How to stop a runny bloody nose

• October 18, 2017

  Table of Contents Show

  • Self-care steps for occasional nosebleeds include:
  • Tips to help prevent nosebleeds include:
  • Related articles
  • Use these steps for stopping a nosebleed:
  • Call your pediatrician right away if:
  • ​Is your child congested? 
  • Causes of nosebleeds:

Seek emergency medical care if nosebleeds:

• Follow an injury, such as a car accident
• Involve a greater than expected amount of blood
• Interfere with breathing
• Last longer than 30 minutes even with compression
• Occur in children younger than age 2

Don't drive yourself to an emergency room if you're losing a lot of blood. Call 911 or your local emergency number or have someone drive you.

Talk to your doctor if you're having frequent nosebleeds, even if you can stop them fairly easily. It's important to determine the cause of frequent nosebleeds.

Self-care steps for occasional nosebleeds include:

• Sit upright and lean forward. By remaining upright, you reduce blood pressure in the veins of your nose. This discourages further bleeding. Sitting forward will help you avoid swallowing blood, which can irritate your stomach.
• Gently blow your nose to clear out any clotted blood. Spray a nasal decongestant in the nose.
• Pinch your nose. Use your thumb and index finger to pinch both nostrils shut, even if only one side is bleeding. Breathe through your mouth. Continue to pinch for five to 10 minutes. This maneuver puts pressure on the bleeding point on the nasal septum and often stops the flow of blood.
• Repeat. If the bleeding doesn't stop, repeat these steps for up to a total of 15 minutes.

After the bleeding has stopped, to keep it from starting again, don't pick or blow your nose and don't bend down for several hours. Keep your head higher than the level of your heart.

Tips to help prevent nosebleeds include:

• Keeping the lining of the nose moist. Especially during colder months when air is dry, apply a thin, light coating of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) or antibiotic ointment (bacitracin, Neosporin) with a cotton swab three times a day. Saline nasal spray also can help moisten dry nasal membranes.
• Trimming your child's fingernails. Keeping fingernails short helps discourage nose picking.
• Using a humidifier. A humidifier will counteract the effects of dry air by adding moisture to the air.

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A nosebleed usually comes on suddenly, with blood flowing freely from one nostril. Most nosebleeds stop by themselves within a few minutes. 

Use these steps for stopping a nosebleed:

• Stay calm; the nosebleed is probably not serious, and you should try not to upset your child. Your child will pick up on your emotional cues.

• Keep your child sitting or standing and leaning slightly forward. Don't let him lie down or lean back because this will allow blood to flow down his throat and might make him vomit.

• Don't stuff tissues or another material into the nose to stop the bleeding.

• Firmly pinch the soft part of your child's nose—using a cold compress if you have one, otherwise your fingers—and keep the pressure on for a full 10 minutes. Don't look to see if your child's nose is bleeding during this time; you may start the flow again.

• If bleeding hasn't stopped after 10 minutes, repeat the pressure. If bleeding persists after your second try, call your pediatrician or take your child to the nearest emergency department. See Chronic Nosebleeds: What to Do. 
  

Call your pediatrician right away if:

• Your child is pale, sweaty, or not responding to you.

• You believe your child has lost a lot of blood.
  

• Your child is bleeding from the mouth or vomiting blood or brown material that looks like coffee grounds.

• Your child's nose is bleeding after a blow or injury to any part of the head.
  

While most nosebleeds are benign and self-limited, a child with severe or recurrent bleeding or bleeding from both nostrils should be evaluated by a pediatrician. If necessary, your child will be referred to a pediatric otolaryngologist  (ENT) specialist. 

Causes of nosebleeds:

Nosebleeds are unlikely to signal serious illness, although bleeding can result from injury. Children may cause bleeding by picking their noses; toddlers often injure the nasal membranes by forcing objects into their nostrils. Children are especially prone to nosebleeds during colds and in the winter months when the mucous membranes become dry, cracked, and crusted or when a chronic condition such as allergic rhinitis (hay fever) damages the membrane.

A child with a chronic illness that causes forceful coughing, such as cystic fibrosis, may have frequent nosebleeds. And parents of children with clotting disorders such as hemophilia or von Willebrand disease, should be vigilant about harmful habits such as nose-picking. 

If your child's nosebleeds last for longer than 8 to 10 minutes routinely, your pediatrician may wish to test for a blood clotting disorder.

The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.