Bitten Tongue!

[beanebabe]

My 5 year old son fell over a badly bit his tongue at school today (approx. 10 am). It has bled steadily all day. I have been on the phone to NHS Direct twice for advice. He has gone to bed and it is still bleeding a bit. Do you think he will be OK? I am worried about him swallowing blood in his sleep or do you think it will heal better now that he is not talking/poking at it etc. Thanks in advance for you help, one worried Mum.

[Roger9]

Did it myself as a child, takes ages to heal but it will.

[daffy654]

My eldest daughter bit right through her tongue when she was 5,it was literally hanging on by a small portion.(swinging on a chair at school) I took her to my local hospital and they just sent me home with no treatment or anything.The only advice they could give me was to feed her on non solid food and no hot drinks.She had completely healed within 4 days.

[beanebabe]

Thanks guys, that's very reasurring!

[funnygirl]

Once licking a knife (greedy me) i sliced through my tongue.

It took a week to heal and couple of days to stop bleeding!!

Memo to self, never lick knives.

[beanebabe]

Ouch, ouch, ouch - you silly girl!

[lorraine29]

if it doesn't seem to be healing it may be worth getting it checked out at casualty. when my son was about 5 yrs old a friend accidently hit him under his chin and he bit his tongue quite badly, i tried icepops etc to try an help numb the pain but the way the cut was meant that every time he put his tongue out to show me how it was it opened up again, I phoned NHS direct and they told me that it was pointless taking him into casualty and they never stitched tongues, after about an hour of it still bleeding i took him over to the nurse at our local surgery who rang casualty who told her that although they only stitch tongues in extreme cases they couldn't tell if it was extreme without seeing it. i took him to casualty, we got there at 5.pm and he was booked into theatre for 7pm for 4 stitches

Lorraine

[MiniN]

hi beane

pop down to your local gps or casualty, with little ones its always worth seeing the doctors to make sure everything is ok.

I tripped up the stairs when I was a child and landed on my my chin, biting the very tip of my tongue off. bled quite a bit and i remember it throbbing for a while, but it just healed up on its own.

[beanebabe]

Thanks for all your help/advice! It did stop bleeding over night (it looked awful this morning - a large blackish lump on the side of his tongue). The swelling went down during the day and it looks much better. He spent most of the day sticking it out to show people! Back to school tomorrow. Thanks again, xxx