Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to the wonder brother podcast. My name is Gina Mitchell. I'm a pharmacist in mom of three. I'm here to chat all about child and family health. I combine healthcare and practical advice to help you on your parenting journey.
Speaker 1 00:00:16 I really
Speaker 0 00:00:16 Hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 00:00:18 In this episode,
Speaker 0 00:00:19 I'll be chatting all about
Speaker 2 00:00:20 Out how to prevent burns skulls and bumps to the head in children. But first of all, let me introduce you to my sponsor.
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Speaker 2 00:01:05 I really, really love how fearless children are. They're like little explorers learning everything about the world around them. The only problem with children is that they're not great at seeing risk. So it's our job as parents to ensure that we encourage their fearlessness, we encourage them to explore and learn, but at the same time, we make sure they're doing it in a safe environment. It's probably no major surprise that 40 to 50% of head injuries that present to hospital are in children. The most common reasons for children getting a serious bang or knocked to their head are from falling on stairs. So definitely make sure you have a stair gate in place. If you have wobbler or toddlers, exploring children also commonly fall off beds. So for toddlers who are out of a cock bed, there's a, a period of time where a rail on the bed might be helpful.
Speaker 2 00:02:07 And for children who are in a cot, I advise not to use a cot bumper because once a little baby gets big enough to get onto their own two feet. As we said, these people think they're the Napoleon of the exploring world. They tend to try and use the bumper as a little step up onto the side of the cot in a bit for freedom. Obviously when they get to the top, they can fall. So it's just something to be mindful about in relation to cotton bumpers. Another reason is children tend to like to climb furniture. So with this, I think positive reinforcement explaining to children. No, no, we don't climb that. That's for putting our clothes in. That's not a toy, that kind of thing, encourage them to understand what's safe to explore, and what's not another slightly horrifying way that children can get a minor head injury or a major head injury is by falling from a window.
Speaker 2 00:03:11 So I really recommend moving all furniture away from the window so that your child isn't at risk of taking a tumble. If there's no furniture there, it's harder for them to reach. So just to be kind of mindful of that, when you're setting up your child's bedroom, it's also a good idea to put safety catches on the windows for when they're a little bit bigger and might actually be able to reach another common reason would be in the bathtub. It can get quite slippery, particularly if you're using an oily am, Molan, this can make the bath surface really slippery, and God I've nearly come down myself, nevermind the children <laugh>. So I definitely recommend keeping a close eye on children in the bath who are at risk of, you know, pulling themselves up. Don't leave them unsupervised. Even if you have to, you know, go out.
Speaker 2 00:04:04 If the doorbell rings, bring the child with you, don't leave them there because the likelihood is they'll try to get up and potentially fall another way, which children tend to fall a lot is by exploring cluttered pathways. So just to keep, keep an eye when your child is walking. So this can be anything from a little forest walk, you know, tripping over branches in the ground or even at home. So it's a good opportunity to try and encourage them to tidy up after themselves. Let me know how that works out for you. I'm still working on it here another way and probably a really common way in my experience. Certainly my children go to crash a couple of days a week, and I seem to be constantly getting notes about them running into other children. So children play very enthusiastically. It's important to explain to them, to play safety and gently, and to be careful when there's other children around that, they're a bit aware of their surroundings.
Speaker 2 00:05:07 Finally, then it's really important to encourage your child to wear a helmet. And this applies to when they're on their bikes, even if they're just balanced bikes, but also on scooters, see loads of children flying around on scooters with snow helmets on, and you know, if they hit a small twig or something, that's on the ground, it's quite possible that the scooter could flip or they lose their balance and can get it back to the head. So I know that all sounds very daunting. And as I said, it's really important to Inc urge or children to play and go out and explore the outdoors and have fun. Children learn so much through play. It's one of the most important factors in their life. Touching, feeling, exploring at a young age, definitely isn't something that we should be trying to get our children to stop doing.
