5 month old scalded by boiling water-please help

[A1983]

My DD was scolded by boiling hot water in a flask placed on her pram yesterday by a close family member-it wasn't secure and leaked through. I'm distraught and don't want to talk to this person. She is 5 months old and ive just got home from Bristol burns unit, seems her usual self but im just so devastated for her, poor baby. She was placed under a cold running tap for 20 minutes then taken to hospital. This morning she had a bio-brane dressing put on her leg under GA and the Consultants say she has complete partial thickness burn (4% mid-deep burn). It's a waiting game to see if it heals by itself in the next 10-14 days-the outer area they believe will do but they say it's 50:50 for the middle area which is quite deep and may need a skin graft. I'm hoping and praying the burn will heal completely....and obviously ideally for her no scarring or discoloration of skin. It's such a large burn on a little leg. She is to eat a protein rich diet to aid healing so her breast milk and ill blend some fish, cheese, beans etc for her.

I'm in shock atm and just want answers now..but unfortunately we all have to wait. She has an appointment on Saturday to see if the bio-brane is still sticking, and will have her dressings changed every 2 days.

Thank you

My DD is 5 months old and was scalded with boiling water at 2 months old. On her legs also. It looked very similar to yours when it happened and took 10 days to heal and for the dressings to be taken off. She is EBF and we were told by the nurses that her fast healing was down to the 'magic breastmilk' which I actually believe. For the first week we were giving her Calpol and ibuprofen every 4 hours, and we're told she may need morphine for a particular dressing change but when the time came they decided she was ok enough without it. Once the dressings were removed, we were given an emollient cream (diprobase) by the burns unit and taught how to massage it onto her skin 3x daily. We actually do it after every nappy change though as they told us 'there's no such thing as too much cream' and like you we want to do as much as physically possible to help reduce scarring. We were told E45 is just as good and have also used that. 3 months on her scars are smooth and just much paler than her normal skin. She is mixed race and because of this her scars are unfortunately likely to show up more. We were told it would be between 6 months to 2 years before the scars would completely heal and she may be left with slightly lighter skin there but after reading the posts on here about similar situations I am feeling more comforted. We have an appointment this week with the burns unit to see how she is getting on and are hoping to be discharged. We are also going to be extremely careful with sunlight, going to keep her covered with factor 50 on anyway.

Other than when it actually happened and the dressing changes she has been completely fine, it is absolutely amazing how resilient babies are. I am so proud of her. I am also comforted by the fact that she won't remember it at all. I do know how you feel though, it is a living nightmare. I am completely traumatised by it, and like you being near hot water (in the shower, bath, washing up) brings back memories of it and makes me think of her pain. Unfortunately the waiting game doesn't end - it is still a waiting game for us now - wondering will the scars completely fade? It does get better though and those first few weeks are by far the worst.

I hope my post has been helpful to you. If you have any other questions for someone who is a few months down the line from you I'd be happy to help. Xxx

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Thank you for your advice and stories pp's.

I'm so glad your DD is healed but yes the waiting for it to be 'over' is so hard and exhausting. And yes still the wait to see how the wound is over the next couple of years is also extremely hard.

Unfortunately my DD seems to have endured deeper burns, at 16 days the centre area is still far from healed and so a decision to graft tomorrow is the most likely outcome. Here it is at day 16. The outer parts have healed so well. I just hope a graft wont be needed behind her knee where it's still white as that's where mobility can become an issue. Very nervous for tomorrow's Dr review.

Hi it's Lorenzo (login changed)... Good luck for tomorrow, got my fingers crossed for you. We were told a skin graft was a possibility too but thankfully it wasn't needed so you never know.

One more thing, did you see a physio at the burns unit? We saw a few who said her moving her legs is the best thing to prevent skin tightening around creases like the knee, ankle, toes. Luckily our dd didn't stop moving her legs even in bandages although her movement was limited in them. We were shown some exercises to do with her, bending her knees up to her chest etc.

Oh something else, we were told to bath her legs daily as the emollient cream is very greasy (before the burn we had been bathing every other day). We now alternate been a full bath with normal bubble bath on one day and a 'half bath' (just legs and bum) on the next day with E45 emollient bath oil. This stops her skin getting too dry from over bathing.

I haven't read all responses so not sure if this was suggested already but if you can get some allo vera plant and break it and put it on the burn under the dressing it really helps with healing burns

Thank you, she's not really an active baby but does move her other leg more-but then the bandages preventher bending her bad leg atm. My OH is a physio, (small blessing) so she'll be given the best help on that front whilst I massage religiously.

Poor dd, I hope you get good new today op

I have been following your thread, just wanted to wish you luck for today.

What a terrible to happen :(

It does look like it is healing well though. I hope it continues to do so.

for you and your little girl.

I haven't read all responses so not sure if this was suggested already but if you can get some allo vera plant and break it and put it on the burn under the dressing it really helps with healing burns

Please, please dont do anything like that. Burns get infected so easily. That is very dangerous advice.

