As your baby crawls around your home or outside, they can very easily graze or cut themselves. Most of the time the injury will not be too bad, but sometimes there can be serious bleeding.
If there is blood flowing from a wound and it doesn't stop, your baby has severe bleeding. To treat a severe bleed, remove any clothing from the area your baby is bleeding from. If there's something in the wound, leave it where it is and apply pressure around the wound to try to push the edges together.
If there's nothing in the wound, apply pressure directly to it with a sterile dressing or a clean, non-fluffy pad. Next you need to ask a helper to call 999 or 112 for emergency help. Or if there is no one around to help, use a mobile on speakerphone so you can keep treating your baby while you speak to the emergency services.
Tell them where the bleeding is and the amount of bleeding. Apply a firm bandage around the dressing on top of the wound. It needs to maintain pressure, but not restrict the circulation. Check the circulation by pressing a fingernail on the skin around the bandage for five seconds, release the pressure and if the colour does not return within two seconds the bandage is too tight and you should loosen it.
Severe bleeding can lead to shock, so make sure they are lying down on a blanket or rug to protect them from the cold and raise their legs, but don't raise an injured leg. You could hold a small baby in the recovery position.
If the blood soaks through the dressing, apply a second dressing on top of the first. If it soaks through both, remove both dressings and apply a new one. Keep checking circulation every 10 minutes. While you're waiting for help to arrive, keep checking your baby's breathing and level of response.
So remember, if your baby has a severe bleed, apply pressure around the wound if there's something stuck in it, or apply direct pressure to the wound if it's clear. Call 999 or 112 for emergency help and tell them where the bleeding is and the amount.
Secure the dressing and check circulation, if blood comes through apply a second dressing. But if blood comes through both, take them both off and start again. Check circulation every 10 minutes, keep checking your baby's breathing and level of response while you wait for help. And that's how you treat a baby who's got a severe bleed.
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