A Deep Cut On Your Baby’s Leg

If something happens to your kid, you are more hurt than them. This is the story of every parent. We look after them very carefully by avoiding all the possible accidents that would happen to them, but sometimes unusual incidents still happen. The same happened with my second daughter too. I also have an elder son who is 6 years old now and he didn’t get any hurt on his body till now. When he was 8 months old, he got a small cut on his upper lip as he fell and hurt the edge of an iron-made bed. The cut was small and he didn’t bleed much. Still, I talked to my pediatrician and he told me an ointment name to apply for 3 days. It healed within 2 days. He is a little quiet and listens to elders when we say something. But my daughter is very curious about her surroundings and the things she loves. If she wants something, she will cry for that for at least one hour if we don’t give her and never listens to us. Every kid is different and we should not expect any two siblings or kids to be the same. Their different emotions, thinking, and different ways of working make them a different person from others. It’s their Identity. In this article, I will tell you what to do if your baby gets hurt or has a deep cut on their body due to an accident.

My Experience 

My elder son is 6 years old and my daughter is 2 years old. We just moved to a new house in Abu Dhabi. It is a 1-bedroom home with one small hall, a very small kitchen, a balcony, and a small bathroom. The bedroom was a little big. I never liked a house with small kitchens. As I am a homemaker and since I have little kids most of my time is spent in the kitchen making food, boiling eggs, and milk, and making some food for the kids. To do all these things you will need a spacious kitchen with all the useful items. I searched for so many homes here in this area as it is near to my kid’s school and my husband’s office. All the homes in this area are like villas divided into very small portions for rent. Some were studios with one hall, one bathroom, and one kitchen, some were 1bhk with a balcony, some were 1 bhk without a balcony, and some were 2 bhk with a balcony. The rent is so high here that we started looking for one bhk with a balcony. The balcony was compulsory for us as we have kids who play around and we need some fresh air to breathe and some time to spend under the sky and look at the amazing moon and stars. There were only 2 houses with a balcony in this area for rent. All the others were already rented or they didn’t have a balcony.

After shifting, I tried to keep all the kitchen appliances in the kitchen but since the space was very small, I kept most of the kitchen items that I don’t use daily in bedroom cupboards. There were some sharp objects like knives, pizza cutters, butter knives, peelers, tongs, and forks that have to be kept away from kids as they can hurt your kid.  I kept most of these items out of the reach of my kids but I forgot to put the pizza cutter in a safe place. Since we just shifted, I was still figuring out where to keep all these things. So I kept the pizza cutter in the kitchen cupboard that was below the gas stove area and I forgot about it. My daughter who was very curious to know what was there inside all these cupboards came into the kitchen and kept on searching for some interesting things in the cupboards.  Whatever she likes, she takes it to her room, plays with it for some time, and throws it away.

One day I was working in the kitchen and talking to my sister on the phone. My kids were playing in the bedroom so I thought they would not come in the kitchen now. After a few minutes, my daughter came into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. I thought she just came to take her favorite cup from the cupboard to drink water. I was right! She was taking the cup but there was a pizza cutter behind it. So my daughter pulled both the cup and pizza cutter from the cupboard. The cup was in her hand and the pizza cutter fell directly on her left toe and she started crying very loudly. I suddenly saw blood coming out of her toe. My heart broke into pieces when I saw the blood of my daughter for the first time. I didn’t even think that the small pizza cutter would cut so deeply as it is not as sharp as a knife. But my daughter’s wound was like the cut of a knife. I somehow stopped the blood with my thumb and poured some cold water on her wound. My baby was still crying. After a few minutes, the blood stopped completely and my baby was normal again. She was again playing, jumping, and happy like nothing happened before. After a few hours, I applied some turmeric powder just like our parents used to apply on our wounds in our childhood. I thought this wound would heal on its own within a few days. But I was completely wrong.

The next day we all had our normal routine like waking up in the morning, bath, breakfast, going to the park, lunch, games, and dinner. and bedtime. The next evening, my daughter started crying and showed me her leg continuously. She was not walking properly and telling me to hold her in my arms. She was standing on one leg continuously. I saw her wound. It was a little red and a little swollen. My daughter has a habit of taking all the pain and telling me only if it hurts more while my son cannot bear any pain. He tells me instantly if he has any issues. So when she had light pain in her toe she didn’t tell me and I also didn’t realize. When the pain got worse, she started crying and showed me signs. This was also only for a few minutes, after that, she went back again playing. When I saw her in that state, I became very worried. I didn’t know what would happen if it worsens or if it is not cured. I just wanted to go to the doctor immediately. So I told my husband and went to the hospital immediately that night as a walk-in without an appointment. We had a 2-hour long wait before we met the pediatrician. The pediatrician observed the wound and told me that it was infected already and asked me when she got hurt. He told me that she had a slight fever too due to the wound. I was shocked to know how a little pizza cutter can cause this much suffering to a baby. He told me to cover the wound while bathing and apply 2 ointments on the wound 4 to 5 times a day for 5 days. Those ointments were FUCIDIN (Antibiotic Cream) and CANESTEN (Antifungal Cream).

After we came home, I felt very guilty as a mother who was very careless about keeping such sharp objects within the baby’s reach. But it is ok. We all make mistakes as we are humans. No one can be a perfect parent or a perfect mother. Something or the other always happens though you do everything correctly. After applying the ointment for 5 days the wound healed a bit but not completely. So I kept on applying for 10 days. My daughter used to cry at night due to pain in her wound. I tied a plastic cover to her foot while bathing so that the water didn’t go inside the wound. I cleaned the wound with a clean cotton cloth day and night to keep it clean and away from dirt. After 10 days of complete care, the wound finally healed. She got her skin back and everything was normal again.

What to do when your baby gets a cut?

Baby’s skin is very sensitive and very delicate. Adults getting cuts on their bodies is not the same as in children. Their skin is very different from adults. Since their skin is very delicate, they get deep cuts faster and the healing process also takes much time. So if your baby ever gets hurt, never ignore it. Keep a close watch on it day and night and if you don’t feel good about it, it’s better to ask a doctor’s advice on what to do. Don’t try any home remedies if your kid is very small.  Here are some of the tips that you can do to make the deep cut heal faster.

• Stop the bleeding as soon as your kid gets hurt by gently applying some pressure on the cut with a clean cloth or with your thumb. If the bleeding doesn’t stop after 10 minutes, the cut is very deep and you should take your baby to the emergency room.
• Clean the wound with drinking water and avoid tap water as it may be contaminated. Don’t use any type of alcohol-based products on or near that area as they can irritate the tissue.
• Cover the wound with a bandage, adhesive tape, or with a clean cloth to protect it from dirt, water. and infection. You can also use cotton and plaster if you don’t have bandage available at home. If the wound is already infected, don’t put any bandage. Leave it open to apply ointments and cover it only when you give a bath to your baby.
• Symptoms of infection are swelling, redness, puss, fever, and pain in kids. If you see any of these symptoms immediately go to the doctor. If the infection worsens, your kid might also need to take antibiotics orally.
• Change the bandage when it gets wet or gets dirty.
• Raise the injured body part to slow down heavy bleeding in case of severe cuts.
• Talk with your family doctor or any medical professional about the incident to prevent the cut from getting worse.