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You’ve probably heard a lot of “home remedies” for different ailments like burns and a lot of these have left me shaking my head.
When I was a kid, do you know what my mom used to put on burns? Toothpaste! And then there are those folks who swear by putting butter on burns. Hopefully, no one is doing that anymore.
Kids Will Be Kids
I think we all know many of the burns that kids experience are preventable. And, of course, kids will be kids.
Even though we try our best, it’s literally impossible to keep our eyes on our kiddos 100% of the time and keep them from getting into things that can burn them. Kids want to have fun and don’t always think about the consequences.
Study Reports Burns Are Fifth Most Common Cause of Accidental Death
The age group most affected are toddlers and young children (ages 4 and under). In fact, children 4 years old and younger who are hospitalized for burns are 65% likely to be the victims of scald burns with only 20% being from contact burns.
Watch Kids Around Water
Many of these scald burns come from hot tap water burns. Thankfully, regulations and the lack of open fires in homes have decreased burn injuries in the past thirty years. But they do still occur, no matter how much you try to stop them.
When dealing with burns, it can be difficult as there are so many different types and severity: thermal, electrical, and chemical burns and first-, second-, or third-degree burns. Even I have a hard time keeping track.
Determine If the Burn Is a
First-Degree Burn
Hopefully, you’ll never have to experience any of these as a parent, but if you do, it’s important to keep calm and follow the steps.
If the burn is minor, a first-degree burn such as a sunburn where the skin is just reddened but still intact:
Cool the burn with cold compresses or cool water (NO ice!)
Cover the burn with a clean bandage
If you need to ease the pain of the burn, use over the counter pain meds. Also, aloe vera or burn gel can be applied for extra relief.
If the skin blisters, do not pop them. This may increase the chance of infection. Instead, just cover them and keep them clean.
See a Doctor for Any Other Type of Burn
In a child especially, the severity of the burn depends on the size and location of the burn. There’s actually a whole formula used to determine it, but I say keep it simple. If you have any doubt that it’s anything more than a minor first-degree burn, seek professional medical help ASAP. It’s better to be too careful than not careful enough!
Discuss Safety with Your Kids
With the Fourth of July festivities coming up, it’s a good idea to discuss safety around the grill, fireworks and other activities that may have a flammable element with your kids.
Hopefully, this helps to inform you a bit more if you are ever to have to deal with a burn to one of your children. Just remember, please, NO toothpaste!
The winter has arrived and that means holidays, snow days, hot chocolate—and flu!
This is, of course, flu season and if you haven’t already gotten flu shots for yourself and your whole family, then you definitely need to take care of that ASAP.
But even with a flu shot, if your child is in a classroom of twenty students, think about that as a petri dish full of germs that are getting passed from one person to the next. Chances are they are going to get sick. (After all, the flu shot only takes care of certain strains of flu—not all of them.)
So if your little ones start complaining about chills and aches, here are a few things you can do to take care of their fever:
1. To cover or not to cover
One of the biggest misconceptions that comes with fever is that you should bundle up and sweat it out. This is not the best move to make.
First, you need to take your child’s temperature to make sure that they do, in fact, have a fever. But if they do, they may feel very cold and want to bundle as much as possible. Don’t!
This can actually make them overheat and sweat too much causing dehydration.
Your body’s chills and shivers is your system’s way of fighting off the infection. If you bundle up, you’re not letting your body do what it needs to do and the fever will just take longer to get over.
Then, cover them in a light to medium blanket. Be sure to change these blankets out regularly if they do start sweating as a sweaty blanket is just horrible to feel and can cause more shivering.
2. Stay hydrated
So, wrapping your child up has proven to be a fallacy. What about drinking lots of fluids? That one is right on the money.
You should definitely encourage your child to drink as much as possible. A fever will make you sweat, so drinking water will keep you from getting dehydrated, which will just add to the misery of the flu.
Give your child regular drinks of water and also mix in an occasional glass of orange juice as the Vitamin C will give them extra nutrients to fight the flu.
3. What about baths
Another common technique for dealing with fevers is to use cold baths to bring down the temperature.
This may be necessary for rapid cooling if the person is running a dangerously high temperature, it’s actually not a good idea for a standard fever. But you can help keep your kid comfortable with a lukewarm bath.
This will keep them warm and also help deal with the shivering. Just be sure to keep the bath no longer than 15 minutes or the water will get cold and that will defeat the purpose.
These tips for fever help you feel more prepared
No one likes having the flu, but it’s even tougher on moms who have to watch their child suffer, often with a feeling of helplessness. If you follow these tips, even though they may go against some things you’ve been told in the past, then you can help keep your little ones comfortable while their body fights off the fever.
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Struggle with staying on top of your bills and budgeting?
Do you stress out and dread when the 1st of the month rolls around?
Tired of living paycheck to paycheck?
Have constant arguments with your spouse around the family finances?
Have no clue on how to even get in control of your financial life?
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