How to Treat Your Child's Cuts and Scrapes

Crying, bleeding, screaming... it can be a real pain for both you and your child when he or she gets a minor scrape or cut. Whether they fell off of their bike or scraped their elbow, this article will teach you how to care for and treat your child's cuts and scrapes.

1

→ Keep the child calm. It won't help if you are running all over the house and saying you will have to call the doctor's office. Hold your child's hand, speak in a calm voice, and even if the cut is bad, never say he or she will need stitches or other drastic procedures unless you are absolutely sure it is necessary, because this will scare him or her.

2

→ Stop the bleeding. Get a clean washcloth or paper towel and press firmly to the cut. Wait for a few minutes to stop the bleeding. To reduce swelling or pain, you can also wrap an ice pack around a washcloth and press it to the cut.

3

→ Get some kind of cut disinfectant. You should only use neosporin if the cut is not open. You could also use hydrogen peroxide, which works very well, but this will be painful for the child.

4

→ After disinfecting, put on a sterile bandage.

TIPS

→ It is good to use a dark colored compress so the blood doesn't scare the child.

→ If you are using a cream, like neosporin, you can spread some on the padded part of a bandage before putting the bandage on.

→ Take the bandage off every night to clean off the cut. Depending on how bad the cut is, you will need to keep it on for a number of days, and then take it off to allow the cut to get oxygen to heal.

→ Put a bandage over it and put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Change the bandage every night.

Warnings

→ If the cut is bleeding for more than 10 minutes without any improvement, you may need to take the child to the hospital, but call your doctor first.

→ If you suspect the cut will need stitches, call the doctor before you treat it in any way!