Conference moira::parenting

965.0. "Young Child's Vaginal Bleeding" by SAPPHO::DUBOIS (Bear takes over WDW in Pooh D'Etat!) Thu Jun 01 1995 12:41

The following is being posted for a former member of the PARENTING notesfile,
Monica (Fett) Barney.  If you wish to contact the author by mail, please feel
free to do so.  Her email address is included below.  If you reply here, your
message will be forwarded to her with your name attached unless you request
otherwise.  

      Carol duBois, PARENTING Co-moderator

**************************************************************

From:	US3RMC::"[email protected]" 31-MAY-1995 14:23:23.67

[...]
Our biggest concern right now is Eleanor.
Can you post the following in Parenting? I need advice, or even
hand holding.


Eleanor, who is approaching her first birthday next week gave us
a scare. We had brought her and Charlotte (now 3) home from our 
regular caregiver, and when Alan went to give her a bath, he discovered
blood (2 quarter sized stains) in her diaper, around the vaginal area.

I brought her to the clinic around the corner immediately - she did not
seem to be in any great discomfort. The Doc examined her, and could not
discover any local trauma (the issue of assault was brought up, but I
have to discount that - my trust in our Caregiver in total - she's had 
Charlotte in her care since she was 8 months. Never had any problems at
all). but there was still a little bleeding, which seemed to stop after she
poured a little water in the vaginal area. 

We collected a urine sample for her the next morning (ask me sometime how
that is done!) and we took her to the Children's Hospital (CHEO) for a 
complete abdominal ultrasound. This, and the swab the Dr. had collected 
the previous day revealed nothing abnormal.

Monday, we were sent to a Pediatric Gynocologist (a new specialty to me)
who took only a brief look at the area and confirmed the previous 
doctor's opinion that everything looked normal.
His decision was to have a complete examination (a la pap-smear) while 
Eleanor was under a general. 
Although I have since spoken to our family doctor who has great confidence
in this specialist (i.e. that he wouldn't order an unnecessary exam) 
but I still have a whole lot of bells going off about this - It isn't
enough that I have had the great melodrama of looking for work for 5 
months but now this has been surpassed by the greater stress of worry for 
Eleanor. 
Has anyone had an experience with anything similar? 

Eleanor's Mom, Monica Barney - ex-DECcie......

    My newborn daugther had blood in her diaper while
    she was rooming in with me in the hospital (after
    delivery).  I was frantic.  They called is false mense
    and said it wasn't uncommon for newborns.
    
    When my son was born he had "witches milk" dripping
    from his nipples.  Again I was told it was nothing
    to be concerned with.
    
    But your daughter is much older.  How old can a
    child be and get this "false mense" (menstration)?

    Not having had a daughter, I'm not exactly sure, but the REASON I've
    heard for the false menses is that the mother's hormones are passed on
    to the daughter, so it's really "mom's" hormones that are causing the
    menses in her daughter.  
    
    With that in mind, I'd suggest that older than a week would be cause
    for some concern ??
    
    

    When my daughter went in for her last check up at 7 months the
    pedi said she had some breast tissue (not just baby chub) around
    her breasts.  He also said don't be alarmed if she had some vaginal
    bleeding.  That it wasn't uncommon.  I don't recall what he said
    the cause for this might be, but he said it was normal.  I suppose
    I should have paid more attention to what he was describing, but at 
    the time I was too busy wondering how he could tell it was breast
    tissue and not baby fat.
    
    Denise
     

From Monica:

We took our daughter to the Children's hospital. Everyone 
was caring and concerned (we had to answer several questions
repeatedly about her health, etc) and then she happily went
into the arms of the doctor - we were told to wait in the 
waiting area.
About 20 minutes later he came back  - said it was all done -
it was quick once they got her to settle down (she's just 
such a wiggler). So quick infact that they did not give her the 
routine IV. The doctor said everything looks perfect and that
he took some samples - he will call with the results but 
doesn't expect much in the way of anomalies.
She was in the arms of the nurse when we came back to see her 
in recovery - she was up and about and ready to party. Not even
a sign of tenderness. (But she was HUNGRY!)

Thanks all for responding (yes, we did know about the 
vaginal bleeding after birth - this is our second girl).
I think this must be put down to mystery  - the specialist 
mumbled something about small fissure - he wants to see us
in a few weeks for followup and discussion.......

- Monica