2nd degree burns

[Ruth_Baldock]

A disclaimer: I am not normally this...crap at parenting.

On Friday morning, Baby S (10 months) pulled a freshly boiled kettle onto himself. It got on his trousers (Thank GOD he was wearing thick denim combat trousers) and he also put his hand in it. His leg is fine, but he damaged his hand. Initially, he didn't cry much and was distracted easily from any tears. He ate and slept and played normally. However, on Friday afternoon, his hand went bright red and by 5pm he had some rather alarming blisters. I took him to a+e, and he was admitted overnight (probably because I was literally having a panic attack about it all- I suffered from pretty bad burns to my arms when I was his age, and still have the scars). He was given an IV as he was a bit dehydrated, as well as an antibiotic drip for a dose or so of antibiotics to be on the safe side, as we were having building work done and the place was a TIP. He was discharged and all was fine. We were given some creams etc, but were told that actually Sudocreme would also do the trick nicely.

He is still using his hand for pointing, playing and eating. It doesn't seem to bother him that much but last night in the bath, the first blister which burst on Sunday started to bleed. Obviously I was inwardly hysterical, but I calmly got him out of the bath, cleaned him up, stopped the bleeding and applied some antiseptic.

I can't get an appointment with my GP, they're booked up for the next week, and I don't want to take him to Kings again unless totally necessary; I just want a bit of advice and reassurance really. Is there anything else I can do for poor Baby S? (Who is his normal jolly, cheeky self all things considered). I forgot to ask the staff at Kings for any warning signs to look out for, whether scarring was likely, and how long it would all take to heal.

[EDmummy]

Poor you and your young son. Horrific thing to go through! I could be wrong here but I think you can ring Kings and speak to the Paeds A&E unit who saw your son to ask for the advice you didn't get when you were there. You will also certainly be able to speak to the ward he was on overnight and they may even offer to have a quick look at him on the ward.

Please don't feel bad. These things happen and it looks like you did everything you could do. Young skin heals very well and I would think it unlikely that there will be any long term scars.

[Ruth_Baldock]

Thanks for this, I'll call Kings from work.

[Monkey]

Poor thing! You could call NHS Direct. If they tell you to go to A&E, you can say you're sent by NHS Direct.

[Fuschia]

Poor you. These things do happen, my niece had a similar experiencewith hot coffee, she recovered with no ill effects.

Hope you can speak to someone. How rubbish the GP can't see him! What surgery is it?

[Ruth_Baldock]

St Giles Surgery in SE5. Same thing happenned when I had food poisoning. Spoke to GP on the phone the other day, she said she would try and pop by after work but didn't get round to it. Bugger.

[Fuschia]

There is a walk in GP centre in Peckham you know...let me find it if i can

[Fuschia]

http://peckhamgpwalkin.co.uk/

[Ruth_Baldock]

Thanks, Fuscia, this is right down the road from me, so I'll take him in tomorrow. Hopefully he won't have a screaming fit, and hopefully we won't have to wait ages!

[Fuschia]

It just occurred to me that I drive past it every day I go to work and had filed it in my head for future reference!

[Ruth_Baldock]

V useful, especially as I have a slight phobia of Kings now :/

[buggie]

Please, please don't call paeds ED for advice - this distracts nurses from families in the dept, and in a case like this the advice would be to come in as we can't assess over the phone (even with 9yrs experience I would want to see babybaldock's hand rather than advise over the phone).

Sad to see you say you've a phobia of Kings now - esp as it sounds like he was treated well/appropriately.

[Ruth_Baldock]

Buggie- he was treated very, very well- everyone very attentive and lovely and smiley and Baby Baldock wasn't upset at all, everyone made him feel very calm and he spent a lot of time trying to be cheeky and smiling at various nurses. He was declared to be 'a right bobby dazzler'.

I am really jumpy around hospitals in general, having spent a lot of time in them when I was younger. I also have this very real phobia that someone will say 'right, well, this was ALL YOUR FAULT, we're taking babby baldock from you now'. The first time we took him to paeds a+e, he had fallen off our bed, and it was noted as a head injury (thanks to my paranoid DH) and our HV got involved, and so did Social Services!!!! I know it's all to be absolutely certain that everyone is okay, but it still makes me paranoid. Kings is the best hospital I've ever experienced, bar Great Ormond Street, couldn't fault them really.

I'm going to go into the walk in clinic that Fuschia suggested, if they then refer me back to Kings, then to Kings I will go.

[EDmummy]

Apologies Buggie, if I have given the wrong advice. I thought what the OP was looking for was after care advice which she forgot to ask or wasn't given when treated. It was also the advice given to me by a Paeds A&E nurse and also a ward nurse when my children had been separately treated at Kings. Perhaps after care has changed over the last few years.

[Ruth_Baldock]

I'm looking for after care advice, and reassurance. Also, because when we were last at Kings, he had blisters but none of them had popped *vomit*. Now one has popped and bleeds sporadically and I am full on panicking even though my own Mother (a doctor) told me this is normal. I just want to make absolutely 100% sure I am doing everything I can, and also to check for any possible infection.

