In trying to find an explanation for the bleeding described in a recent post
to LN, I would like to cast my vote for looking at, and listening to, the
baby, in this case a child who may be verbal enough to give good
information.  My hunch is that a breastfed toddler would be more likely to
feel safe telling about it than not, **especially** if the cause is
something completely innocent.
Simply asking the child why she thinks there is blood there could yield a
surprisingly accurate response.  When my daughter was four, she suddenly one
day just after we had moved house complained of pain in her ears.  She had
had a lot of middle ear infections as a breastfed toddler but it was ages
since the last one, and she had weaned since then.  But she couldn't hear
properly, and her ears HURT.  No fever, had not had a cold recently, and I
was baffled until I asked her what the pain was like.  'Like white foam' was
the reply.  Turned out she and a contemporary had been playing with the
packaging from our new wall heaters, and they had put bits of styrofoam in
each others' ears.  The pain resolved after getting them irrigated, when an
impressive number of bits of styrofoam were rinsed out.
Listen to the woman is my midwifery mantra.  My breastfeeding one is, look
at the baby.  This situation is in the middle.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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