5yo DD suddenly having nosebleeds – reassurance please

[miniworry]

Hi all,
Looking for some reassurance from other parents.
My 5 year old DD has had 3 nosebleeds over the last 3 weeks. They’ve been short-lived, stopped easily, and each time from one nostril (alternating sides). She’s never really had nosebleeds before which is what’s thrown me.

She does bruise easily on her legs but she’s very active and does a lot of gymnastics etc. A couple of months ago she had some petechiae which were checked by the A&E and she had blood tests at the time – all came back normal and the petechiae resolved.

She othereise has good energy, eating, sleeping, playing as normal. She does currently have a cold but not all the nosebleeds were during colds.

I know nosebleeds can be common in children (dry air, little noses, winter etc) but I’ve sent myself into a spiral worrying about worst-case scenarios and Dr Google has not helped 🙈 I have severe health anxiety and I've felt sick since the nosebleed happened.

Has anyone else’s child had a sudden run of nosebleeds like this and it turned out to be nothing? At what point would you go back to the GP?

Please be kind, anxious mum here. 💛

Lots can happen this time of year to make inside of nose more vulnerable to bleeds. But also probably best to have bloods redone in light of that combined with the petchetaie. Im
sure she’s fine if the bloods a few weeks ago were ok.

Yes mine - she had a staph infection in her nostrils. Naseptin worked well.

@Cactiiii we went to A&E with the petachae and that was where they ran the blood tests. This has since resolved but my health anxiety can't shake the feeling the nosebleeds mean something has progressed.

Has anyone looked up her nose with the special torch GPs have? My daughter had visible white bits up there apparently.

Oh btw my DD had several heavy ones in the space of a week.

@EezyOozy no I don't think so as she's only ever had 3 nosebleeds in her life and they've been in the last 3 weeks. Didn't think anything of the first one but now that we are on. Inner 3 I'm spiralling. It's around 3 drops of blood worth and then stops.

Super common , all my children have had bouts of it over time, try not to worry.

Just for reassurance, my DS, who is 5, has one every few months. A few weeks ago he had three in three days, so we went to the GP and got a little cream for it. Sorted.

I was also panicked but they are so common.

could have been the run up to her cold, inflamed capillaries. Or she could have picked her nose and caused a wee infection. My daughter had such a heavy one at school they actually rang me to see if I wanted to pick her up!

Our son started having awful nose bleeds about 6/7 years old very heavy bleeds.we even had to take him home in the middle of my nieces wedding as it wouldn’t stop.i wonder if he had a delicate sensitive nose,also we realised he was picking it/saw blood on finger.he is now 14 and rarely gets them anymore thank goodness.please don’t worry too much xx

“She does bruise easily on her legs but she’s very active and does a lot of gymnastics etc. A couple of months ago she had some petechiae which were checked by the A&E and she had blood tests at the time – all came back normal and the petechiae resolved.“

Is there any history of hypermobility in either family? You say she does gymnastics (guessing she’s bendy?) and bruises easily, plus the nosebleeds could be a sign of hypermobility. Nose bleeds can seem really dramatic, and scary, but try not to panic. I had them a lot right through til my teenage years.

They haven't been extreme, I'd say maybe 3/4 big drops down the nose and then they've settled but I just can't shake that coupled with her bruising it means something more serious is wrong. Shes white blonde and pale which doesn't help! I made the mistake of googling which was the worst thing I could have done so really appreciate all the reassuring responses.

@Ileithyia I've never even considered this- she's flexible yes but not crazy bendy and does seem to hyper extend her legs when standing!

Can touch her toes/the floor without bending her knees? Elbows go beyond straight, and knees bend slightly backwards, can lie on her tummy and put her hands on the floor under her shoulders and push up, keeping her hips on the floor? (The woman doing the cobra pose in the photo has hyperextended elbows as well as her spine)

Also, can you do any of these things? I’m very hypermobile and had no idea that the things my joints did weren’t normal until I had an assessment by a very clued up physio.