Speaker 2 00:06:01 And it is reassuring that 90% of head injuries in Ireland are minor. So I suppose today, I really want to highlight what is a normal response to a minor head injury and kind of symptoms you can look out for if it is not so minor and you need to seek medical attention. So the first thing to say is when you hear that dreaded bump followed by a very loud cry. Hopefully I say that because obviously with any fall, you know, a bang to the head, can you to an unconscious episode, if your child loses consciousness at all, that's definitely something that requires medical attention. So what's normal is the bump. And then the cry. And the best thing to do in that situation is to go over to your child and give them the biggest, biggest hug, lots of reassure, or in lots of cases, then you're gonna, if they're outside or playing, bring them to an ice comfy spot and sit with them and cuddle them, use an ice pack to ease some of the pain and help produce inflammation on the bump, always cover an ice pack with a te towel.
Speaker 2 00:07:15 I learned that the hard way myself, even though I know better once I had a bad bang and I was using an ice pack and I decided it wasn't cold enough through the tea towel and that I was pretty hardcore. And even though I know the risks, I still put a plain ice pack straight against my skin and give myself a nasty iceberg. Definitely ensure that an ice pack is covered before, put it on your child's bump. Other than that, you really do need to supervise for 24 to 48 hours. If someone else is minding your child, it's important to highlight to them that your child has had a knock to the head and that you'd like them to keep an eye on your child's form. What's normal. After an injury can be a little bit of dizziness, some nausea, but any symptoms like that should be shortlived.
Speaker 2 00:08:06 So it shouldn't be going on for hours and hours. And if it's getting significantly worse, then it's really important that they're taken to a and E or that you're calling an ambulance using 1, 1, 2. If your child is just distressed at and needs, hug and love and an ice pack, they might complain of being a little bit dizzy or feel a little bit sick just for a short time. Then you can keep an eye on them and keep them at home and treat with an ice pack. But as I said, if any of these symptoms are getting worse, that's definitely time to seek medical attention and just make sure that whoever is going to it, to them for the following 24 to 48 hours watches out and to make sure that their symptoms aren't deteriorating warning signs of an injury, not being minor are something that should be responded to very quickly.
Speaker 2 00:08:55 So, as I said, already, unconsciousness is always something that needs to be addressed by a medical practitioner, even if it's only very transient and it doesn't last long. Also keep an eye on your child's speech. If the speech starts to become slurred, this can indicate a more serious head in injury. It's the same for double vision or hearing loss, and also balance problems. If your child starts vomiting, persistently, that's also a sign of concussion and a more serious head injury. If your child is weak or drowsy and is really out form just not themselves, then it's important to get them checked out something that sounds obvious, but important to know that it can happen. And to look out for it is any blood or even clear fluid seeping from the ears or the nose. So if you notice either of those, that's another situation where, you know, need to go and seek medical attention.
Speaker 2 00:09:55 Another place to look after your child has had a bad bang is behind their ears. If you notice any bruising down behind their ears, then it's definitely better to get it checked out. Now, I know they are all horrifying symptoms just to reassure you that most bumps to the head are minor, but it's just good to know what to watch out for when it happens. The, the other thing you can do is give a little bit of parce small. And as I said, do allow them to rest. After they've had a bank to the head. If you don't have an ice pack in your freezer already, I definitely would recommend doing it. I prefer using a Medicare ice pack over a bag of PE for example, because the one that I use are called Medicare hot cold packs, and these can be stored in the freezer.
Speaker 2 00:10:43 And when you take them out to use them, they are really smooth. And so they can contour around any bumper injury or even if it's an elbow really well. So I find them more active. I usually keep a couple of them in the freezer because someone usually ends up not putting one back in. <laugh> just saying mostly me. So it's handy to have two there, just in case. Another thing that I tend to bring with me when I'm going on a day trip, or we actually have one permanently in the car is a Medicare instant ice pack. So these are really handy. They don't need to be kept in the freezer. You just press a little section in the ice pack and it turns instantly cold. These are really handy to have under the buggy or in a change bag. You never know when you're gonna need an ice pack.
