***PLEASE***, is anyone up? DS (11months) has bit his tongue and it is bleeding a lot!!!

[Jacksmama]

That's it, really - he bit it several hours ago when he was trying to walk and fell over backwards. I was on my way home from work at the timeand DH called me on the mobile. I set a land speed record getting home and when I did, DH said DS had cried for about ten seconds and then was fine, although his tongue was still bleeding. DH gave him an ice cube in a mesh baby feeder to suck on but he wasn't really interested. We kept dabbing the blood away, and an hour or so later DS settled for a nap and the bleeding stopped. Now he's awake again and has been playing, and the bleeding started again when he was chewing on a toy. It's not spurting or even flowing, just a trickle, but it looks horrible to see his little mouth smeared with it. He seems mostly happy, just a bit fussy - any advice?? I phoned our local nurses' line and was told to use a gauze pad and put pressure on the bleeding site... when I asked, "you did hear me say it was his tongue???", the twit nurse on the phone told me "that's what it says in the book!"
Any advice?

thisis what i have always done, it may sound odd.but it works.
give him some sugar. just normal white sugar, half a teaspoon or so.
not sure why it works, but it stops the bleeding. its an old wives tale type thing, but ime it works.

it will probably get chance t clot only when he isn't sticking things in his gob - so bedtime, sleep is probably the best cure.

would see a doctor if your still worries about it.

Ok, will try sugar. He is in good spirits, we're just a bit freaked by seeing blood all over his poor little face!

What a night we had. His tongue seems to finally have stopped bleeding for good this morning - I haven't been able to look at it because he won't open his mouth for us, but the only thing running down his chin today is drool. But it started bleeding again in the middle of the night after he nursed - and that must have hurt because he latched on, sucked a bit, popped off and whimpered until my milk let down (at which point it pretty much jets into his mouth so that was ok). You don't want to see his sleep-shirt and our bedsheets! Gah!!! He sleeps snuggled into me and my arm and nightgown were streaked with gore.
He must have swallowed a whole bunch of blood - I'm really glad he didn't vomit, that would have really freaked me out, but what will his next pooey nappy look like??? Doesn'ty blood turn all tarry when it's digested?
(I will definitely have to do that nappy... DH would faint! )

AAAAHHHH!!! Just after I posted I looked down and his face was covered in blood!!!! Obviously he was chewing on something and started it up again...

Does anyone know how long it takes for a baby's tongue to stop bleeding???

The oddest thing about all this is that he's perfectly happy! Obviously doesn't like the taste of blood but other than that he's mellow as usual...

What a nightmare! I can't believe NHS direct have no other advice. Maybe if you phone another time, like the next day, you may get another health worker and more helpful advice. I thought the sugar thing sounded good, because i was thinking of salty water in a beaker (if you are allowed to give babies salt?).... but I have no experience of this. How are you doing now?

Tonuge's have a fantastic blood supply, that's why they just bleed. It depends how deep the cut is as to how long it will bleed. You may be better off calling your local A&E and see what they say.

He's bled on and off a few times today. I finally actually got a look at his tongue and he must just have buried his teeth in it - the cut is deep!! But most of the time it's fine now... nothing but drool... watch me say that and next time I look at him, he'll be covered in blood again! Oh well...

I am actually thinking of writing a letter of complaint about the uselessness of the advice I got. FFS, seriously, I knew more than the idiot I talked to!! And she never warned us that swallowing all that blood might make him vomit - he didn't, but if he had, it would have looked horrible and we probably we have been beside ourselves. As it was, I'm glad I caught his pooey nappy today. DH would have had a heart attack on the spot. I was BLACK, from his belly button up to the top of his little bum crack. Of course that's from blood breaking down in the digestive tract and is perfectly normal under the circumstances, but even so, I was shocked by how awful it looked, and seriously, if I hadn't mentioned something about it to DH just in case and if he'd been home with Jackbaby and seen that, he'd have taken him straight to A&E. You'd think a bloody registered nurse could say something more intelligent than "put pressure on the bleeding area" (a tongue, FFS!!) and think ahead far enough to warn parents about what it looks like when swallowed blood has gone through the digestive tract. I am just incensed at the uselessness of their so-called advice.
Phew. Deep breath.
Thanks for all your inquiries. Hopefully it won't bleed again too much until it finally heals.

Meanwhile, I'm off to post a question in "Good Housekeeping" - how do you get a blood stain out of a taupe bedsheet when you pre-treated the stain and cold-water washed the sheet, but the blood didn't really come out? Especially now that the sheet's been tumble-dried. I'm sure it's set for eternity... in our brand-new Christmas present bed sheets...

I think the sheets may be ruined, I'm afraid. DS had a birthmark right under his eye that he scratched one night when he was about 12 months old and it gushed with blood for hours.

I didn't know how to stop it but since the 2 of use were covered in blood and I couldn't reach his pediatrician, I dialled 911. They said, they'd send an ambulance and I hesitated so they said to put a Band Aid on it. On his eye

five hours later, it stopped but was very scary. I still have the sheet, as a momento

Sorry for crappy advice JM. Hope he heals soon

tongues usually heal really quickly. i remember ds1 split his tongue open when he was about 2 1/2, he had been playing on a stool and fallen off and put his teeth through his tongue. it was really deep and gushing with blood. i was far from the hospital so i took him to a&e. they looked, sent him over to the paeds who said if it didnt stop bleeding within the hour they would stitch it. it stopped with about 10 minutes to spare, so i took him home. next morning you could hardly see where it had been cut, totally healed with just a thin line showing where the split was.

Well, knock on wood, it hasn't bled since yesterday evening... we had a second really horrible nappy (ok, not quite as horrible as the first but still), and then a relatively normal one, so I think most of the swallowed blood has made it through his system. He has been rather needy and whingey though... but if it still hurts I can't blame him, poor little man!

As they told me at the hospital - any cut about the neck bleeds like mad. Poor little thing. I suppose swallowing the blood didn't help either. I would have thought that this will take a little while to heal, so remember that when he is eating.

I hope he feels better now.

Thank you - he seems mostly ok. Napping on my lap now and looking adorable [soppy emoticon]