My dd 16 had a skin graft on her hand when she was 2. The graft was taken from the inside of her thigh. Obviously it was much smaller than your dds burn but it did heal very well. There is a scar but it doesnt bother her, even at this age.

ahh good luck :( and hugs. It doesn't look like it is healing ...\

Thank you-yes don't worry her leg has been covered with appropriate dressings by the burns team throughout-only healed skin can have things applied topically-in my DD's case anyway.

Very nervous about today but realistic about the probable outcome :'(

Once dd's dressing was off we were just told to use and emollient to massage her hand. We were also told for her to play with playdoh which is irrelevant for a leg, but they did say swimming was excellent because it involves lots of stretching and reaching out (for dd's hand) but kicking in the water would be good for your dd.

Good luck

Have been following this and just wanted to send luck and positive thoughts for today. It sounds like she is getting fantastic treatment. I can't imagine what you have been going through but you have obviously been so strong for your little girl

Hi OP

My youngest had an accident just after Christmas 2012 and pulled a bowl of soup over himself. My husband was 2 steps away from him and had him under a tap within seconds but as DS2 was trying to pull himself up from lying under the tap some of the soup was trapped in the folds of his chin/neck which is where the deepest burn was. He had burns similar to your daughter's on his chest and face which have completely healed. The part under his chin is still raised and receiving treatment so I can maybe help you with what to expect later. DS2 didn't need a graft, although it was discussed in the early days.

Once the wounds had completely healed, we were given kelocote but I didn't find this helped with the texture of the burn at all. The hospital then gave us a silicon tape, BAP Scar Tape, which has been excellent in smoothing his skin. Very expensive apparently but worthwhile. We use this with deprobase cream regularly (massaging as hard and long as he will tolerate) and kelocote in the daytime as he doesn't keep the scar tape on when he is awake.

We also have pressure dressings, under the care of a physio team so your OH might know about these, made to measure and to be worn 23hrs a day to help flatten the texture of the burn.

Just over a year down the line, DS2 has a light pink small scar under his chin which the hospital still see us every few months for and are trying to improve as much as possible. They also talk about doing a steroid injection into the scar under GA but I'm hopeful that this won't be required. We're actually back tomorrow for our next check up.

I hope a graft isn't required for your daughter and she will continue to improve under the care of the hospital. X

I've just read your story op and it's so worrying for you but it sounds like your daughter is in utterly the best hands with a good team if health care professionals but also very dedicated parents and that means a lot! I just wanted to say I've worked on a children's ward and am amazed by their resilience and ability to heal and how quick they are to forget and carry on. Your daughter will not remember any of this as upsetting as it is for you, and she will heal even if skin grafts are required and that's important to remember even though now that seems a long way off.

I'll be thinking of you today. I've only just seen this thread, but as another positive story, I was badly burnt on my legs/thighs/feet at 7 months old when I pulled a container full of boiling water which was warming a bottle over me. My mum still gets tearful about it now when she tells how it happened, and from the few pictures I've seen of the burns they look very similar to your little girls. Mum says that grafts were discussed as an almost certainty, but as time went on it wasn't needed in the end.
We had to go into the hospital each day to pop any new blisters and redress the burns, but now, you cannot see any evidence of the burn whatsoever. You would never ever guess that i had ever been burned, and it has been that way for as long as I can remember, it had certainly all cleared up before i started nursery. I don't remember anything about it at all and your little one won't remember any of this in the future, it is much more distressing for you. Don't give up hope!

How did it go today? I hope you had some good news and I will be thinking of you and your dd.

Thank you for your positive stories-but it goes to show that DD was burnt more severely-the Dr actually said the centre part is a full thickness burn. She is having a split thickness graft on Wednesday and then it's a long 5-7 day wait to see if the graft has taken. I really hope it does so my poor baby can finally begin het path to a painless recovery. She is in tremendous pain at each dressing change-heartbreakingly so.

Does anyone know if a graft grows in proportion with the rest of the body? Ie say it's a satsuma sized graft now (but she obviously has a little leg so it's big on her) will it still be roughly a satsuma size or stretch to an equal proportion? Ie grapefruit as an adult? I'm sure the nurse said it won't grow thus the residual 'healthy' skin has to compensate by stretching. Obviously a satsuma sized graft on an adult is a little easier to deal with on all levels.

As for quality/cosmetic outcome, the degree of the burn plays a part so she may not have the smooth graft I envisaged and hoped she would, and instead 'ribboned and bar' effect with scar tissue. I asked if scar management played a part ie massaging, pressure garments and he said every scar is different and despite all those things it could still contract and ribbon. Great.

I'm so sorry to hear that your dd will need a skin graft. What a terrible time you have had. xx

So sorry to hear she needs the graft but this does mean they will sort everything as soon as possible and she will be well on the road to recovery. All these stories are positive and you mustn't lose hope :-) she is a very strong baby. Keep strong! Xx

If there's one thing I've learned it's that they cannot predict healing at all, so bear in mind that they're trying to prepare you for the worst case scenario. I hope for the best outcome possible for your daughter. X

I hope today has gone ok for your dd A1983. You are being so strong, she seems such a fighter .

Thinking of you today A1983 hope all goes well.[thabks].

So sorry for you and your brave and beautiful girl. Wishing her a speedy recovery, poor mite. Xxx