The last thing a parent wants to encounter is a medical emergency involving their child. With children being so adventurous, often disregarding their own safety, knowing how to safely carry out first aid treatment on a small body can greatly curb the initial dangers of an accident. Although you should definitely consult the appropriate and legitimate medical information regarding children and first aid, this article will act as a grounding source. No matter how old your children are, you need to ensure that you have the correct first aid supplies available in the home.
How to Treat Babies
The tiniest and most vulnerable human beings can often suffer the greatest injuries, that would otherwise have a lesser impact on an older person. For this reason, you need to be very careful and tender when treating an infant or toddler. Here are a few examples of the most common accidents a baby can encounter.
- Burns Infants will often accidentally crawl over heated surfaces such as stoves. Immediately following a burn, the affected body part must be run under cold water for around ten minutes. Following the water treatment, wrap the burn with a clean plastic bag or cling film. A more serious burn will need professional medical attention.
- Nosebleeds: A nasty bump to the nose can easily happen when infants are just learning to walk, as falling on your face can easily happen when you are attempting being bipedal for the first time. Gently tilt the baby’s face forward while softly pinching their nose. Hold this position for ten minutes, allowing the necessary clotting to form.
- Chokings: The explorative nature of babies often culminates in putting things in their mouths and allowing their gums to explore the textures. Swallowing such items can easily happen as a result. In such a situation, you should immediately deliver around five steady blows to the infant’s back. Next, position the child on your thigh face-down, pitched at a lowered angle. Deliver another few blows directly between the shoulder blades. This effort should cause the baby to cough up the stuck item.
Treating Child-Related Injuries
While children may be less susceptible to injury and accident than babies, that isn’t saying much, as children are still very vulnerable to accident-ridden exploration and are still quite physically vulnerable.
- Broken Bones: In the event of a child receiving sufficient trauma to fracture a bone, you will need to call emergency medical services immediately. What you can do in the meantime is to support their injured body part as best as possible with cushions or other soft materials until help arrives.
- Heavy Bleeding: This is another situation that will need emergency services, as children are very susceptible to passing out upon severe blood loss, which can cause them to fall into shock. Immediately following a deep cut or laceration, apply firm pressure with a towel to the bleeding area to stem the blood flow, keeping pressure until emergency services arrive.
- Head Injury: A mild impact to a child’s head can be treated simply by applying a frozen pack of vegetables wrapped in a towel to the bump. However, if your child begins showing signs of drowsiness or poor coordination, their injury may be more severe, and will require proper medical attention.
