To physically restrain DD6

[Earringsallstuck]

I'm horrified to have typed that.

She had her ears pierced last month and one of them is infected. It's getting worse and she won't let me clean it, just screams hysterically and flails so I can't get at her.

It doesn't hurt; she has told me so. But she's scared to touch it herself or have me touch it.

I am using antiseptic spray on it which is hopefully helping, but it's starting to look really grim.

WIBU to physically restrain her so that her dad can clean her ear? And if not, what the hell should I do? She's a very sensitive child and I don't want to lose her trust but we have to do something soon.

And for anyone who says that we should never have got her ears pierced, I certainly did it against my better judgement and am now thoroughly regretting it.

It's done now, perhaps offer some support instead?

It's like suggesting to someone use a condom then next time so you don't get pregnant (too late).

Please persevere with the sleeping trick so she doesn't know what you are doing.

Explain if she doesn't let you clean it, or if she doesn't do it herself, she may get very unwell.

If she's got a skin infection and a fever call 111. She may have the beginnings of sepsis

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@sunsetsandsandybeaches

i didn’t say cotton wool I said the pads and simple squeeze the pads to flush the back of the ear. Yes she does need medical assistance because of the fever but it could be rinsed with salt water whilst she waits (you’ll wait hours after 111 for a response). Alternatively leaning the lobe into an egg cup whilst she waits. All sound advice and certainly wouldn’t do any harm.

I am a HCP. Do not mess around with the earrings, take her for medical attention tonight thru 111/walk in/out of hours GP.
She has a clear source of infection with a fever, lethargy and reduced appetite. All these indicate the possibility of a systemic infection (an infection that is not just contained in a local area) which is potentially dangerous and needs to be seen tonight.

@Princessdebthe1st

Yep agreed.

This happened to me when I was small I think I was 6 actually when I had mine pierced and my mum said the earring imbedded in my earlobe (it was a star shaped earring) and became swollen and was pussing.
I don't think she took me to A & E I'm pretty sure she bathed it with cooled down boiled salt water and it cleared up then once the swelling went down she changed the earring to a stud and it was fine. To this day I still have pierced ears.

Don't restrain her just bribe her tell her you need to get it out and clean it up and change it for a prettier pair when it's better and she can pick any set she wants in any colour and you'll even treat her to a big ice cream

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The best thing to clean piercings is sea salt dissolved in boiled and cooled water with a cotton bud. If you have to take them out and she wants them repierced in the future, it's safer to have piercings done with hollow needles at a reputable place (not claires). Anti-biotics will probably be needed. Hope she feels better soon x

Alright polly she knows ffs offer some better advice

As other HCPs have already said - as she’s showing signs of infection she needs to be seen. Get some salt water on it - hold her down if need be - and call 111 to see if there’s a walk in centre or urgent care without too bad a wait. As soon as she’s treated, the earrings need to come out and no more piercings until she’s at least 12!

Another former hcp here - get here seen asap and get the Damn things removed and the infection treated properly this could go very wrong very quickly in a little one.

This happened to me as a kid, parents delayed and the earrings had to be removed with injection of local anaesthetic and scalpel! Because they wet basically scarred onto my ears!

I was very unwell for a good week and didn't get them pierced again until I was an adult.

Ignore the ridiculous amount of typos there waiting on train no specs on

I hope you have taken her to see someone op I always think I’d rather be overly cautious than leave something too long. Kids can change in an instant and always at night or on a weekend!
No point in feeling bad/kicking yourself sometimes it’s easier when people are outside a situation to think more clearly. You aren’t the first parent to pierce a young child’s ears and won’t be the last.

Follow NHS advice which is to phone 111. Infections can be dangerous.

You have pierced it, now it is infected - your job as a parent is to react when it needs attention - which it now does.

It is one thing to pierce a young child's ear, but quite another not to get medical help when it is infected.

OP get that earring out ASAP and get her seen by a doctor. Physically restraining her in her best interests is absolutely fine if you can do it safely - the risks are lower than a general anaesthetic and it's better you than a stranger, however guilty you might feel.
Get that earring out and get her to a doc!

I seem to have wandered into a parallel universe in which it's normal to pierce a 6 year old's ears - but what's done is done, and the OP needs to stop asking what to do now, and get her child seen by someone who does know what they're doing. Then she needs to let it grow over and needs to remember not give in to the whims/demands of small children so easily in future.

We called for advice and are at the hospital now. Her fever is going up slightly - now at 38 - and she says she feels unwell but is still chatting to me.

Thanks all for the advice. Will let you know the outcome.

Agree.

I'm really glad you're at the hospital OP - right place! Hope all sorted very soon.

The last thing you should do with a severely infected piercing is to keep messing about with it, though. Salt water rinses at home are not the way to treat a severe infection with a fever - she needs it cleaned by a medical professional, and to have it treated with antibiotics to prevent sepsis.

This isn't a little bit of swelling and pus. OP's daughter has a fever and won't eat, she's also feeling generally unwell in herself.

NHS advice is to get immediate medical attention, not to use salt water rinses at home - as your egg cup, glass, cotton pads etc. won't be sterile and you risk introducing even more bacteria into the wound.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/infected-piercings/

You're in the right place.

You don’t want to take it out. It’ll heal over and a cause an abscess. It needs to be cleaned and potentially antibiotics if the infection has spread. Will she soak it in the bath? Then a spray with antiseptic after

Unless you're a doctor that's seen the wound, then removing an infected piercing is the LAST hing you should advise anyone to do. You risk the wound closing over and shutting the infection inside, making it much, much worse.