Someone I know has an 18 day old baby. Yesterday morning she woke up to breast feed him. She was sitting on the couch and fell asleep while still feeding. When she woke up the baby was cold, not breathing and had blood coming from his ears, nose and mouth. Currently he is in ICU and isn t doing well at all. Could this be intentional or is there a medical reason this could happen? Could this be Shaken Baby Syndrome?
Hi, It is quite unlikely for a medical condition to cause the said symptoms all of a sudden in a previously well baby. There are blood disorders that rarely can cause spontaneous bleeding from nose and mouth, but bleeding from ear is not expected here, and this strongly suggests a traumatic cause. The only possible cause for bleeding from ear, nose and mouth is a significant head injury with skull base fracture. Head injury or significant bleeding can cause apnea and cold skin. The treating doctor will discuss more details, as this needs to be interpreted on a background of examination findings, blood investigations and brain imaging. Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. 