How to handle common injuries
It’s important to make sure that first aid treatment or care is on hand to help your cheeky little monsters should they hurt themselves. Trips, stumbles and little falls will be even more common at a time when children are likely to be more animated than usual.
Broken bone
If a child is running eagerly towards the next house or perhaps racing their friend to see who can gather the most chocolates, tripping and landing awkwardly on an arm or hand could easily happen.
As children’s bones are more fragile than adults, they might break even if it didn’t look like they took a heavy fall. If a bone is broken, there may be swelling, tenderness and bruising. In this scenario, support the injury with clothing or a soft cushion and keep it still.
Call for an ambulance and while you wait, continue to provide support to the injured area and make sure the afflicted individual stays as still as possible.
Head injury
A bang or a knock on the head is something that should always be taken seriously. Even if the child insists that it didn’t hurt or that they’re OK once the pain has eventually subsided, they might actually be concussed without knowing it.
Although they won’t like to be dragged away from the fun, it’s an absolute necessity to make sure you provide the child with the correct treatment. Get them to rest and apply something cold to the afflicted area.
If your child goes on to feel sick, drowsy or busy, call for help immediately.
Choking
Choking is always a threat, but never more so than at a time where children will be trying to catch bobbing apples in their mouths or excitedly wolfing down sweets of all shapes and sizes.
If a child is choking, hit them firmly on their back between their shoulder blades up to five times. If this doesn’t dislodge the object, hold the child around their waist and pull upwards and inwards above their belly button.
Call for help if this doesn’t work, and while you wait, continue to perform back blows and abdominal thrusts.
Bleeding
After taking a fall, a nasty graze or scratch could begin to bleed. While this may not be an emergency, children can easily become nauseous or anxious at the sight of blood. For this reason, it’s worth knowing how to calmly treat a bleeding wound in the correct way.
If a child is bleeding and needs treatment, put pressure on the wound with clothing or a tea towel. Keep pressure on the wound until the bleeding stops and if the wound is small enough, apply a plaster.
If the wound is large and bleeding heavily, call for an ambulance and keep applying pressure until help arrives.