DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

So, on Thanksgiving I was at my MIL's. DD is 19 months old, and we went into the kitchen to see MIL and my sister in law. They had the oven open and I kept DD away until it was closed. We walked around the kitchen and she explored the recyclables. Then she screamed. She was touching a metal grill, and I saw it wasn't sharp, and couldn't figure out what had happened. My MIL, said, "Oh no, she didn't touch the hot grill, did she?" I guess SIL had taken it out of the oven to fit the turkey in, or something and left it in the back of the kitchen.

We put some ice on it, and then bacitracin and some gauze. DD was in pain, but able to be distracted, eat her dinner, and play with toys and books. She was a little more fragile than usual, but overall was ok. When we got home, I looked at it more carefully. It formed a blister in a line down her palm. I called the pediatrician and spoke to the nurse, who said that we should just leave it alone, not pop the blister. We have been putting bacitracin on and cleaning it twice a day, changing the gauze. The nurse didn't seem worried, and said she didn't need to be seen.

Now, since it is Saturday night and the office is closed tomorrow, I am really really worried about it. I am driving my husband crazy with looking up stuff on the internet, feeling reassured we are doing the right thing, and then panicking that she'll need a skin graft or get a bad infection.

I don't know how much to worry- has anyone here dealt with burns on a toddler's hand? Should I bring her to the ER? Call the doctor tomorrow? Wait until it changes or looks worse? Please give me some advice or reassurance!

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

As long as she is acting normally (fragile is ok), I would wait until morning & call the pediatrician again.

If you're keeping it clean & it's not oozy, it's unlikely to get infected.

If you can't wait unitl morning & are local, I would head to PM Pediatrics in Syosset versus the ER. Last place you want to be is an ER on a Friday nigiht of a 4 day weekend.

Hope she's better soon.

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

My DD did that a couple of months ago. I took her to the doctor and they gave me cream to prevent infection. She doesn't even have a scar, so don't worry, your DD will be fine

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

My DD (9 months at the time) was burned back in August. (there's a post here about it someplace) she had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her face, arm and both legs.

the burn unit at NUMC told us: do not cover the burns. let it dry out. you don't want them staying wet, its more likely to cause an infection. use a little bacitracin if you need to. (that was ok) but they didn't want it covered all the time. (I would cover it with bacitracin and a bandage overnight just to keep her pajamas from getting all yucky, she was bleeding from the sites for weeks) they said that was ok. but to try and keep it uncovered as much as possible, again because it needs to dry out.

as for my DD, we are looking at permanent scarring, but the docs said as the burn gets deeper into the skin, you're kind of stuck with that outcome. my dd's legs were burnt through her entire layers of skin. so we know she will need plastic surgery on them. they are optimistic her face will heal. she had 2nd degree there, bad blisters, several layers of skin were damaged, but not quite all the way through. now, 3 months later, the burned area is faded, on a good day, hardly noticable. if she's been crying and her face is red, they will stand out quite a bit. but the skin is smooth and soft there. (her legs are another matter)

if you are worried about it, you can take her to a plastic surgeron to check out the area. or go see your ped. we saw my ped. after it happened as well. and they told us the same basic info that the burn unit at NUMC said. (And NUMC is supposed to be one of the top burn units around.)

HTH

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

My brother burned his hand pretty badly and they told him at numc burn unit to cover it lightly but not tight. Once the blister dried out then we had to un cover it. The good thing is that the skin on the palm is very resilant and probably won't scar at all.

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

Noah has burned his hand BAD twice. Once he grabbed my Hair FLat iron and Once as putting him from the car to the Stroller, he reached inside the tire and touched the hot brakes .

Both times we didnt take to the PEd. We kept bandaids on and use A& D and when it started to heal, neosporin on ot. the blister sometimes opens fromt he bandaid keeping it moist but it will heal back up.

The first one took like 10 days to heal and the second one more like 15-18 days or so.

eta- and bopth times he had huge horrible looking blisters. Thats a good thing, keep it covered ....

Message edited 11/30/2008 10:26:19 AM.

Re: DD burned her hand... need advice or reassurance

Thank you to all, I am feeling much better. Since the blister is still intact, we are just leaving it alone with some bacitracin and loose gauze. Most of the time she doesn't seem to care that it is there, as long as her thumb is uncovered for her to suck.