Please Help

[Southernurse]

a 2 month old baby apparently died by crib death today. i don't pretend to know peds, so i ask those of you who can handle this.... what would make blood come out of the baby's nose during cpr? we are still in shock, and have too many questions. i did not get all of the information yet. the mother said rigor mortis had set in, and since i am unable to think at this time, could that have contributed to the nosebleed somehow? we just need to try to understand...to wrap our heads around this. any input is appreciated.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Once a person dies, the vascular tone that was presnt in life is now absent. Their platelets and other clotting factors are no longer active. Anything that could cause a blood vessel to tear will cause bleeding that seems out of proportion to the injury. I removed a central line from a baby about an hour after his death and was amazed at how much bleeding there was. If you think about the amount of force applied in effective CPR, it shouldn't surprise you that there could be a nosebleed in a child who was clearly past resuscitation.

This is a traumatic experience for even those of us who have been doing it for years. Please debrief and make peace with it.