Scared by blood on my 1 year old's sheets

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Hi,

I have a question about some blood I found on my daughter's cot sheet this morning. She has had a cough and was coughing quite badly (to the point of retching) this morning when I went in, and I found some blood on her sheets near her head. Not like tiny bits of blood in the mucus but a fair old patch (sort of 3 - 4 sq inches) of sort of watery blood like it was maybe a nosebleed or a tooth was loose or something. But she had no blood on her face anywhere. She was grumpy but otherwise completely fine - no fever, cough largely gone, not even snotty - and has been eating well and playing all day quite happily. She did nap for 4 hours yesterday but I assumed that was from being a bit poorly with the cough.

The only thing I can think is that it is blood from her stomach from retching which seems a bit scary to me. She has had trouble putting weight on over the winter but seems to be gaining better now although I haven't had her weighed for a few weeks as the HV thought I was worrying too much and that she was fine.

I called the doctor first thing in the morning and he said it sounded like blood from a ruptured blood vessel in her lung from coughing (which is quite normal apparently if you have been coughing hard). But after we spoke I thought that there wasn't really any mucus so that might not be it. I have called the doc back and he will speak to me later but I wonder if anyone has had anything like this happen?

Thanks!

DS has this sometimes he is 3 and a real nose picker. He has blood on his fingers normally from nose picking

My DD (5.5mo) had this on Wednesday, she was coughing while we were out walking with her in her pushchair. When I looked into the pushchair she had blood down her chin and around her mouth.
She has had a cough for a few days now but other than that she is her normal, happy, fine self, although she has slept more and more in the day for a few days.

Needless to say I practically ran back home and called the GP. We went into the surgery and it turns out that DD has a chest infection, GP has given us some amoxicillin for her and she is on the mend now.

Hope your DD is ok, maybe call your GP to see what they say.

I think 3-4 sq inches is a lot.. I' see a GP.

Yup, I'd be off to the GP too.

Dont panic, it will be blood caused by the pressure of severe coughing, any nasty blood in the stomach would of came out looking a very very dark colour, most likely she has just ruptured something, sounds scary but its not really, i remember my ds gave me a fright when he was much younger, he was violently coughing and all of a sudden spat out loads of blood, hence me on the phone hysterical to nhs direct, just to be told he's ruptured something by coughing so much

Are you sure she hasn't had a burst eardrum? My dc's have had this a couple of times and are always much better once the gunk has exploded out and eased teh pressure. Check her ears for gunge left in them

blood coughed up can sometimes not be from thje lungs but from the throat, which is just sore and raw from coughing iyswim

which isnt bad
try not to worry

Thanks everyone! Saw a nurse and she said it was most likely a nosebleed that went down into her throat overnight and got coughed up in the morning. She checked her ears and they were all clear, and her chest was fine too. I have a routine appointment to see her doctor about her weight gain and so on on anyway, just to put my mind at ease.

Thanks again, everyone is so helpful on mumsnet!