Drops of blood on pillow - coming from toddler's mouth... Biting cheeks? Teething?

[Sanne Panne]

Our daughter (23 months old) has occasionally had drops of blood on her pillow over the past few months, clearly mixed with saliva so it must come from her mouth. She doesn't hit her face/mouth against the sides of the bed or anything like that, she's bruise free, and I've seen a little wound on the inside of her cheek so it seems to come from a small internal injury.

Has anyone heard of sleeping toddlers sucking on their cheeks so hard that they bleed? She never seems to suck on her cheeks when awake (and her poo isn't dark so I doubt she swallows any blood while awake). Or would she be chewing on her cheeks with her super sharp toddler molars (again, never noticed her doing this while awake)? Or is this blood from teething (i.e. from the gums)? The latter would surprise me as it's happened more often than teeth have actually come through.

Does anyone have experience with this?

She never seems in pain, doesn't cry at night but the blood on her pillow looks a bit spooky.

[hanstands]

Yes, this happened to my boy, sometimes, when he was teething -- I asked around at the time and there was about one or two other Mums that had seen this too for the same reason but most hadn;t experienced this. His teeth seemed to pop through very fast and often I could see blood at the base of the cut teeth. He also didn;t seem bothered by it...hope that helps xx

[Sanne Panne]

Definitely does help to know we're not the only ones! Her canines are coming through and she does salivate a lot but she never ever complains of pain so it's easy to forget it could "simply" be the gums themselves.

[Belle]

Ooh glad I found this thread - thought I was going mad today as noticed blood spots on my son's pillow, not for the first time - but couldn't see any obvious external source! He's def teething so this makes sense. Phew.