I’m usually a total “ohmygod!’er” when it comes to anything remotely close to a crisis. Actually even over things as measly as insects cause me to have a complete physical and emotional reaction. But do you know what I mean? You see something awful, say ohmygod!! ohmygod!!, freeze and have no idea what to do except maybe quickly walk around in circles trying to figure out what to do. Last night I surprised myself and didn’t go into my usual mode of taking in an extreme gasp of air followed by an AHHHHH!!!!” when I saw blood pouring from Ethan’s mouth. Somehow I kept completely cool.
When it happened I was in super mom mode. I don’t remember my feet hitting the floor from the kitchen to the living room. I scooped Ethan up from the floor when I heard the screaming {him and his big brother had been jumping on the couch with the cushions off}, I went to the bathroom, grabbed a facecloth, soaked it in cold water and put it in his mouth. I had no idea what happened, I tried to look but Ethan wouldn’t let me touch his mouth. The blood was pouring out and landing on the floor, in the sink, on my top, but I thought at most he probably put his tooth through his lip or bit his tongue or something like that.
He only cried for a little while, the bleeding stopped, I still didn’t get a good look inside, but from what I could see there was a little gash in there. He seemed okay and carried on as usual, so I did too.
Today his lip was swollen, he was eating okay, not great, but okay. He finally let me get a better look and the moment I saw it I was in complete OHMYGOD’ER mode, my heart racing, I immediately started sweating and was frantically looking for my phone to call the doctor. He had a torn frenulum – you know the little cordy skin thingy that attaches your upper lip to your gum above your front teeth? A chunk of flesh was totally and completely ripped up in the shape of an upside down triangle. My stomach flipped and flopped…I still get knots thinking about what it looks like.
oh.My. GOD.
DOES HE NEED STITCHES?!?! WILL HE BE ABLE TO TALK??!?! WILL HE HAVE A FLOPPY TOP LIP FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE?!?!? OMG I’M NOT EVEN HOME RIGHT NOW IF HE NEEDS SURGERY!!!!!!!! WE’RE ONLY HERE VISITING!!!!!
Course all this was in my head as I was googling for my doctor’s phone number quietly with Ethan on my hip and Aidan napping in the back bedroom.
After I talked to two different RN’s, our doctor’s office, an oral surgeon’s office and our dentist I’m feeling better about it knowing that he wouldn’t have needed stitches or anything different than what I had already been doing {cold cloth, soft foods, ibuprofen}. THANKFULLY. And after more googling around, apparently torn frenulums among little ones especially preschoolers are very common and heal up on their own without any problems.
What pain he must have in his little mouth though. It’ll take about 4-7 days to be healed and if he’ll let me I can try to swab it with a q-tip dipped in salt water solution to keep it clear of any bacteria but infections in the mouth from a cut or gash are extremely rare I guess.
I said on my facebook earlier, just adding “torn frenulum” to the list of injuries that have occured in our household. I can only imagine what’s to come with these two boys I have. The couch seems to be the main source of injury too. Last year Aidan jumped off it, landed funny, started crying and couldn’t walk. He ended up being alright with nothing more than a visit to the ERÂ and a little limp but man alive, I think we need to start sitting on big fluffy floor cushions and consider padding our walls.
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About Amanda
My sister’s kids have all torn their frenulums, and no long term effects for any of them :) Still haven’t had it happen in our house, but I’m sure it’s coming…
GAH! That’s so awful! So they all healed up okay? That’s good news. I always think the worst in the heat of the moment.
The one thing I’m worried about is that he’s only 14 months old and I’m sure he’s going to be in lots of other situations in the coming years where it could easily happen again. The thought of ripping through scar tissue…ugh, I feel sick!!!
I totally know what you mean about breaking out in a sweat as a reaction to stress – weird how our bodies work eh?
Glad he is better, but maybe better yet – instill a no jumping on the couch rule in your house! We have the rule in our house but the kids get away with it around daddy….ahem….!!!!
There definitely will be no more jumping on the couch with the cushions off. It’s too bad because they have fun, but it’s just too hard along the edges and this is what happens.
Scary! I’m glad he’ll be okay…
I’ve heard of frenulum before, but automatically thought of the one under the tongue! I thought “How on earth did he rip that?!?!”
My mom “insisted” we get rid of our coffee table and the love seat which is up against the railing overlooking a flight of stairs. We ignored her insistence and have managed to have nothing more than a bump or two to show for it. My son is super active so I’m very surprised (and grateful!).
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We don’t have railings like that in our house but we still don’t have a coffee table or end tables because the boys are completely klumsy and run full tilt everywhere they go. It looks funny, but maybe when they’re 4 and 6 we’ll get a set. Unless I can find a nice big padded ottoman type.
