Home Remedies You Should Avoid
Kids are always getting hurt, and injuring themselves. Most moms take it pretty calmly and have an updated first aid kit on hand. Other moms rely on methods that are now considered to be old wives tale type remedies. Learn the remedies you should avoid when it comes to treating your child’s minor cuts and bruises.
Iodine, Peroxide and Alcohol
These items have long been a part of mom’s defense against minor cuts and scrapes. But it is now thought that using peroxide or rubbing alcohol on an open cut can destroy skin cells with their toxicity and actually hinder the healing process.
Iodine is best used on skin that is unbroken. Doctors often use it to disinfect the site of an incision. Iodine does nothing to protect tissue that is healthy.
Mercurochrome is great for killing bacteria, but it has mercury in it and that is a toxic substance, as we now know.
It is now recommended that you clean any open wounds with simple, warm water. It flushes out the wound, and leaves the healthy tissue intact. After you rinse with water, apply an antibacterial ointment to keep the bandage from clinging to the wound.
Burn Care
Long used by decades of mothers for their children’s burns, we now realize that using butter for a burn is an old wives tale. Putting a coating of butter on a burn can make an area ripe for bacterial growth. Your best bet is to once again utilize plain water. Run the affected area under cool water in order to manage the heat, and halt any further scalding. Cool water will not only clean the burn, but will also soothe it.
Blisters are the body’s way of making a bandage for the wound, and you are advised not to break them. Fluids contained inside of a blister are sterile, and protect the tissue from bacterial invasion.
Filed under: Child Health