[buggie]

EDMummy - sometimes a nurse (and I know I've done this myself) may say to call back if any probs and tell the family when they themselves would be on shift, but typically we don't recommend this as often the nurses around won't have met/dealt with the family. Plus, especially with paediatric nursing it's a very visual assessment that's done so over the phone really doesn't work as well.

(sorry to all who've read prev posts from me droning on about this - even on mat leave I can't turn the nursey bit of my brain off - even in labour I was trying to suggest to the midwife where would be best to put my drip in!).

[MrsLL2b]

I burnt my hand quite badly recently and my neighbour who is a doctor recommended a gel called 'burnshield'.

It was amazing and it is suitable for kids too. She said that this would be the sort of thing they would have put on me had I gone to a&e.

It has some sort of local anaesthetic in it and things like tea tree oil and moisturisers. It made the pain go away instantly and is also antiseptic. My blisters were huge but healed really well and quickly.

I have since bought some for myself,I could only find it online but it is def worth having in the medicine cabinet.

Hope your little one is ok now.

[Claire.Hobbs]

Have you tried Seldoc?

[Ruth_Baldock]

No, because I was worried I'd get sent straight to a+e again. Will try Peckham walk in centre tomorrow. It's also close to softplay, so will ask if it's okay to take Baby Baldock there afterwards (see? being optimistic in a horrid situation)

[Belle]

No advice to add but wanted to say a) you poor thing - must have been very frightening esp given your childhood experience and b) is def the kind of thing that could happen to anyone - I always feel as though we miss accidents by a hair's breadth a million times a day. And of course sometimes we don't manage to miss them cue screams, blood, tears on both sides! Hope you get some good advice from the drop in place, try not to panic too much (but easier said than done!).

[Ruth_Baldock]

Thanks, Belle. Feeling positive about drop in place, really glad Fuschia brought it to my attention because DH is always halfway to a seizure worrying about Seb!

He's also currently got marks all over him from where he crawls too fast, faceplants into the carpet, and then carries on. Oh well, babies will be babies.

[Smiler]

Poor you and baby Baldock! Earlier this year Miss Smiler (age 2) had splashes of boiling hot tea spilled over her arm and back and bum - horrible.

Found the burns nurses at Kings great.

We were asked to go back to Kings for follow-ups with the nurses for a few days afterwards, which though a pain (and obviously worse for people who don't like hospitals), was reassuring. They checked the burns and changed dressings (which often came off due to the wriggling etc!). If you do have to go back there, they said the quietest time at the paeds A&E is early morning, e.g. 8.30/9.00am.

We were advised not to put anything on the burns other than dressings - the local chemists sell the dressings they use in the hospital (I wrote down the names of the dressings when watching the nurses), but you have to ask at the counter, it isn't on display. Once the blisters formed a thin, shiny glaze, they said to leave them exposed. This freaked me out, thought she'd bash the scars and make them bleed more, but actually seemed to work and they healed quickly.

At DMC (then our GP) it was the practice nurse to whom we had to go once Kings said we were OK not to go back, but it was harder to get an appointment with the nurse than with a GP, so ended up doing the dressings ourselves, though it was only a few days and then the burns had got to the stage where no dressings were needed.

Hope Seb recovers well - Miss Smiler did, surprisingly quickly. Seven months later the burns are visible, but only little white patches of skin, no obvious scars or redness, will just have to be extra careful in the sun etc.

Hope you're all back to normal soon!

[new mother]

" is def the kind of thing that could happen to anyone - I always feel as though we miss accidents by a hair's breadth a million times a day."

Agreed Belle!

Re BB, very sorry to hear about all this. :-((. Poor little one.

The only thing I can add is that I was once told never put a burn on a bbay under cold water - my initial reaction with burns - as they can get hypothermia!Also, be sure to check their nappy as otherwise they can get extra burnt where the water flows down and congregates.

Broke a big glass thing last night and spent hours clearing it and inspecting the area.

Horrible thoughts. :-(((

[Ruth_Baldock]

Thanks everyone, for all your well wishes and advice. I took Baby Baldock to the walk in centre in Peckham today, got seen very quickly. The GP prescribed some more antibiotics, and his burns were cleaned and re-dressed by a nurse. I have to try and keep the dressings on till Friday and then we're seeing the practice nurse at my own GP to have the dressings removed, and possibly replaced.

The GP had me in tears, and basically accused me of abusing my son. He asked why I didn't take him to my GP 'the moment the burn occurred' and said 'have you come here so your son's doctor doesn't find out about this?'. The nurse was MUCH more understanding, but did warn me that my HV would probably follow it all up (as I suspected). Have been feeling like sh*t all day, and am now convinced that SS will swoop in to take away baby baldock :(

Baby is responding well to the anti-biotics, smacks his lips when I come near him with the bottle, it's banana flavour I believe. His hand seems to be on the mend from having the dressing on it too. Heres hoping it all heals quickly!

[pebbles]

I just wanted to respond and say how sorry i am that the horrible dr was so horrendous to you. Of course you're not a bad Mummy, you sound from all your posts to be so loving and well just normal :) Please stay strong and stay believing that you're amazing and do everything you can possibly do cos that's the truth.

I know so many people who have visits from SS due to accidents happening, just remember that it's better that they do check you out than let people slip through the net.

Fingers crossed that BB continues to improve and that you never have to come across that doctor again.