider it a non accidental injury and if no medical reasons were found social services would be contacted! DS seems completely fine other than having the bruise but I’m so worried that it could be something serious as I can’t think of what could have caused the bruise. I really want to phone the GP and ask for blood tests but I’m scared he’ll be taken away. I feel so sick with worry and have no idea what to do!

Definitely a bruise not a birth mark? They can come up a few weeks after birth.

If he's fine and it's just one mark I wouldn't think any more about it tbh. At four weeks my DD was covered in baby acne, eczema patches and cradle cap.

www.healthline.com/health/birthmarks-red#pictures

It looks similar to the first pic on the link. When I look at it I can see blood under the skin. The doctors seemed sure it was a bruise

Phone the gp. Who cares if social services need to get involved? If your baby is well cared for, that's just not an issue is it?

If he has a medical problem, you need medical advice. Fear of SS is not a good reason to avoid medical advice, really weird attitude from the doctor you saw!

He was reluctant to get paediatrics involved since I don’t know how DS got the bruise they would consider it a non accidental injury and if no medical reasons were found social services would be contacted!

Shitty, dangerous logic by the Dr. He believes it’s a bruise but won’t refer to a specialist ( who would probably give a more expert opinion) because it might trigger a referral to social services? So who’s he prioritising then in that scenario because it’s not your child. That’s truly shitty.

Not an attack on you in the slightest OP, but I am horrified at the lack of professionalism and safeguarding knowledge apparently demonstrated by not one but two doctors in this scenario. Truly shocking. Any bruise in a non-mobile baby warrants prompt and thorough investigation and a definite referral to paediatrics. Definitely telephone your GP and ask to be seen today. There will be procedures they need to follow if it is indeed a bruise of unexplained cause, but the advice you were given to just ‘monitor at home’ is not appropriate.

Blood tests for what?

I think I had something similar on ds when he was about 2 weeks old.
He had been happily lying on a blanket on the floor when I noticed this red mark on his arm. Over the course of the next few minutes it got redder.
I took him straight down to the GP. My (very experienced and lovely) GP said that it was "the sort of injury babies sometimes get when they've got older siblings". It was only after I got home I realised that he thought one of his sisters had bitten him. It was the right size and shape for a bite, but I knew neither of the girls had been near him in that time.

Anyway, it faded over a few days and I didn't really worry about it.

Now it may be totally unconnected but as ds got older he had a tendency to get viral rashes, and I wonder whether this was the first (or many)

Could it he a Mongolian blue spot?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I got the health visitor to have a look and she said it is a strawberry nevus. She said if the out of hours doctor thought it was a bruise he wouldn’t have let us leave.

I'm amazed that the doctor didn't immediately refer you to hospital with an unexplained bruise. Babies that young need full investigation, safeguarding as well as physical causes ruled out. Babies that don't cruise, don't bruise.

Bloody hell. I have no words for how irresponsible that doctor was. Appalling. Thank god your baby is okay. But he should have been referred straight to paediatrics at that age with a "bruise". And you'd have been sleeping easier rather sooner!