My 8 year old has had nose bleeds since she was around 2/3. She’s had 3 or 4 this month after not having one for ages, they always get worse in winter. I absolutely understand your worries as around the time when she first started getting them her nursery contacted me to say they were concerned about a random limp she had developed. I was absolutely ill with worry it turned out to be nothing. A couple of years ago my older daughter who had never had a nose bleed before randomly started getting them when she was about 12. It was happening a lot for a couple of weeks and then it stopped and she’s never had one since! I know it’s scary but most likely nothing to worry about.

Not my DC but me. I had horrific nose bleeds as a child. Some of them went on for a couple of hours. I had to put up with some ridiculous remedies, none of which worked. One particularly weird example was having a cold bottle placed on the back of my neck while someone tipped my chair back. Anyway, I never did find out what caused them. They tapered off as I reached my teens and I have only had them once in a blue moon since.

I don’t think you need to worry in and of itself, but it would be something to mention if she ever needs surgery. I had frequent nose bleeds as a child (about once a week by early teens) but they have mostly stopped as an adult. My younger son is similar or perhaps worse — two this week. I had his blood tested for clotting factors after had also had a crazy amount of bleeding as a toddler from a small forehead/ eyebrow injury. All fine. My only issues as an adult have been very easy bruising, some dental bleeding and two (transfusion, multiple litres of blood lost) hemorrhages during c-sections.

My GP says that having non-sticky blood reduces the risk of some cardiovascular events — the reason why lots of people take blood thinners.

Not recommended for children anyway, but be careful about aspirin and higher doses of ibuprofen. Aspirin in a full-size dose will give me a nose bleed every time.

Thank you everyone for all your stories. Should I book her a gp appointment to get her checked over or just keep an eye on them?

Your problem here is the health anxiety, not the nosebleeds. Seriously, go and see your GP about that - the business about nosebleeds is a red herring entirely. If it wasn’t this it would be something else, and you risk passing your anxiety on to your child.

Have you been referred to a hematologist or just had your tests run by a GP?

You sound similar to me and it was only the tests run by a tertiary haematology centre that got the correct diagnosis. The ones run by the GP and local hospital weren't detailed enough.

Google ISTHBAT and check your score.

OP - this issue is related to your anxiety about your daughter and health. You need to reset your thinking and only worry when she seems unwell or impacted by things. If she is happy and thriving and well then you dont need worry.

it’s worth a chat with the GP.
I get it, DS (12) has had them occasionally all his life but has gone through phases - when younger- of having two or three a week

some kids are just susceptible and they do grow out of it. A childhood friend had them very frequently for years

my very sympathetic gp sent off his blood to the hematologist who confirmed all is well. I think he’s only had one bleed this year so fingers crossed he is growing out of them now.

Thank you honestly so much for your responses. I do know my health anxiety is bad- stemmed from when my DS was 4 weeks old and had meningitis. All the nurses kept saying was 'well done for following for your mum gut instinct' and that urge/need to worry about every symptom to protect them hasn't ever left me!

Also doesn't help I've never had a nosebleed in my life!

@miniworry please try not to worry. DD had this at a similar age. Swore blind she wasn’t picking her nose. Nosebleeds continued. She also bruised easily (she has hypermobility) we were at the point where I was about to take her to the specialist and sat her down and explained what cauterisation was and what might happen at the appointment. Then came the confession that she had actually been lying about not picking her nose…we still giggle about it now. Often the simplest explanation is the most likely answer….!

It is quite common..I used to have it as a child, I've got 3 kids, one went through a little phase of nosebleeds, but didn't carry on...the other one he has little bleeds, not bad at all...he was prescribed some nose ointment which helped, but still till this day his always cleaning his nose at bedtime and the tissues have stains of blood on them...I'm not concerned as I'm sure he will grow out of it...they really don't last a long time.I also work in a school and quite a few of them have a nosebleed once in a week or 2, again it's not something that their sent home for, after 10 mins their running around again ...no problem.
Try to console yourself by staying calm and reminding yourself that's it's ok and it's just a phase and she will grow out of it.
(I used to have very bad ones, I used to wake up in the middle of the night pillow wet with blood etc, also whilst just sitting or doing something it just came on randomly and kind of freaked me out as it came fast and got all over me)