Frequent Nose Bleeds...A Concern?

[Indianamom2]

DD has been having very frequent nose bleeds (often 2 a day) and they wake her up early in the morning quite often. I can't remember the last day she didn't have one.

We have a humidifier in her room and the air isn't all the dry in the house because we keep the heat pretty low anyhow.

Is there anything we can do to help and is this a cause for any concern? Of course this didn't start until after DD's last well-child check. (She's 8 BTW.)

Thanks!

[nfowife]

My DD1 gets them too. What has made a difference for us is an allergy nasal spray.

[jenstring95]

DS (just turned 7) has been having fairly frequent nosebleeds lately. He has seasonal allergies. Our pediatrician recommended Allegra 2X/day and a dab of Vaseline in each nostril, on the upper nasal bridge area (apparently where the main cluster of capillaries is), at night. Don't know if that would help your DD?

[hellokitty]

My 3 kids have all gone through phases of this. Poor DS3 woke up screaming one night to what looked like a murder scene. There was just so much blood. Allergy meds (we use zyrtec) and the vaseline swabbed around the inside of their nostrils using a q-tip have helped a lot when they get into this phase. It seems to come and go, but definitely autumn is a huge trigger for my kids. The air is more arid and we still have a combo of pollen and mold due to erratic weather.

[AmyZ]

I was just at the ENT today for myself for nosebleeds. The doc really likes AYR gel swabbed around the nostrils 2x day. It costs $3 or $4? for a tube. You can find it with all the nasals sprays and saline in the drug store.

[Aishe]

This is gross, but my dd went through a phase of nosebleeds and it turned out she had been picking her nose a lot. I'm sure other children never do that:), but I thought I'd throw it out there as a possibility.

[peanut520]

dd has been going through this also recently (twice this week) and a bad stint in July. my neighbor (md) suggested getting her blood vessels cauterized if they persisted since they are extremely hard to stop and can last over 90 minutes with pressure. right now i am placing another order for NasalCease (http://www.drugstore.com/nasalcease-sterile-packs-for-minor-nosebleeds/qxp391173?catid=184272) for the nose bleeds since they seem to really help.

[MamaMolly]

Lula gets them and has for years. Really, really bad ones. Usually a cold or change of weather and nose picking are to blame. Sometimes it just happens though. When she was 2 or 3 her ped checked her blood and said not to worry about it. Since she was still getting them at 5 and 6 (and freaking her teachers out!) I took her to an ENT. He cauterized one side. It was a super fast procedure and the scope was a MUCH bigger deal in terms of comfort. It was great for several months, then she's just started having them again, on the other side. I'm not sure if we'll take her back to the ENT or not.

Right now we do the Simply Saline nasal spray and a Q-tip with Vaseline to keep the tissues moist. Her ped has Rx'd a nasal spray (a vasoconstrictor) to use when she's actually having a nosebleed.

When she gets one we gently but firmly pinch the nose for 10 minutes, no peeking. If it is still bleeding then we do another 10 minutes. If it is STILL bleeding we are supposed to go to the ER but haven't had to. Then when it is done bleeding I use the vasoconstrictor spray because I know she's going to eventually sneeze out a HUGE blood clot. So I try to encourage it a little ;). Then at bed time we use Simply Saline (in a can) and the vaseline.

HTH!

[happymomma]

My DD was getting a lot of nosebleeds for awhile so I finally took her to the ENT. Turns out she had a vessel that needed to be colarized. The ENT did it real quick and she's been fine since. She was picking that area and it was bleeding really easily.

I am glad that we did it.

[Indianamom2]

Thanks for the advice ladies. This is new territory for me as I honestly can't remember ever having a bloody nose myself. I don't think hers are terrible (nothing to compare it to) but they are happening with enough frequency that it was a bit concerning.

We'll try saline and the saline gel stuff and give it a couple of weeks and see if that helps.

Thanks again!

[maestramommy]

You might want to check with an ENT. Her capillaries might be very thin. I had frequent nosebleeds as a kid, and once had to have some capillaries cauterized. I still continued to have them, but not as frequent or violent, through my college years. Now my kids have them, but not too often. I did have to pick up Dora from school once when she got a nosebleed right before dismissal and it wouldn't stop flowing. But she hasn't had once since.