bleeding from bottom

[filchthemildmanneredjanitor]

ds has just told me that his bottom is sore and then he wipes himself there is blood. have had a quick look and it looks like there is a tiny crack in the pursed skin around his anus.
what do i do? i have cleaned him with a babywipe and there was blood there.

he's very regular and he eats lots of fruit and veg so i don't think it's down to being constipated.

any help form anyone appreciated.[worried face]

could be an anal fissure
can happen if they try to strain to poo
very common apparently
how old is DS?

7

he said it was sore before he went to the loo. he fell yestreday and bashed his bum and thought it was cos of that. wrong place of course!

Anal fissure? I have had these, and am perfectly regular myself (should I have changed name for this? ) but have generally ignored them - probably not an option for you if he is sore. Hope someone who knows what one actually does with them comes along.

or it could just be that he's scratched it (think this is more likely), either with a nail if it was itching, or with loo paper while wiping. The skin there heals pretty quickly, so I'd wait and see if it's still sore tomorrow morning. You could try putting some germalene on or something? Or put a few drops of lavendar in his bath this evening as I know that aids healing, and helps to soothe (sorry, don't know how old he is, he might be into showers!).

it is very likely to be a fissure
of course, a quick call to the GP should put your mind at rest

maybe nhs direct? calls to the gp are like gold dust.

he's playing and happy and evrything.

so what' sthe consensus? leave it or nhs direct??

well?

I'd say leave it. Maybe put some antiseptic cream on it for a few days and see what happens.

Changed my name for this, but I had severely split my bottom and could barely walk around it was so painful! Saw GP and they prescribed me a cream - I don't think it was any more than an antiseptic cream though. If you're worried then call NHS Direct, but they will probably tell you the same - try just applying sudocream, or Bepanthan is better, regularly throughout the day and everytime he goes to the toilet.

HTH

thanks for that. am somewhat relieved. did not fancy having to make the poor boy show his bott to any health professionals! it was god of him to show his mum!!

Agree, wait and see how it is tomorrow. Of course, if it gets worse, then go to the doc's in the morning. You'll hopefully find it heals nicely and quickly. Maybe make sure he's not eating anything likely to bung him up tomorrow - so off the bananas then!

oh, and try and get him to drink lots of water, that'll help keep it smooth as it were.

I have been to the doctors today with a similar problem - what a coincidence! They said it was a fissure, anyway, they prescribed me some anusol - you can get this over the counter if you can't get to the GP, but I'm not sure if it's suitable for use on children. It's so annoying because I too eat lots of fruit and veg and still get constipated. HTH.

anal fissures in children tend to heal pretty quick. i had 2 after childbirth and just had surgery for mine, 10 months later, but thats totally rare for little ones. i think 1 in 10 children (or is it infants?) get fissures at some stage.
keeping it clean is one of the important things to do with healing. get him to use babywipes instead of toilet roll (or get v soft toilet roll) and preferably pat instead of wipe.
keep his diet high in fibre to keep the stools soft, and make sure he is getting enough water.
if it hasn't healed up in a few days do make that doctors appointment. it IS embarassing, i felt embarassed and ive done childbirth!!, but its best to get it checked out if it isn't healing.

my ds2 had a tiny fissure (imagine my horror when I found blood in his nappy at about 5 months old ) - doctor advised me to just put a wee bit of vaseline on it when I changed his nappy and it cleared up really quickly.

Hope all's well.

Some good advice here, but you still need to take him to see a GP. The same goes for any adults suffering bleeding from the bottom. As a general rule, if the blood is bright red then it is either anal fissure, or piles (uncommon in young children). The usual treatment is to increase the fibre in the diet (Fybogel is a good product, and available without prescription), and increase fluid intake. Sometimes a local anaesthetic is useful. Nupercainol is also available over the counter.
If the blood is dark red to black, and if it is present in the stools (as opposed to on them) then it is important to see a GP as soon as possible.

The GP can prescribe Proctosedyl which numbs and heals. Ds2 uses this when gets fissures. It takes some of the pain away when he poos and therefore doesn't get constipated because otherwise he'd hold back because it hurts when he needs to go.

ds (9 months) had a little bright red blood on the top of his stool as I changed his nappy. From reading all this below it sounds like an anal fissure.

However, at his age, should I take him to a GP if this is no better tomorrow or thereafter? Thanks in advance for any advice