# Bruise on toddler's spine, should I be worried?



## Flower of Bliss (Jun 13, 2006)

DD2 just turned 2. A few weeks ago (July 26-31) she ran a high fever. It appeared on the 26th and ran around 102-103, and the evening of the 27th it broke and she ate dinner after two days of nonstop nursing. I assumed she was better, and we went ahead on a trip to see family the next day. Her fever came back during the car ride







so we ended up out of state on the morning of day 4 of a fever. I called our regular peds office, spoke with a nurse, and brought her in to see a ped that afternoon. He checked her ears and throat, saw no signs of an infection, and said it was probably a virus. He encouraged us to bring her to their after hours clinic if it got worse. The fever generally peaked at night and faded in the morning, which sort of confused us







in the midst of it, though in hindsight it's pretty clear what was happening. She finally ate dinner again Saturday evening the 30th (though she ran a fever that whole night), she ate 3 meals on the 31st, and went fever free that night. She's been fever free since.

The next week she was fussy and clingy. She cried during her beloved swim lessons. She wanted to sit in my lap or DH's during meals. She mostly napped in arms latched on. She also complained that her back hurt. Her back looked fine. DH has back issues and will often say that his back hurts. DD2 will say "my knee hurts" any time she sees a trace reminder of an ancient skinned knee. Despite the clinginess, she was back to her regular active self - running, climbing, jumping, dancing, spinning, etc. I called and spoke to a nurse at our regular ped about it, who didn't feel like I needed to bring her in unless I wanted to. I didn't.

Since then she's been very much herself. She finished up swim lessons full of excitement and smiles. She just started dance class. She eats well. She sleeps pretty well, some typical night nursing, especially as she cut a tooth in that time, but nothing concerning. She naps well, on her own in bed after I nurse her down. She's independent, highly verbal, and very active.

She is very very tiny, 31 in and about 21lbs. I'm only 4ft 10 and finally back down to 115 lbs, and my mother is 4ft 11 and maybe 100lbs, and DH is 5ft 10 and about 130lbs, so it's no surprise she's small. I was worried about the weight loss from the days not eating, but otherwise unconcerned. We did a 2 year well check up last week and the ped was unconcerned about her. I didn't think to mention her back. She has said "my back hurts" here and there since the fever, but she hasn't seemed to be in pain, and has moved on very quickly. I assumed it was just this thing she says...

This morning I noticed a small bruise on her spine. The bruise doesn't look bad, pretty faded and small, but seeing it scared me. She does not bruise easily, and has no other bruises on her body (though she does have a skinned knee). She is very active, and I can think of about 10 things that MAY have cause the bruise (backing hard into a wall, rolling around with her sister, sitting down hard in her carseat and hitting the buckle, lying down on the floor of the van on an umbrella for a diaper change....), but nothing stands out.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should bring her in, or just watch the bruise and wait. What would you do?


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## Spirit Dancer (Dec 11, 2006)

Right now my 18 mo old has a bruise on his spine I assume he got from hitting it somehow but I am not worried. In the past I have had a abruise on my spine and it did hurt but healed up fine. I would just relax as it sounds like your dd is fine. A bruise on a spine on an otherwise healthy child is not a sign of meningitis if that is what you are worried about. Why do you think you should be really concerned?


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## Flower of Bliss (Jun 13, 2006)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Spirit Dancer*
> 
> Why do you think you should be really concerned?


I'm asking myself the same question. I'm not usually reactionary about my kids being sick. I do not search for symptoms. It's very atypical of me to be thinking about leukemia and other serious issues based on a tiny bruise. The bruise itself obviously doesn't worry me at all, it's that I'm afraid it's a symptom of a real issue. It immediately made me think of the whole illness a month ago, where I was just getting really worried when she got better. It was a long time of high fever and no eating (she went about a week without pooping at all). No one else in the family got it. In the end I suspected that she had some sort of infection that she beat herself. It's been a crazy month. In the 5 weeks starting with her being sick we've done the out of town trip, both of my girls had birthdays, we hosted one party and have a huge one planned for Saturday, and we've had two sets of out of town guests. We've been totally out of routine and rhythm. Our sleep schedules are off, and the house is a wreck. Maybe I'm just stressed.


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## crunchy_mommy (Mar 29, 2009)

I would not be worried about a bruise... unless perhaps it got bigger instead of fading, or more started popping up in areas unlikely to be injured.

If you're really worried, though, call your doc and see what he thinks -- he has her medical history and all so would have a better idea if it's a sign of something more.


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## mbravebird (May 9, 2005)

I understand why you're worried -- the "not being herself" seems worrisome, and all the pieces together could be something odd. I remember reading a book written about someone with similar symptoms, and over months and years it got worse, and they wished they had followed their instincts further. But I also can see how it's completely normal, and a result of lots of recent activity and illness.

There's no harm in following your gut here and getting it investigated -- you can be calm and non-reactive even while you're getting it checked out.


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## HappyHappyMommy (Mar 9, 2009)

I would have it checked out. A cluster of symptoms like that could just be coincidence, but it could be the sign of something more serious. While it's likely not to be serious, if it was something more serious, it's probably better to know sooner rather than later.

Hugs to you OP! I hope you get good news.

PS For any kind of unusual bruising, I recommend asking for an iron level test in addition to any other tests your ped may recommend.


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## BabySmurf (Apr 27, 2011)

Go with your gut! This is the best instance to be proven wrong 

Things are probably fine, but if you are worried, it is definitely worth things being checked out. My cousin's friend had to go to 5 doctors over six months when her son was bruising easily (much more pervasive than what you are describing) to find out that he did in fact have a rare form of leukemia. Because she kept asking questions, he is okay today after having a successful marrow transplant. My little brother got a weird looking bug bite/scratch type thing, and started complaining that he was tired and that his legs hurt. The doc said that he was just trying to get attention, my mom wanted him tested for Lyme. Doc refused. My Mom demanded it, and when the result came back positive, the doc went tried to make it seem the lyme was new, and that my mom was wrong before. Doctors will say that many things are normal because the don't see kids on a day to day basis - if you feel that something is off, then you should get it checked out. Like a PP mentioned, you don't need to be panicked because chances are that nothing is wrong, but you should try to get her tested. HTH!


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