Speaker 2 00:11:36 Okay? So now I'm going to move on to the equally traumatizing topic of burns and skulls. First of all, just to explain a burn is something that's caused by dry heat, like an iron or fire, and skulls are something that are caused by wet. So first of all, I'll give you some tips on how to help prevent skulls in the household. The first thing I'd say, and it may sound obvious, but when you're cooking, make sure and use the back rings, not the rings at the front. If you have a choice, this means that if some small person comes along and puts their hands up on the ho, they're less likely to come in contact with anything hot. Also make sure that you place the handles on the sauce, pads back towards the wall and not overhanging off the edge of the oven because these be can be tempting for young children to grab their next thing would be to use place mats instead of a table cloth on your table.
Speaker 2 00:12:32 The, this really is a good idea because toddlers and young kids and even babies who are, you know, rolling around and crawling and making their first moves and trying to explore, they can decide. It's a good idea to pull on a table cloth. And if there's any hot drinks or food on the table, obviously there's a risk that they could fall down on top of the child. For older kids, it's important that you promote independence, but do remember if a child is using something like a microwave, when they reach up to take the food out of the microwave, if the plate is hot, they can actually get sore hand, realize the heat and their brain will tell them to drop it. And unfortunately, often they will drop the fluid down on top of themselves, which will further add to the risk of burns. So just make sure you're supervising any independent, older children that you have.
Speaker 2 00:13:25 The bath temperature should always be checked before used for children. The ideal temperature is about 37 to 38 degrees. It's worth noting. This says a good three to four degrees cooler than what an adult would normally bathe. That you can stick your elbow in to feel the temperature of the water, and to make sure that it's suitable and it's not gonna scald your child. Another good idea is when you have run your bath, make sure that you always run the cool to tap last. This means that if you're a child reaches for the tap, the tap will then be cold and not hot. So always finished with cold water. It's a simple thing, but very, very practical, be careful with hot drinks. I know I've been tempted to have hot drinks while breastfeeding, and you know, there are times that you think you can manage it and, you know, be there are times where I have, but it is a risk and I would urge caution drinking, hot drinks or leaving them down beside children, never give a child a hot water bottle.
Speaker 2 00:14:25 And if you do use one to warm up their bed, just make sure and take it out. When they get in for burns fireplaces are extremely exciting things for children to look at ESP. Actually, during that first fire of a new season, children who aren't used to seeing a lit fire will go right over and put their hands straight on a stove or over beside the fireplace. So ensure you're using a fire guard, oven doors are obviously very hot and the tops are stove. So always supervise children when you're cooking. No good ever came from ironing. <laugh> okay. So I might do enough ironing and I'm gonna use this as my excuse, but it's definitely a good idea. Not to iron while small children are around. If they come over looking for your attention and accidentally pull on the cord, a hot iron can easily fall.
Speaker 2 00:15:14 Same goes for hair straighteners, keep lighters matches and candles outta reach. Also in hot weather, it's kind of useful to have a feel of the slide or the playground equipment before you let your children play on it. Some of the slides, et cetera, can get extremely hot. So I know on some hot summer days, I dress my children in full leggings instead of shorts, just because, you know, they're a lot less li likely to burn themselves on a hot slide equally on a hot summer's day. And hopefully we'll have plenty of them. Seatbelt buckles. It's not something you really think of, but seatbelt buckles can get quite hot. And if your child touches off the seatbelt buckle, and obviously with five point harness, this can be between the legs and if they're wearing shorts, it can result in a burn. So it's just something to be aware of.
Speaker 2 00:16:05 Now, there are different types of burns and the treatment for burns and skulls is essentially the same. So really when we talk about treating burns at home, we're talking only about treating superficial burns without medical attention. So for superficial burns, the first kind of burn is where damage is done to the epidermal layer of your skin. And the skin becomes a bit red and sore can even be a little bit, but there aren't any blisters. Then you can also get a superficial dermal burn. So that's when the skin, the next layer down is also damaged. In this case, it still can be quite sore. And the skin usually goes pale pink. This is the situation where you start to get small blisters. So those kind of burns are okay to at home. Now, I would say that any burn that's larger than your child's hand should be seen by a doctor.
