It's probably a:

Hemangioma. [heme - blood, angio -vessel,  oma -tumor]
A congenital anomaly consisting of lots of tiny blood vessels.

50% resolve spontaneously by age 5, 70% by age 7, 90% by age 9 and the rest
by adolescence.

They can be out on the skin or inside the body (ie causing airway
obstruction - less common)
They are treated if:
1. it's causing the child's platelets to get used up (those are a part of
the blood that is used to make clots)
2. it's causing airway obstruction
3. it's causing visual obstruction ( the child will develop "lazy eye" if
one eye's vision is blocked)
4. it's causing the heart to work too hard to pump blood through all that
extra blood vessel territory

The treatment is prednisone - there's another thread currently running on
this.

Gail
Gail Hertz, MD, IBCLC
Pediatric Resident
author of the little green breastfeeding book - disclaimer: owner of Pocket
Publications






----------
> From: Alwyn Goodall <[log in to unmask]>
> To:
> Subject: Hematoma on a top lip
> Date: Saturday, November 28, 1998 4:22 PM
>
> Have any of you ever dealt with a hematoma on a lip?  I'll have to admit
> this is no longer a breastfeeding question.  It's also possible it's not
> a hematoma.  Mother was in my last infant class at WIC before I left
> work on Wednesday anxious to get home and start meal preparations for
> Thanksgiving.  The baby is six months old and after class the mother
> wanted to know how she could feed the baby solids.  One side of the lip
> is very swollen the mother mentioned the word tumor and then said it's a
> hema  something.  I used the word hematoma and she said yes that is it.
> She did say it was blood leaking into the lip tissue.  It began to grow
> when the baby was a month old and mother gave up breastfeeding although
> she had successfully breastfed two other children.  The baby is drinking
> 16 oz.  (two full bottles) of formula in a feeding.   She is spitting up
> incessantly.  She was spitting up a lot during the class.  Mother is
> feeding the bottle from the unswollen side of the mouth.  When she tries
> to spoon feed from the side the baby can not get the food down.  It just
> dribbles out again.  The pediatrician says that he has never seen one of
> these on a lip before but on other parts of the body they grow for a
> time and in two or three years usually go away on their own so surgery
> is not a medical necessity.  I called in the R.D.  she was familiar with
> the pediatric office and suggested getting a second opinion.   I've been
> thinking alot about how feeding from the side of the mouth would
> interrupt the normal wave like pattern of digestion.  Also how important
> the top lip is to eating off a spoon as well as to breastfeeding.  This
> wasn't the clinic where I normally work but if anyone has any ideas I
> could give them to the R.D.  at that office.  My main concern is if the
> woman had come to me at the time the swelling began are there any ways I
> could have saved the breastfeeding?
>
> Judy Goodall DTR, IBCLC
> In Phoenix where the gorgeous weather of the past week has turned cloudy
> and rainy but not cold.
>