My daughter's room has two beds in wooden frames that are side by side with about 14 inches of space between them. The edges of the frames are pretty sharp, they are "finished" but are just squared off like the edge of a piece of wood and aren't rounded out in any way. The other day she put a pile of blankets on the ground between the beds and dove into them head first but didn't quite judge the width well and caught the side of the bed with her outer upper arm, right on the bicep. It was red and a little scraped looking but no broken skin and she didn't really cry from it. She is 7 yrs old. Well about 3-4 days later a huge bruise showed up, the biggest I have ever seen on a kid. It is like the size of a lemon. She gets little bruises here and there on her legs but nothing like this and I am worried that this is excessive for the injury. Of course playing Dr. Google and seeing leukemia blasted on every search has me all freaked out that something is wrong with her. She is otherwise healthy and eats well etc. Has anyone ever seen a child bruise this way? There is no way she could have been abused or anything like that because I have been with her every single day. TIA!
I only "bruise" when I bruise the bone (awesome lymph system clears away little stuff before it shows). This only show up 3-5 days later. They're pretty awesome. Black & Red masterpieces in an homage to gravity.
I don't, nor have I ever had, leukemia.
That said... Whenever you feel something is abnormal, that warrants a doctor visit in my book.
You should have seen the bruises and scraped knees and elbows I use to get from falling off my bike or out of trees.
I was such a tomboy.
My M. made me stop playing football with the neighborhood boys when I became a teen.
I went after the guy carrying the ball, caught him by his ankles and knocked the wind out of him.
I asked him if I did that right and after about 5 min when he got his breath back he said 'Yeah - that was perfect!".
"But Ma! I just learned how to tackle and the guys say I'm pretty good at it!".
My poor M..
I guess I was the boy she never expected.
She still doesn't think I'm lady like enough.
But then I've held my own in a male dominated industry (computer programming) for over 25 years so I found my niche.
Don't worry!
She'll be fine!
Maybe she'll be a bit more careful before she leaps next time.
She hit the bed with her arm. Of course she will have a bruise. I would not worry. Actually if it was my child, I would never give it a second thought.
I've seen and evaluated many bruises over the years as a police officer. It is very normal for an injury such as you described to cause a large swollen bruise. Stop scaring yourself. She's fine.
It is just a matter of where she hit. Have you ever barely doinked a vein in your hand, okay I have veins that are very close to the surface, I get a monster bruise from just a tap. There have been times when I smashed myself into things with barely a mark because it wasn't close to a surface vein.
All a bruise is is a ruptured vessel.
I have pictures of my kids on this computer that would make you look at your daughter and think, oh, she just has a scratch.
Sounds completely normal. My girls are pretty rough-and-tumble (I had to stop them from using cardboard boxes as "sleds" to fly down the stairs on earlier today... not so much so they wouldn't hurt themselves, but because I was afraid they'd break the railing at the bottom... another day in the life of me...). Anyway, they get bruises like that all the time. It can take days for a bruise to appear, sometimes, and then it will go from being black/purple, through all the lovely colors of the rainbow. My girls have been known to change their nail polish to match their bruises. No joke. :-P
She's fine. Just ice it for the swelling and massage it a little to help break up the bruise.
It is my understanding that the "deeper" the injury, the longer it takes for the bruise to show up. I broke my toe a while back and it took about 2 days for the bruise to fully appear in all of its purple glory! My only concern would be a very small fracture, as mentioned below. She has a bruise following an impact, in the place where you expect the bruise to be. The "warning sign" bruises seem to be ones that appear out of nowhere. I would NOT worry about that here :)
Hope she heals up soon!
A bruise like that sounds normal for what happened.
A massive bruise sounds very typical for this type of injury. She took a huge hit and it took a few days for the blood to pool and reach the surface of the skin.
The great tragedy of the internet is that people see all the bad stuff - e.g. leukemia -- when their kids have a terrible fall. You have seen no other symptoms and you can absolutely trace the bruise to the deep-tissue injury.
Every kid gets bruises on the legs - doctors call them "having fun" marks.
Some people bruise easy. I gave blood once and had a bruise that covered the entire underside of my arm. For me this usually happens when I am low Iron, so try feeding her foods rich in Iron and see if that helps some. but I would not be concerned.
Sounds normal to me... but if you are worried, don't hesitate to call your nurseline and ask a question. Better safe than sorry.
That said - I second the suggestion for Arnica lotion - it really is amazing stuff and can make a huge difference in healing time.
J.
It is a Hematoma bruise and/or a contusion.
My daughter has had bruises like that, from a fall. I took her to the Doctor.
Take your daughter to the Doctor, to double check it. I would.
These types of "bruises" can take a long time to heal and go away.
You can also try "Arnica Gel" found at places like Whole Foods and other natural food stores etc.
It is an all natural thing, which help bruises and aches to heal.
My daughter got a bruise right by her ribs. It looked like her ribs were protruding. I ended up taking her to an emergency room because she said it was so painful I couldn't even touch it.
What was the conclusion....just a bruise. So ya I've seen some bad ones. It was around the size of a large marble sticking up from her skin.
It sounds like she just got a bad bruise to me. I wouldn't worry. Oh and my M. always put witch hazel on our bruises as a kid. It did help.
If it does not act like a normal injury then by all means have it looked at.
