Nosebleeds in kids

[sudsy]

My 7 year old DS started getting nosebleeds a couple of weeks ago. The first episode was overnight, the second was last night just before bed, and I just got a report that he had one at school today. I never had a nose bleed as a kid, but my friends tell me they can be common. How many is too many? I’m just curious if anyone else has dealt with this in their children.

(He has his annual physical on the 22nd, so I’ll definitely bring it up.)

[icedcoffee]

My 11 year old has been having this. She had 4 in one week and I called her ped to check in. They chalked it up to allergies and has been having us do saline spray in her nose and rubbing Vaseline with a q tip inside. She told us to just monitor and call if it doesn't improve.

So far it's been helping! Maybe something you could try in the meantime in case it's the same type of thing?

[FlightView]

DS gets nosebleeds mostly from picking his nose.

It’s gotten better he’s 10yo.

Maybe a humidifier? I run mine constantly year round but we live next to a giant dirt field.

[byjove]

Both of my DDs (and DH) are extremely prone to nosebleeds. Whenever allergies get bad, they have a cold, if we have to give claritin, etc., it can be several nosebleeds a day for several days. The most DD2 (8.5) has had was 5 in one day, but one started while she was asleep, and I just hope that never happens to you all. (the size of those clots she vomited back up...) Humidifiers in winter, steamy showers, the saline gel you can put just inside your nose (that helps a lot).

[travelnteach]

My 9 year old has gotten them regularly for years. Whenever the weather changes I know it’s going to happen. Once he gets one he gets multiple over the course of the next couple of days. His doctor says that’s normal since it’s easy to dislodge the clot. Several of my family members have this as well including me. Some of my older relatives have had their noses cauterized but both my doctor and the pediatrician said that’s not done as much anymore. We also do Vaseline or saline. What’s worked best for us is making sure he is comfortable dealing with it himself and has a plan with his teacher if that it happens in school. He’s very comfortable now with cleaning himself up and moving on. It doesn’t bother him at all

[spacecadet]

May 8, 2024 14:17:52 GMT -6 icedcoffee said:

My 11 year old has been having this. She had 4 in one week and I called her ped to check in. They chalked it up to allergies and has been having us do saline spray in her nose and rubbing Vaseline with a q tip inside. She told us to just monitor and call if it doesn't improve.

So far it's been helping! Maybe something you could try in the meantime in case it's the same type of thing?

My 6 year old get nosebleeds as well. My H did growing up and he suggested the same with the Vaseline in the nose. We also run a humidifier at night to help.

[adelbert]

My youngest has gotten them since he was around 4 (he's 8 now). Super heavy and often lasting 20-30min. If his nose gets hit, if he has a cold, etc he's more likely to get them, or if he's recently had one.

Our pediatrician couldn't do much so we went to an ENT and they could see that he has on each side of his nose 1-2 veins that are the ones that are constantly leading to the bloody noses but he didn't suggest closing them because it can be pretty painful and instead we've been putting a salve in his nose every day to keep it moist and it's actually been working really well. I wish we had gone to an ENT much sooner.

[sudsy]

Thanks guys. This makes me feel a lot better. When you have no experience to fall back on, I automatically assumed the worse.

[Nota🎃]

I'm the nose bleeder here. I regularly use saline spray, every night before bed, and I apply auqafor in my nose. It has helped tremendously!

[lucilleaustero]

May 8, 2024 16:14:57 GMT -6 Nota🎃 said:

I'm the nose bleeder here. I regularly use saline spray, every night before bed, and I apply auqafor in my nose. It has helped tremendously!

Same. I would get anterior and posterior nosebleeds that were gnarly a hell. Turned out that I had an engorged blood vessel that would open if my nostrils were dry or during allergy season. Got it cauterized and I have gotten 1 nosebleed in 2 years.

[roselab]

My dd gets them, although they have slowed down in the past few years (she's almost 13). I would say at the height of them, she'd get one or two a week for a few weeks in a row, then they'd taper off again. I asked her Pedi. about them at at least 2 yearly well-checks, and both times was told it likely wasn't a big deal and not to worry unless they became a lot worse. DD would use saline spray in her nose and we'd use a humidifier in her room when they were bad. They often happened overnight, but even though she's an anxious kid, if it was the middle of the night she'd just deal with them herself and I'd have to clean up bloody kleenex and blood on her sheets in the morning.

[jaygee]

May 8, 2024 15:33:11 GMT -6 adelbert said:

My youngest has gotten them since he was around 4 (he's 8 now). Super heavy and often lasting 20-30min. If his nose gets hit, if he has a cold, etc he's more likely to get them, or if he's recently had one.

Our pediatrician couldn't do much so we went to an ENT and they could see that he has on each side of his nose 1-2 veins that are the ones that are constantly leading to the bloody noses but he didn't suggest closing them because it can be pretty painful and instead we've been putting a salve in his nose every day to keep it moist and it's actually been working really well. I wish we had gone to an ENT much sooner.

This was almost our exact experience. They told me they could cauterize them but they recommend scheduling it when they have a day of downtime after the procedure and we were literally on our way to a baseball tournament so we didn’t do it that day.

The cream we got was mupirocin and he uses it for about a week when he starts getting them again and it clears up.

