18 month old with burn.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

About 4 days ago, on holiday DS chase a chicken and brushed against a log burner, he's got a 5cm burn on his arm, at the time I ran it under cold water for as long as he'd sit still. He didn't cry so I left it be.
It had a blister over it until today when he's knocked it off and now it looks raw and sore.
Should I be putting anything on it at all or just leaving the air to get to it?

We were watching him btw, as I say he was after a chicken and slipped over and brushed the corner of the burner through the fire guard.

5cm is pretty big - tbh I'd want someone mire knowledgable to have a look at it.

Even after 4 days? He's not showing any sign of discomfort or anything at all. I'll post a picture if anyone can tell me what it needs.

I won't be able to see a nurse or dr until Tuesday without going to A&E which seems a bit extreme since he's not even noticed it! we don't have a walk in centre or minor injuries unit anywhere near here.

This is it, he's just had a bath.

I'm not sure if there is any creams or anything I should be putting on it or bandages. I seem to recall being taught to not cover burns when I was doing Red Cross training as a youngster but that was years ago!

Oh, poor lamb, that looks sore.

Can you get to a pharmacy? I do think someone needs to advise you properly. I think you need to be careful it doesn't get infected too.

Hope he's ok soon (and you, it's horrid when your kids have accidents)

A pharmacy I can do, I didn't think of that. Thank you

The fact it's not bothering him or seem to be sore would concern me more than anything else. Personally I would take him to a&e.. he really should have gone when it happened.

I suffered a nasty burn to my hand 2 years ago. They said to me that sometimes where the burn is quite severe it actually numbs the pain receptors so it isn't painful. You really need to take him to a and E. With me they put some sort of special gel dressing on it with a silver based cream and I had to go to the local gp nurse every 3 days afterwards for 2 weeks to change the dressing. Thankfully no scar now.

Ds burned the palm of his hand when he was a toddler (faulty storage heater) and he needed antibiotics. It's best that you take him to get it checked and dressed, incase he needs antibiotics too. Feeling no pain isn't a good sign as it can be an indicator of nerve damage so he really does need looking at. The advice is not to put cream on a burn but it does need dressing to keep it protected while it heals. It needs to be a specific dressing too as most will stick to the wound, so A&E.

I hope he's OK.

You can buy special burn dressings, or hydro collie dressings which absorb the fluid that leaks from the burn, but doesn't stick.

Last summer DS had a really bad graze which became infected. I took him to the walk in centre and they had the same dressings but in a thicker size (I,e. The depth of the absorbent gel). Also, the other advantage of the walk in centre was they gave me extra dressings to re-dress it at home.

My dd had a much smaller burn but nevertheless GP told us to come in. He dressed the burn and then we had to see the nurse for quite a while as she needed to change the dressing regularly (from memory every other day initially).

This burn is much much bigger so I would go to A&E or at least call OOH and ask them for advice.

The biggest risks at the moment is infection and scarring.

BTW on the photo his arm around the burn looks very red. This could mean that he has an infection. Does his arm with the burn feel warmer than his other arm?

If still take him to A&E. That is quite a big burn for a small child.

There are lots of dressings which will seal it from bugs but won't take the healing tissue off the top. Would a call to NHS 24 be of assistance?

I would also suggest a pharmacist - ours is invaluable.

Ooo ouch! Sounds like he needs one of those moist Vaseline type dressings from the pharm.

Clingfilm works very well, but you need to see a doctor, if not tonight then first thing tomorrow, a burn that size in a small child is a problem. DH got a nasty infection from a burn that was smaller. Any burn in a child under 5, you should get medical attention.

This NHS advice indicates that A&E is the right thing to do.

I'm in a&e now with him after speaking to 111. I feeling like a complete idiot not knowing it could be so bad, I stupidly assumed no pain/no problem

Titsalina I'm sure I'd have been the same if my DC hadn't seemed bothered. I hope it's all ok

Don't feel bad, it's so hard to know if they aren't complaining, I would have done the same thing. Hope he's ok.

He's been seen and it's fine, healing well, just looks worse than it is. Home again now, no dressing needed.

That's great.

Brilliant. Don't feel daft. I am not sure we would have taken dd to A&E in similar circumstances. We will know better now.

Hope LO is for as a fiddle very soon.

that's great news. I hope he's OK.

Whew. Glad he's ok.