Frenulum of lip

frenulum of lip - a median fold of mucous membrane connecting the inside of each lip to the corresponding gum.

And we learnt this new word because …?

Bubs and Hubs were roughhousing as usual. Bubs was asking for his “kee kee kok” (piggyback) and when Hubs dropped him onto the bed, Bubs started crying furiously, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Sad to say (and I feel incredibly guilty now), my first thought was that Bubs was being overly dramatic until we saw blood oozing out from his mouth. His face was all scrunched up and red from all the wailing and my heart sank.

I’d nightmares of his teeth being knocked back into his gums (which was what happened to my friend’s child previously) but all his teeth were fine and his gums weren’t bleeding. Where on earth was all the blood coming from? Hubs gingerly peeled back Bubs’s upper lip and I nearly fainted, not from the blood that was trickling out but from the little torn line that connects the lip to his gum.

Hubs consoled Bubs and I ran to get a wet cloth wrapped around ice cubes to staunch the bleeding and we were debating rushing to the ER. The bleeding was slowing down and Bubs was distracted by playing with my mobile phone. I kept telling Hubs doesn’t every body part play an important function and if that little line is torn, what if means that he’ll never speak again! We looked at Bubs who was now occupied scrolling through my phone.

Hubs: “Say banana”

Bubs: “Ah-na-na”

Hubs: ”Say strawberry”

Bubs: ”Ah-po-chi”

Hubs asked what was that little line called so we could at least call the hospital to check if it’s serious. I was stumped and typed in “little line in upper lip” into Google.

Thank you, Google! I didn’t dare look at all the pictures of torn lip frenulum  which was super gross and  asked Hubs to look at the pictures to make sure that it was the correct thing.

I called both the ER and an ENT surgeon to ask if a torn lip frenulum was anything serious and was told as long as the bleeding stopped, it would be fine and if we were still concerned, we could bring him in anyway.

Still unconvinced, we played Dr. Google and checked online. *blushes* It turns out that it’s really common in children, especially toddlers learning to walk and tripping and once the bleeding stops, it’s okay.

As for Bubs?

The next morning, I asked him, “where does it hurt?”

He looked puzzled, then pointed to the mossie bite on his leg.

All's well, ends well!