Health care professionals and bruises on children?

[Flutterby]

Thats a really akward title, I am just drinking my morning coffee and couldnt come up with anything better lol! My question is, what is a health care professional supposed to do when they find a bruise on a kid? We were at the dentist today and apparently dd has a bruise on her eyelid that i wasnt even aware of. When the dentist came out to talk about her teeth, she asked me about the bruise and where dd got it. It was very akward and uncomfortable and seemed mildly accusatory. Dd could easily have gotten elbowed at swimming lessons or at school. i have 4 active kids. Generally all of them have at least one bruise somewhere on their body!

[CPAMOM]

We call my oldest twinkle toes because he is so clumbsy. He constantly has bruises on him. I actually got pulled aside at his preschool (of course when my MIL was there with me.) He had actually slipped on the stairs and fell down 3 or 4 of them. I tried to grab him to stop him from falling. Well, there was a huge hand print around his arm and a HUGE bruise on his leg and butt cheek from the fall. I told them that I appreciated their concern and explained what happened. I try not to get offended by other people's comments. I just thank them for being observant. Think of it this way....Maybe next time your dentist will ask a mom about her child's bruises and they may be in an abusive situation and it will compel them to go get help.

[3girls2luv]

I agree with what CPAMOM says. As a health professional we are trained to catch things like bruises, scratches even body language. Now not all bruises are questionable but somthing like a bruise on the eye would make me ask questions too but I would neve assume anything.

[kasumisniper]

My boys are always covered in bruises! Even Cole. He's always getting bonked on the head (by Eli or himself). Eli and Jonas' legs are covered in them too. They usually look like they have leopard legs. lol Nothing more than rowdy boys. It's get tough or die around here! Even for me! :p

[MrsKitty]

I am always worried about that. He is very fair skinned so any bruise really shows up. He is also a crazy active little kid. Everyone is amazed when they see him go, he jumps off things, runs around and falls face first, gets up dusts himself off, and keeps going full force. He never cries or whines and is always covered in these huge bruises and scrapes. It makes me really nervous! I know two moms locally that had their babies taken away for not very concrete reasons. What if someone dosen't believe you? Someone in the grocery store once accused me of hitting him because he had a huge bruise on his face from falling face forward onto the floor.

[busy_i_am2007]

Aaron gets alot of bruises due to his disabilities. His doctors know this and has never said anything about it.

Cassidy has a small brown birthmark on her back, close to her right side. It took the doctor a few times looking at it to realize it was a birthmark and not a bruise. The doctor was just checking to make sure. It didn't bother me though. She was just doing her job.

[3girls2luv]

DD2 had a mongolian spot on her lower back just above her little butt cheeks and the first time I took her to the pedi the nurse saw it and the look on her face was pricelss, she said "what happened to HER BACK?" I told her it was a mongolian spot but she called in the pedi who confirmed it. It really did look like a bruise because it wasn't that dark but it was really spread out like size of an adult hand.

[Iconoclast]

What is a health care professional supposed to do when they find a bruise on a kid?

Find an explanation for it.

[HIJKMommy]

Kenna is a clumbsy kid as well as being fair skinned so we have our fair share of bruises. As a matter of fact Isaac bit her last night on her cheek and she has a circular bruise on her cheek right now. Her legs are always covered in bruises. When we come home from my sisters, her house is all marble, her legs look like little leopards. I think as a health care professional you are suppose to ask but never assume anything.