The Trail of Blood
Life • February 5th, 2010While carrying a screaming two-year-old, moving him from room to room, yelling at him “CALM DOWN!”, my mind starts to wonder why the heck, after the two times I’ve found traces of an overnight nose bleed in Joaquin’s crib, it never occurred to me to search online for that article on how to deal with a toddler’s nose bleed while he is AWAKE and running around the house. So a sudden crack of light washes over me and I find the solution, and here’s that note to self for the next time tragedy strikes.
What Doesn’t Work (at least not for MY child)
- Trying to have him lay down and be still
- Yelling at him because he won’t
- Grabbing him and moving him from place to place in your desperate attempt to contain the blood trail
- Wiping the blood off his nose, mouth, face, hands, everywhere!
- Looking at all the blood, DAMN!… and now it’s dripping down to his clothes
- Acting desperate and screaming to the sky because of your inability to neutralize his movement and the murder scene he’s creating all over the place
All of this stuff scares him, makes him cry, and significantly increases the volume of blood deposited on your carpet.
What Works
Announcing he’s going to get a second serving of his favorite video. Removing all textiles around his crib mattress and putting him behind the bars of his crib. Bringing the laptop and the stool and playing that miracle video. By this point the nose bleed has completely stopped, the source of the problem is contained, and you can peacefully deal with trail of blood.
And if he doesn’t sleep in a crib anymore… Good luck to you sister!
