AIBU to feel pretty annoyed that school wouldn't treat wasp sting

[FruitString]

My 8 yr old DS got stung by a wasp at school today. He was in a lot of pain, and practically screamed the school down. Eventually the school phoned me and asked me to take him home as he was in such distress. I rushed in, armed with a tube of Anthisan. When I explained to my DS what the Anthisan was, and had applied it to his pretty swollen hand, he managed to ask (between howls) "Why doesn't the school have any of that?" I assumed that they would have given him something, maybe WaspEze or similar. But no. They did give him some kind of mild cooling spray (which I think is meant for itchy insect bites - and in fact made it much worse, apparently) but they are "not allowed" to use anything specifically for wasp stings, in case a child is allergic to antihistamine cream. AIBU to find this utterly ridiculous? I never heard of anyone being allergic to antihistamine cream (pills yes but not cream), and anyway all they had to do was glance in his records to see that he's not allergic to anything. I want to express my annoyance about this policy to the head but need to know where I stand. Anyone else know anything about school policies on treating wasp stings or similar? Does it vary from school to school? Is it a government thing? Surely it's basic first aid? By the way I DO totally understand them not wanting to issue oral medication, eg. Calpol - obviously that could be a very bad idea. But refusing to topically treat a wasp sting when someone is clearly in a huge amount of pain (especially someone like my son who is an HSP and whose nervous system means he does suffer pain even more than others unfortunately - I wasn't going to mention that, as it's a whole other story, but still..) it strikes me as positively inhumane! But... maybe IABU?

I imagine the 'cooling spray' was just a water spray anyway.

Are some wasp stings not very painful then? I always thought they were meant to be. Dh got stung between his fingers this summer and it was very sore. It was obvious from him that it was uncomfortable.

I was glad it wasn't one of the kids as Dh is a fairly tough, outdoors, sporty type and he found it tough to deal with. His hand was swollen for a couple of hours. Does that sound like a bad reaction?

Many other have said the same I'm sure but schools are not allowed to give any form of medication without specific written consent from parents. I be surprised if any schools had stuff such as antihistimine in school. The risks and the fall out if it goes wrong means that it just can't be done anymore.
It is slightly ridiculous but I'm not risking my job and indeed being imprisoned if your child has an unexpected reaction to something I've given him. It's the way our society is nowadays.

I pulled a wasp sting out of a year 7's tutee's head a couple of months ago. It was sticking out of her scalp, & she was in serious pain (crying eyes out) & also freaked out that her friends had told her it was still embedded & visible!

I scraped it out quickly with my fingernail, as recommended. Still got ticked off when I took her down to the office for First Aid!

Definitely not allowed to start applying cream for all reasons above.

Sure that was a wasp sting? Not a bee or hornet or something. Wasps don't usually leave the sting behind and bee stings are more painful than wasps.

Quite some years ago, as an NQT, I was told by the local authority I could be sued for assault for applying savlon cream! Luckily the parent saw it differently - but you can see why staff are not allowed to apply even OTC treatments.

Might've been, but we were overrun with wasps that week. Little bastards got me twice - my arm blew up like a balloon.

whatever it was, it flew in through a window, stung her, got tangled in her hair as she was running round the classroom in a panic, & had been pulled out of her hair, squished underfoot & thrown out of the window by another kid by the time I arrived at the lesson. Sting still sticking out - so I instinctively removed it, remembering to scrape not tweeze, before taking her for First Aid.

To those saying wasp stings aren't painful, you are just lucky. I recently ended up in A&E after my arm swelled and I came out in hives all over my body. The sting site was on my thumb and was very painful for 2 days, sore for 8! Took 5 days for the swelling to go. The whole thing was upsetting and more painful than I could have imagined (and I've done childbirth with limited pain relief so have a decent pain threshold). A 6yo with sensory issues could well be very upset by something not even half as bad as what happened to me.

Just on your point about no one being allergic to antihistamine cream? I am
I don't swell up or anything but i do break out in a lovely rash

Good... now you say that I come out in a rash with Benadryl.

Everton...
My son has sensory issues... if it's that much of an issue I would be expecting school to call me or I would be taking steps to put a plan in place with health professionals.
Not school's responsibility

Did DS have sugary stuff on his hands? That's the secret. WAsps are attracted to sweet stuff. Remind him to wash his hands more.

Wasps don't sting because someone hasn't washed their hands. They sting because they are evil.

If rinsing it was not enough to stop your child 'screaming the school down' then a parent should have been called for them to determine appropriate treatment. Can you imagine the outcry if the OP had been "my son was bitten by a wasp today at school. They rinsed it and sent him back to class. He cried all afternoon, but they just told him to stop smoking. Why didn't they call me if he was in obvious pain?"

My school just would not happen to have a tube of in-date Anthisan in the first aid box! YABU

We used to make a wasp catcher from an old jam jar (with the remains of the jam round the rim) filled with water. So sticky hands or mouths will attract them, they sting when you brush them off or press them.

I had two wasps nests in the garden and they ignored me (but the badger/fox got one lot), last year I grabbed weeds with a wasp on and got stung. So they will normally leave you alone unless something attracts them.

Usually a cold pack is all that can be applied. If parents want schools to administer medication it is at the discretion of the Head and must be accompanied by written permission from the parent. When DS suffered from headaches he was told off for carrying Paracetamol (secondary school) and I had to leave Paracetamol with the school nurse with written instructions about the circumstances under which he could have them.
Having had a child in my class with an allergy triggered by wasp stings I would always phone the parents to be on the safe side.
If the child was in such distress he was screaming the school down wouldn't the parent have wanted to be there to calm him down anyway?

Thread has moved on, but my daughter is allergic to antihistimine. Quite a large reaction from piriton type medicine, body swelled up and took around 3 days to eventually go down. Develops a skin rash if sun cream with insect repellant in is used. I don't consent to schools using antihistimine creams, as obviously one of the ingredients doesn't agree with her, and we don't know which one.

Dayshiftdoris - I completely agree that parents should be called if the child is that upset, and certainly don't think a school should be treating a wasp sting with medication. But there were a couple of posters minimising how sore a wasp sting can be, wondering why a child would scream about it, and I know from personal experience that is really unfair as they do really bloody hurt for some people.

Wow!

This is obviously one of those policies that has been very successfully cascaded down. I can't see a single person on this thread who's in a position of giving first aid to children and who doesn't know about this policy. I think it is encouraging that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet!

Agree, permanently exhausted! It's not often where someone posts on AIBU and everyone replies with the same response!

Fwiw my son was stung by a wasp on a boat in Dorset last week. He squawked for a minute then calmed down. It was on his chin and was a bit swollen. We didn't have cream with us. We did buy some a couple of hours later, but he didn't need it.

I was stung by a bee a couple of years ago up an alp. Again no cream. I got chilled water from a spring and that helped.

there is an obsession with bloomin"cream" in this country (UK).

Much more likely to introduce an infection this way than from the original incident.

MIL is insistent that you put savlon or TCP on every little cut/graze/sting... NO...

I agree Shop it's weird! My MIL has a "cure" for everything and is always saying "Oh let me put some ointment on that for DD!!" and I'm of the school of benign neglect where you wash the area if it's gritty and leave it alone!

As a kid the only treatment I had for cuts and stings was vinegar or salt water if something looked manky.