Small Red Speck of Blood in Baby's Wet Diaper

Finding blood in your baby's diaper can be quite stressful and it can also be a bit difficult to identify what is causing it.

Let's take a look at the most common reasons for blood in a baby's diaper and what to do about it.

blood in a baby's diaper
Question:
My daughter-in-law just called and her daughter 6 1/2 months old had some blood from her vagina after she changed her diaper. Is this normal or what could the cause be? She is quite upset right now.

Why You May Find Blood in a Baby's Diaper

I'm not surprised your daughter-in-law is concerned. She could be imagining all sorts of things and finding blood in a baby's diaper can certainly be stressful. It can sometimes be difficult to know the source of the blood when it is found in the diaper.

Here are some reasons why a baby may have blood in the diaper:

1. Constipation

A 6-month-old baby may be constipated since this is around the time that they are being introduced to solids.

One thing that usually happens when they are constipated is that their poop can be very hard and they have to strain to push their poop out. A baby's anus is quite sensitive since the skin around it is very delicate. A hard poop may cause a break in the anus or anal fissure, causing minimal bleeding. There are several other reasons why a baby can have blood in their poop too, so if you think that's where the bleeding comes from, read this info on blood in a baby's poop here.

What is present in the diaper is fresh, reddish streaks of blood. However, this is not a common occurrence in 6-month-old babies, since their first solids often consist mainly of vegetables, which are good for the tummy. However, e.g. rice cereal can cause constipation.

However, it is also possible that your baby may be eating too much tomatoes or other fibrous vegetables, which may cause reddish streaks in their poop.

2. Hemorrhagic Diarrhea

A baby experiencing hemorrhagic diarrhea (caused by E. coli) or necrotizing enterocolitis can present with poop with blood in their diapers. This is extremely serious as this is a sign of infection. Any baby whose poop is watery in consistency poops more than the usual number of episodes per day, accompanied by fever, vomiting, or dry mouth or eyes when crying will need urgent medical attention. Call your doctor as soon as possible when this happens. We don't want your baby to dehydrate.

3. Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Dark blood in a baby's stool or poop may indicate an upper gastrointestinal bleed. This may occur after a traumatic injury to the esophagus or throat. A choking incident of a foreign object may cause this injury. This is a medical emergency that warrants a visit to the emergency room.

4. Supplemental Iron

Babies given supplemental iron can also manifest with dark stools. The doctor may ask for supplements that are being given to the baby during consultation. This is nothing to worry about. Iron usually causes discoloration of the poop.

5. Newborn hormones

Newborn babies can have vaginal bleeding in their first few days of life. This is commonly caused by a decrease in maternal hormones. This usually subsides when their level of hormones stabilizes. However, this is not normal in a 6-month-old baby. It is best to consult your doctor right away.

6. Blood in the urine

Blood in the urine can happen due to infections. If your baby is fussy, cries a lot without any apparent reason, distended abdomen, has febrile episodes, and has irregularities in urination (not peeing as usual), then you should call your doctor. Your baby may be experiencing a urinary tract infection. Usually, the doctor has a workup on her urine and will prescribe antibiotics, after further investigation.

You can read more about blood in the urine here.

7. A wound or straddle injury

This is fairly common in toddlers as they are more mobile and active. A straddle injury happens when a child falls and lands on her genital area over a hard object, such as a bike frame, an armchair rest, or a side of the bathtub. But this is not common in babies at 6 months of age.

How active is your granddaughter? If she is crawling around and climbing over things, maybe she didn't have a nappy on and had a minor injury?

8. Diaper rash

Diaper rash happens when the baby's diaper is constantly wet and left on for an extended period. This can also happen when babies have allergic reactions to diapers. The rash can be red and itchy, and the baby may scratch it, which may cause friction on their skin and cause it to bleed.

It can be hard to see where it has come from, it may look like it was from the vagina, but babies kick around a lot and wriggle and it could have come from elsewhere. This is nothing serious and can be remedied with a diaper rash cream. You can read more about treating diaper rash here.

9. A vaginal infection

A vaginal infection, caused by transferring the bacteria living in the gut into the genital area may also cause bleeding. This may be caused by poor hygiene or frequent touching of their genital area. Of course, dirty diapers can definitely also transfer bacteria from the stools to the vagina.

Washing the genital area, practicing proper hand hygiene, and frequent and immediate changing of dirty diapers can eliminate the occurrence of a vaginal infection.

10. A foreign object or abuse

A foreign object, such as a toy part or a piece of toilet paper is also known to be a cause of vaginal bleeding in baby girls. Sexual abuse of the child could also result in bleeding. Hopefully, that's completely irrelevant for your grandchild's situation, but you can read about signs of sexual abuse in babies and toddlers here.

Takeaway

As you can see, there are quite a lot of different possible reasons for blood in a baby's diaper.

I would get the bleeding checked just in case there is some infection or injury. The doctor will be the best person to diagnose anything in this case. And ff the bleeding is apparent and non-stop, and is accompanied by other signs and symptoms, bring the baby to your doctor immediately.

A final tip – an excellent reference book to keep at home for first info on possible illnesses in the baby is Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 by American Academy Of Pediatrics. (Link goes to Amazon, where you can check it out.) Maybe an appreciated gift for your daughter in law.

Good luck, your daughter in law is lucky to have such great support from you,

Wishing you well,
Paula

More Babies With Blood In Their Diapers

Baby Is Urinating Blood
Blood In Baby's Poo
Baby With Painful Bowel Movement And Blood When Wiping

References

Blood in a baby's stool: Color chart
Is it normal that there's a little blood in my baby's diaper?
Baby's First Days: Bowel Movements & Urination

Did you ever find blood in your baby' diaper or have some tips to share? Add your comments below.

Small Red Speck of Blood in Baby's Wet Diaper

Source: https://www.easybabylife.com/bleeding-in-diaper.html