Speaker 2 00:16:59 There are other types of burns, such as deep dermal burns, and this results in the skin getting really red and blotchy. It can be really sore and weirdly sometimes there can be no pain to it at all. It can cause swelling, but these kind of burns do need to be seen by a doctor. The last type of burns, you definitely would. I'm sure have no doubt that you'd be seeking help and that's a full, uh, thickness burn. So this means the three layers of your skin are all damaged and often it's, you know, in this case, it's horrible and gruesome. The skin is burnt away and the tissue can be kind of any tissue. There is pale or blackened. There's no blisters and it's very leathery or waxy appearance. Okay? So for the treatment of burns or skulls, the first thing you do is run the burn under room temperature, water.
Speaker 2 00:17:53 So you're not using ice cold water, even though it seems like the logical thing to do, you're using Luke warm or room temperature, water, and you actually need to leave the burn exposed to the water for 20 minutes. Now that is so difficult with a child. So if you have a burn on their hand, it's good to maybe pop on a cartoon or something and let them sit with their hand in a basin of room, temperature, water. It's important not to use any ice on a burn. You feel like you might cut it down, but it can actually damage the skin. And it's also important to avoid creams or greasy substances, remove the clothes near the area. If you find that the clothes are kind of stuck to the skin, then you're best not to pull at them. So just remove clothes where it's easy and where it's possible.
Speaker 2 00:18:43 Otherwise, leave them in place and apply the water over the burn. Obviously at that point, then you'd kelp. When you're treating someone for a burn and you know, you're soaking their body part and you've stripped their layers. It's important to make sure that they're warm. So just offer them a little jumper or blanket random, always seek medical help. If the child is under five years of age, children under five years should always be seen by a doctor. If they receive a burn, always bring your child to a doctor or emergency services. If the burn that they receive is bigger than the size of their own hand, always bring the child to a doctor. If this Charing on the skin, last thing, blisters <laugh>, everyone is always, always tempted to breast blisters. And this is not a good idea. The blister is there to protect your skin and to help keep infection out.
Speaker 2 00:19:42 So by leaving it alone, you're allowing your body to do its own natural healing. After you've spent 20 minutes with your child, say, if it's their hand in room temperature, water, if it's a very small wound, use a Medicare hydrogel plaster. So this is for small wounds and a hydrogel plaster basically Soos the skin and helps to reduce damage to the skin. So these are good because they help to protect against infection and stop things bumping off or a child picking at a wound. So if the wound is larger and in an emergency situation, instead, you would be using a burn dressing. So instead of a plaster, you'd be using the Medicare burn dressing. These dressings need to be covered by what's called a conforming bandage. And that's a bandage that you just run app around the wound and it's highly breathable. So these kind of treatments provide instant relief from burns and skulls.
Speaker 2 00:20:39 And it's good to know that they actually work for sunburn as well. They help to protect against infection and to minimize the damage to your skin. They're also very soothing and they cool the skin. So they feel really nice. So you're not gonna have any trouble getting your child to let you put one of these up. If you have a child who doesn't want a dressing, what's very useful is the Medicare burn gel with Alovera this one, I particularly like it soothes the skin and reduces pain. So the same is with the burn dressings, but this is different because it actually forms a protective film on the skin. So that's gonna help to prevent any infection. You know, it's a good alternative to a plaster. If you have a child who doesn't want to use one right now that I've completely traumatized, all splitting all the different types of bumps and burns that our children can get around the house.
Speaker 2 00:21:32 I'm gonna leave it at that. But all of the products that were mentioned today are available on wonder wrap I E and I'll pop them in the show notes, just so you have them for reference. I will be doing a further episode about good things to happen, a first aid kit, but for now I, I think we've covered quite enough. I'll be back in two weeks with episode three of the Wonderbar podcast, but in the meanwhile, keep an eye out on the social media, because I might have a little guest interview on before then. I'm really excited about that. Anyway, thank you so much for listening and I hope you never need any of the advice that's in this podcast. Thank you.