I think his a combo of allergies and just being chronically dry. So we have him take allergy meds and Flonase during those times of the year and then use the cream and a humidifier for sleeping when it gets bad.

He got one bad enough last summer that he had to leave a game he was pitching really well in. I felt so bad for him.

[trueblue]

My youngest has recurrent ones as well, the ENT confirmed it’s from a vein too close to the surface in his nose. His major triggers are pollen but bleeds are much less frequent when I keep him on Claritin/similar during the spring. I wasn’t really clear on how much pollen impacts them until we got through pollen season at home then flew back north into their peak pollen season and he had a massive one. I hadn’t packed anything to treat them, trying to get it under control with limited supplies was tough.

To treat we soak dental gauze rolls (amazon) in afrin and have him stick it up the bleeding nostril until the bleeding stops (replacing the roll as needed). We usually see a secondary bleed 12-24 hours later when the initial clot gets dislodged.

I also picked up NasalCease which allegedly has something to promote clotting embedded into it which now live in my wallet just in case something happens when we are out or traveling but can’t access his treatment kit. Thankfully we haven’t had to use it yet.

[Sweetjane]

We have them here too, it's a vein that's close to the surface so there's only a thin layer of skin protecting it. The ENT suggested cauterizing and that's what we did. It was outpatient, under anesthesia and it didn't hurt at all. She never even took a Tylenol.
I'm surprised to hear PP say it's not done much anymore, that was not our experience. We used saline and Flonase. The Flonase constricts the blood vessel so it's not as much when it does bleed.
She also didn't have any particular triggers, no allergies or anything. The humidifier didn't seem to help at all.
She actually had alot at sleep away camp where it's hot, humid and no AC.

[sudsy]

May 8, 2024 19:16:50 GMT -6 Sweetjane said:

We have them here too, it's a vein that's close to the surface so there's only a thin layer of skin protecting it. The ENT suggested cauterizing and that's what we did. It was outpatient, under anesthesia and it didn't hurt at all. She never even took a Tylenol.
I'm surprised to hear PP say it's not done much anymore, that was not our experience. We used saline and Flonase. The Flonase constricts the blood vessel so it's not as much when it does bleed.
She also didn't have any particular triggers, no allergies or anything. The humidifier didn't seem to help at all.
She actually had alot at sleep away camp where it's hot, humid and no AC.

Ooo good call. I have Flonase for myself, so I could probably just shove that up his nose 😂

[beerlover]

We also dealt with this for about a year. DS (almost 8) was getting nosebleeds about once a week or more. Sometimes he would come to my bedside in the middle of the night, his arms and face covered in blood. That was mildly horrifying. Anyway, the pediatrician said mostly what everyone else said above - to do the humidifier, saline, and Q tip with Vaseline in the nose. That does seem to keep them at bay. I haven't really been doing any of that much lately though and he hasn't really had any nosebleeds, so perhaps he is growing out of it.

[goldenbird]

I got a ton of nosebleeds as a kid. Ages 7-10ish. Out of nowhere and seemingly random. I think now they were related to seasonal allergies. They tapered off by the time I was 11. It was really annoying though.

[MelanieCarmichael]

I got nosebleeds quite a bit from the time I was four. I had my adenoids removed when I was 6, along with my tonsils, since I was always getting sore throats, too, and had only one nosebleed after that. Per my mom, I also slept so much better afterwards (apparently I was crabby from lack of sleep, snoring like crazy, etc because of the tonsils especially). Of course, I realize that was eons ago and that the procedure isn't nearly as common as it was back then.

[McBenny]

I am a former nosebleed kid and my DD is one now. It is usually related to dry nasal passages. Use a humidifier at night or put something in the nose and it should be fine. The number of nosebleeds you posted, wouldn't even make me blink. Again though, we are nosebleed people.

[kayc]

As an elementary school teacher, I can say from experience that kids get so.many bloody noses 😂 especially in the dry winter or during seasonal allergies.

[snowyowl]

May 9, 2024 11:12:07 GMT -6 kayc said:

As an elementary school teacher, I can say from experience that kids get so.many bloody noses 😂 especially in the dry winter or during seasonal allergies.

Seconded for middle school.

My DS is also prone to them. When he was younger, he used to react to nosebleeds by screaming his head off in complete panic. That was an AWESOME way to be woken up at 2 am.
Generally a humidifier takes care of them, I just have to remember to be good about refilling it.

All this to say, it is very unlikely it means anything scary. DS will go for months without one sometimes, then suddenly every day for a week. Your kiddo probably has a spot that keeps opening back up. I use pawpaw ointment for that, but I think Vaseline is essentially the same thing.

[thechickencoop]

DS1 is a nose bleeder. Generally related to allergies. We do what others suggest too and keep it moist in the colder months, humidifier, aquaphor, etc.

I keep those plugs with a coagulant in them in my purse for just in case he gets one at like a sports practice (always fun) or wherever.

Best one he got was when he was showering, got a nose bleed, and instead of just dealing with it in there, he came out of the bathroom and down the hall to tell me. That was a cool mess 🤣🤦‍♀️

He's 12 now and definitely can handle them himself when he needs to luckily.

[sudsy]

As a non-nosebleed person, lemme tell you, that first one was terrifying. Especially because it was the middle of the night and I was only semi-conscious myself. Then I’m like, should I hold him down and just shove a tampon up his nose?! 😂