Vent: DS's hands were burned at daycare
DS #1 (almost 4) goes to a lovely preschool that we have had no issues with. After I picked him up today I noticed the backs of his hands are very red/puffy/dry. It looks exactly like a scald burn. It is across the majority of the backs of both of his hands. I asked him what happened and he said he scraped them on the sink. That made no sense and so I asked a few more questions and he told me that he was washing his hands after he went potty and the water was too hot. He said he cried and his teacher asked him why his hands were so red. He keeps saying he told her "nothing." I am assuming he was crying and was too upset to articulate that he was burned. But it had to be obvious, right?
I am annoyed for several reasons: 1) That they didn't call me. 2) That they didn't do anything to try to treat the burns. 3) That they water is so freaking hot in a kids sink that he could get burned in the 1st place. 4) That this happened on a Friday so I can't bring it up until Monday and I have to stew on it all weekend.
Re: Vent: DS's hands were burned at daycare
This. And ask him what happened and write it in his own words, without help.
Those notes will help you stay on topic during your talk.
I'd be pissed.
I took a couple of pics tonight. I can't get them to come out as red as they look in person, but it does show the area that is burned. He does not have any blisters, so I am glad about that. I found some lidocaine spray, gave him a little Ibuprofen and put some moisturizer on his hands. Poor kid.
You are right, it is probably best I have a forced cooling off period. Thanks for the advice ladies!
I didn't notice it until we were home at about 6pm tonight. If it is not looking any better tomorrow I will take him in. I did call my FIL who is a pharmacist (I also sent him a pic). He gave me some advice on what to put on it. It seemed to help and he was playing and acting fine after the initial stinging of application was over. I am for sure not a doctor, but I am fairly confident it is a burn. It is pretty evenly red, a little swollen or puffy and his skin looks and feels dry. He seemed to get relief from running his hands under cool water. The only other thing I think it looks like is a wind burn. I guess it is possible he got into something - but I just cant imagine how he would get it on just the backs of his hands.
His daycare does not have an after hours number as far as I know. I will check - I had not thought of that.
I did try to question him without planting anything in his head, which is tricky with him. I asked him if anything else happened to his hands today and he said no. He was fairly consistent (as consistent as it gets for him!).
ETA: You are totally spot on about getting their side of things. Mostly I want them to check the temp on their water heater. They are really great, so I am hoping this is a fluke.
You mentioned wind burn, and that was actually my first thought. Both my younger kids still get badly windburned/chapped hands this time of year. They don't think it's cold enough for gloves/mittens, so they take them off to have an easier time playing and combined with all the handwashing they do throughout the day, their skin is bright red by bedtime. We've had to get the pedi involved a couple times when it was really bad.
I'd talk to your dr and your daycare about him wearing gloves/mittens and find the best way to treat his skin right now (Aquaphor?), assuming it is windburn and not a scald burn.
Hope you get your answers.
OMG, this would be the absolute worst thing to put on it if it is windburn!
See a dr.
Does your son play outside? Has it been cold and dry out? The backs of my children's hands look like this during the winter. They take their gloves/mittens off and the backs of their hands get chapped and raw. Looks like a burn, but it is not. When they wash it feels like the water is too hot because their skin is sensitive. Are any other parts of the hand burned?
ETA: I know I said it already, but it is only the backs of their hands that get red and chapped when they are overexposed to the cold. Never the palms.
I wouldn't necessarily jump to conclusions. If the water had scalded him and a teacher noticed, the best treatment is cold water to relieve the pain. Really not much more you can do provided the skin isn't broken.
I wouldn't expect to get a call for an issue that required only first aid to remedy. I would expect to be notified of it at pick up though.