You’re lucky you haven’t had any scares. There’s no way we could have something like that in our house..Aidan’s like curious george. I can’t even keep him off the countertops. He’d tie a rope and swing from the railing while I wasn’t looking, I’m sure! LOL
Ouch! My daughter fell on her face a couple of weeks ago and was bleeding out of the mouth pretty bad. Turned out to be her gums, she hit her teeth. It was all fine in the end, but at the moment it was quite scary with all the blood!
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Youch! How are her little teeth! Poor girl!
About a year ago my toddler was sitting in her booster seat at the dining room table. She pushed herself away from the table and then tried pulling herself back to the table. Instead the chair fell forward and she smacked her face on the edge of the table before hitting the floor. It was awful. She had a bloody nose, bit into her lip, knocked a tooth loose. Took her to urgent care but all they did was give her a popsicle for the swollen lip. Her tooth tightened back up and the only permenant thing is a tiny scar under her lip.
Heather that has to be my worst fear when Aidan’s in a booster or Ethan’s in one of those high chair seats that strap onto a dining chair. How awful :( I can’t believe she didn’t loose her baby tooth!
Ouch. Poor little guy. I bet it does really hurt.
Yea…. :( He didn’t eat much today. He still won’t eat icecream or suck on anything cold in one of those mesh feeders.
Tonight I bought a bunch of jarred baby food and he ate a little bit.
Oh. Dear. Lord….You are definitely a brave, brave woman to not have freaked out at the sight of your baby boy’s blood everywhere >.<
I'm really glad everything turned out okay though!
Yeah I was really worried about the loose tooth too but they said that the teeth tighten back up again and it did and she has had no problems since. Thankfully she doesn’t use the booster seat anymore. Now just have to figure out what to do when the baby is ready to move into it, how to prevent him from being able to do the same thing.
My oldest had to get his frenulum cut when he was born. He was tongue tied. He was also born with a cyst under his tongue; they lanced that. His tongue was mis-shaped. The start of breastfeeding was interesting.
I bet ripping the frenulum is painful!!!!!
My husband had his clipped. As an adult it takes a week to talk correctly again. He was out for awhile. His dentist said that if he didn’t do it that his gums could start to pull away from his teeth later in life. Then our insurance wouldn’t cover it because to them it was plastic surgery.
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I have 5 little boys and we have had our share of torn frenulums. One child kept reinjuring his frenulum numerous times. I know you are into natural remedies, so I thought I might recommend that you keep a supply of homeopathic Arnica 30c on hand or, even better, Traumeel tablets. My second son knocked a tooth out when he was 3. I gave him Traumeel, but couldn’t get him in to the dentist until the next day. It had been less than 24 hours since his injury, but the dentist said that it looked like it had been healing for 2 weeks! As a mother of boys, I am a firm believer in having a bottle of Traumeel tablets in my purse and in my medicine cabinet at home. I am glad your little guy was okay. :)
Ok, so when you first posted this my first reaction was OMG I can’t believe it! I couldn’t for the life of me picture what it would look like, but tonight my picture came to life. Nope, it didn’t happen while jumping or running or during play time or anything like that. It just so happens that while putting him in bed (crib he’s 17months) he decided to stand up and step on his favourite stuffed doggy and hit his lip on the railing of the crib. Blood was gushing out of his little mouth accompanied by tears, which made for a bit of a shocking sight. However the minute I picked him up and saw that blood was coming from inside his upper lip I thought I know what happened I read it on a blog!!! and told my hubby “He tore his frenulum!!!, I read it on a blog”. Sure enough after a few minutes he stopped crying, the bleeding stopped and he was back to his norm.
Thank you for helping me not “worry” too much. I’ll have to keep an eye on the swelling but other than that I think we’ll survive!
Btw, how did your little one heal?
Oh my gosh Annie!!! Your poor little man! Isn’t the amount of blood unreal?
Ethan healed up perfectly and you’d never even know it happened. It healed pretty quickly too – it was exactly as the doctor said: 4-7 days. One of the dentists I spoke with said you can use a q-tip swab dipped in salt water and lightly put it on the wound to help prevent infection, but that’s it’s extremely rare that he’d get an infection in the mouth. I didn’t bother trying this with Ethan because it looked too painful. White stuff on the wound is normal connective healing tissues, so don’t be freaked out if it looks a little gross after a few days. I couldn’t stomach to look at it more than twice the whole time! Only soft foods, no crackers, baby cookies, no citrus, nothing acidic otherwise it’ll sting.