Over one million children experience accidents in and around the home each year. Falls are the most common causes of accidents with 66,000 youngsters aged between 5 and 14 taken to casualty departments just in the UK alone.
In addition, around 15,000 children are admitted to hospital suffering from burns.
However, Nurse Kathleen McGraw said the statistics aren't as scary as they sound.
"You do have to put it into context, children do tend to be accident prone when they first start to walk and crawl and move around. It is part of the way in which we learn," she said.
So, what should be in your first aid box?
"You may have cuts and bruises to deal with so think of the ages of people who are in your house. A scrape is a scrape whether you're eight months old or 80 years old, the principles remain the same - have things that can cleanse the wound.
Have things that you can treat cuts and bruises with. These are things that will stop wounds from getting infected. Things like antiseptic creams, gels and sprays."
Kathleen says there are many old wives tales regarding how to deal with cuts and burns. She warns to ignore these tales.
"The most dangerous one is probably one of the oldest I've heard about putting butter on burns. No, no, no and many times no. The best thing to do with a burn is to run cold water and run that over the injury for 10 or 15 minutes and then cover it with a cold bandage.
I've been asked an awful lot about putting steaks onto black eyes. Once again this is an old tale and should be avoided. The best thing for bruising is to have a packet of frozen peas in you fridge. It can take away irritation and inflammation. For children have ice lollies in your freezer. If they cut their lip or chip a tooth this will take down the swelling and reduce the pain."
What about pain relief for kids? Kathleen advises: "proper paracetemol medicine is perfectly safe from the age of 3 to 6 months onwards."
So, to sum up, always have a first aid box in your home, and if you use medicine or plasters make sure you top them up when you have used them. There's nothing worse than searching for a plaster only to find that there's none left.
In addition, around 15,000 children are admitted to hospital suffering from burns.
However, Nurse Kathleen McGraw said the statistics aren't as scary as they sound.
"You do have to put it into context, children do tend to be accident prone when they first start to walk and crawl and move around. It is part of the way in which we learn," she said.
So, what should be in your first aid box?
"You may have cuts and bruises to deal with so think of the ages of people who are in your house. A scrape is a scrape whether you're eight months old or 80 years old, the principles remain the same - have things that can cleanse the wound.
Have things that you can treat cuts and bruises with. These are things that will stop wounds from getting infected. Things like antiseptic creams, gels and sprays."
Kathleen says there are many old wives tales regarding how to deal with cuts and burns. She warns to ignore these tales.
"The most dangerous one is probably one of the oldest I've heard about putting butter on burns. No, no, no and many times no. The best thing to do with a burn is to run cold water and run that over the injury for 10 or 15 minutes and then cover it with a cold bandage.
I've been asked an awful lot about putting steaks onto black eyes. Once again this is an old tale and should be avoided. The best thing for bruising is to have a packet of frozen peas in you fridge. It can take away irritation and inflammation. For children have ice lollies in your freezer. If they cut their lip or chip a tooth this will take down the swelling and reduce the pain."
What about pain relief for kids? Kathleen advises: "proper paracetemol medicine is perfectly safe from the age of 3 to 6 months onwards."
So, to sum up, always have a first aid box in your home, and if you use medicine or plasters make sure you top them up when you have used them. There's nothing worse than searching for a plaster only to find that there's none left.
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