A couple of small bruises on 6 m/o - should I worry?

[mumtojohn]

My DS is almost 6 months and I have noticed a couple of small bruises on him. He hasn't had any major falls but we are doing more rough and tumble with him than we did when he was small (during which he laughs out loud), but it is still gentle by anyone's standards (of course he has fallen a couple of times whilst trying to sit up but nothing bad enough to even provoke a cry).

I am a natural worrier and I started worrying about leukemia (he had a small bit of blood in his snot the other day too). Obviously, the answer is 'make a doc's appt' just to be safe, which I am going to do. But meantime, are bruises on a 6 month old common? One of my mates was surprised and said that babies don't tend to bruise unless they really hurt themselves - or are ill.

non-mobile babies don't tend to bruise themselves. Also most docs would say (and I disagree strenuously with this due to my ds) that anything sufficient to cause a bruise will be noticed by the carer as the child will be distressed.

Where are these bruises?

where are they?

is there any asian/african or se asian in your family?

could it be argh can't remember the name but look exactly like bruises on back but aren't! waht are they called??

my 9 month old is getting quite mobile and has a few little dinks on his head from falling into the cot bars/stacking it onto his face. He didn't make a fuss when he clonked into the cot bars earlier. Could it be something like that?

Yeah, bohemianbint, it could be. He isn't crawling but he is rolling fast and also clanging around the bars in his cot.

There is one really small bruise (like a fat dot) on the top of his thigh and then one more typical bruise shape (but small and not really obvious) on his forearm (an odd place for a bruise I thought).

No Asian or African in the family, we are white (English/Irish).

He is a bit of a whinger in general but have not noticed him hurting himself and he is rarely alone.

I will make an appt tomorrow and then keep a close eye on him until then.

Re you thinking of mongolian spots Sophable? They are usually present at birth i beleive, rather than appearing at a later stage.

I can understand your worries and its fine to go and see your GP.

But the bruises in luekemia tend to be pin prick ones. If your baby is well, eating, sleeping normally, happy, has no temp, no pain it is HIGHLY unlikely to be luekemia.

Children with leukemia are not happy. They are tired and miserable. They get temps that come and go and they are generally unwell.

There are always exceptions to the rule but I have met [too] many kids with this disease and they have all been very poorly before diagnosis.

I am not a doctor but I can only tell you what I know.

Hope it goes well at the GP.

yes yes pavlov! mongolian blue spot. ds has them. actually think they may have disappeared now (he is 5) can't remember having noticed them.

My niece had them too sophable, they were really really bruise like until she was 5, then faded. Think hers have gone too at 6.

have you made an appointment? I bet it's just regular baby bumps but no harm in making sure!

Yeah, I made one for Monday with my local doc. I will write here what happened in case anyone else worries about the same thing.