5 ways to treat wounds and bruises for preschool children

When preschool children get involved in minor accidents from playing, parents need to know ways to treat the bruises occurred. The best thing to do is to appropriately give them the first-aid, described as follows.

Contused bruises

These are bruises caused by being clamped or impacted by hard objects. There is not any visible cut or open wound but the inner muscle and capillary underneath the skin are torn, resulting in blood congestion under the skin that can be clearly seen in forms of bruising and swelling area on skin, with changed colors (magenta).

Treatment methods

• Foment the bruised area with cold water or ice periodically with 24 hours in order to stop the bleeding

• In the next 24 hours, foment with warm water in order to reduce the bruised swelling

• Never press, crush, or massage the bruised area with heat substances such as balm or massaging cream because they cause more bleeding.

Scratched bruises

This kind of bruises is caused by scrubbing of outer-layer skin and rough surfaces. Example of possible incidents are collapse, stumbling, and slippery. Normally, the bruises are shallow wounded with slight bleeding. Sometimes, there can be clear and sticky jelly liquid coming off the wound and also some dirt. This wound could be infected and result in inflammation.

Treatment methods

• Stop the bleeding by softly press the wound using clean cotton or cloth

• Clean the wounded area by using clean water to get rid of all dirty particles

• If the wounded area is very dirty, Hydrogen peroxide should be used in order to disinfect the area, and then thoroughly apply Betadine to the scratched area. If the scratched area is deeply wounded, gauze should be used to bandage the wounded area to prevent it from dirt and possible infection.

Cut wounds

The cut wounds are categorized according to the cutting objects such as knives, glass debris, metals, and other sharpened objects including pins, nails, and sharp-end objects. Basics of initial treatment for cut wounds also focus on prevention of infection.

Treatment methods

• Press on the wound’s opening with clean cloth to stop the bleeding. If it is a large wound, use cloths that are wrapped in multi-layers.

• Clean the wound with clean water, and then bandage it with clean cloth.

• If the wound becomes more swelling with some bad smell after treatment, urgently see the doctor.

Bruised lips and loose teeth

These wounds may be caused by tumbling, being hit by hard objects, or falling down from high level, which cause bruised wound at lips and loosened teeth. There is slight bleeding from the gum surrounding the loosened front teeth.

Treatment methods

• Use clean cloth to stop the bleeding, then rinse the mouth with clean water

• Eat only soft foods and avoid using the loosened teeth for a week

• If the teeth are chipped or broken (with sharp edges), the children should be taken to the doctor in order to reduce sharpness of the broken teeth. If the teeth are badly chipped, they can be fully filled to resume the original condition. If the broken teeth are not filled, they can get decayed more easily.

Head wounds

After the head is hit by hard objects, the blood capillaries will gather in and around the hit area, which can be seen as a bulging spot on the head. This is normally called as ‘bulging head’.

Treatment methods

• Foment the swelling area with ice wrapped in a piece of cloth in order to shrink the capillaries and reduce pain (warm water should not be used because it makes the bruises become more swelling)

• An ancient medicinal formula recommends using the white clay filler diluted with water, and then apply to the swelling area. Coolness of the white clay filler helps reducing the swelling.

• Carefully observe the wounded children for 24 hours, if they become drowsy or vomit without clearly know reason, they should be taken to the doctor immediately.