Mum's warning after toddler's terrifying campfire accident: 'Happened so quickly'
By Madhurima Haque|
Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere, so it's important to be prepared. One mum has shared details of how she treated her son's severe burn while in the wilderness, helping other parents understand how to treat a burn in an emergency situation with limited resources.
Posting to the Tiny Hearts Education Instagram Page, Rachael Waia, from Melbourne - who runs the page with sister, paramedic Nikki - shared the details of the "worst day in our parenting journey."
While on their first camping trip one long weekend, Rachael's family was excited to gather around the campfire. "We sat around the fire in our camp chairs gazing at stars and eating our dinner. I went to get Kai's PJs when I heard a blood-curdling scream," she wrote.
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"A scream that I will never forget, a scream that time feel like it was standing still and rushing by me at the same time a scream that made me run."
Her then three-year-old son Melakai had tripped on his feet while walking past the campfire and put his hand out instinctively to break his fall, which landed in the hot coals. Unfortunately, this caused partial-thickness burns to his hand.
His quick-thinking parents leapt into action straight away, with her husband urging her to grab some water.
"I still didn't know what had happened but I knew it was serious," recalled Rachael. "I ran back to the car and in the dark was trying to find our bottles of water and yelling as loud as I could to nearby campers that I needed water. Families came over quickly with water, Panadol and even the keys to their car!"
"I saw his little hand was burnt. I didn't know how bad I just knew we needed to cool it. I put a bucket under his hand and started to pour our bottles of water over his hand. Between two buckets and a s--- load of bottled water I kept circulating the water over and over between the buckets. I knew I needed to keep doing it for as long as I could."
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The nearest hospital was hours away, but one stranger had offered up their car, where Rachel continued to circulate the water over the burn until they reached the hospital. "I called 000, but we were so far away from any help so a stranger gave me their car keys and said there is a hospital a few hours away," she explained.
"It all happened within a blink of an eye and we gave him appropriate first aid with the resources we had quickly which avoided any scarring or surgery, but even with all the correct actions taken he still required outpatient care at the Royal Children's Hospital for months following," she told others.
"I haven't shared before because it still gives me chills but (it's) a reminder of how quickly accidents can happen," she said.
Parents in the comments were thankful for the tips - and praised the parents and the kindness of strangers.
"Thanks so much for sharing. Will be storing this technique heaven forbid we find ourselves in a similar situation," wrote one parent.
"The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me, thanks for sharing. Great idea with the buckets to circulate the water. I'd be pouring it straight into the dirt in a rush and then getting myself into trouble when we run out!!" said another.
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"That's so scary, so glad he's ok now... Just goes to show accidents can happen to anyone at any time," another parent said.
"Accidents happen and you did so incredibly well under a huge amount of pressure. Bless the hearts of the people who handed you their keys, the Australian spirit lives on," wrote another.
HOW TO TREAT A BURN
"As we all know, accidents sometimes happen, despite your best intentions and how hard you work to prevent them. So if your bub sustains a burn, you're going to CALL, COOL, CLEAR, COVER."
Get all the important details at tinyheartseducation.com
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