Accidents, such as burns, can be a scary for experience both children and their parents. Depending on the circumstances, burns can be significantly life-altering and require expensive hospitalizations. Consider the following five tips to treat your child’s burn injury.
1. First Steps
First, ensure that you and your child are safe. If something was plugged in, like an iron, that was causing the burn, unplug it. Or, if hot bath water was running, shut it off. Next, begin treatment. Help stop the burning by running cold water over the affected area. Do not apply ice or any ointments to the skin. Do not break any blisters that develop. Cover the burn with a clean cloth. If available, offer your child acetaminophen to help with pain. Determine if an emergency room visit is necessary, depending on the depth, size, and location of the burn, as well as if more aggressive pain control is needed.
2. Hospital Care
If your child’s burn requires an emergency room visit, doctors will determine if the burns can be initially treated in the ER and then cared for at home or if hospitalization is required. If severe, your child may require transport to a hospital that specializes in burns, where your child may need daily dressing changes or even surgery to fix damaged skin and tissue.
3. Treatment at Home
If your child’s burn is minor and can be cared for at home, there are several things you can do to help the body and skin heal. Ensure that your child has a diet high in protein to help promote wound healing, such as yogurt, eggs, and peanut butter. Help your child apply lotion to healed skin, which nourishes the skin and helps with itching. While the burn heals, keep the dressings clean, dry and intact. Reinforce dressings as necessary, and change soiled dressings per your doctor’s orders.
4. Consider Taking Legal Action
Accidents happen, but consider the circumstances leading up to the event. If a situation occurred that was someone else’s fault and ultimately led to their injury, you may need to speak with a burn injury lawyer at a firm like Alexander Law Group regarding compensation for medical and other expenses.
5. When to Call Your Doctor
As your child’s skin is healing, keep a close eye on it. Burns can easily become infected. Watch for signs such as having a fever over 101.5 Fahrenheit, increased redness around the wound, foul odor, and increased drainage. Your child may also be more irritable. If any of these sighs arise, call your family doctor.
It is important to seek medical assistance for burns, especially in children. Proper medical care promotes healthy skin healing and helps prevent infections. Once home, you can help your child’s wound heal with ointments and dressing changes. Don’t forget to consider if any legal action must be taken. Burns are a scary life event, and you should ensure that you are able to cope physically, mentally, and financially.
