A former children’s ICU Emergency nurse has revealed a vital tip that could save your child’s life in the event of a serious burn.
Concerned by what she believes is a widespread lack of knowledge about what to do if a child gets burnt, Beki Giunta took to TikTok to share her advice.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: What you should do if your child suffers burns.
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“I’m going to share with you something that will save your child’s life,” the Queensland mum began the now viral video.
“The lack of knowledge people have around what to do if a child gets burnt is astonishing.”
The former nurse said the “most common” burns she used to treat were from teas, coffees and two-minute noodles.
She experienced this herself as a mum, when her 18-month-old son pulled her “boiling hot tea” down on him.
“This is pure boiling water, no milk,” she recalled.
”I was standing right next to him. I did not think this would happen.”
She said that, despite being an extremely safety-conscious parent, an accident such as this still occurred.
“I used to be a registered nurse, I worked in children’s ICU Emergency, I have seen it all,” she said.
“I am so safe with my child (but) this still happened to me.”
Giunta shared what she did – and what you should do if “you or your child gets burnt”.
“The first thing you need to do is call an ambulance,” she said.
“Then you need to take all your child’s clothing off, get them completely nude and get them in a shower or under continuous cold running water.”
She explained that your child should be under cold (not icy cold) water for a “minimum of 20 minutes”.
And she pleaded with parents to “not take them out”, despite their child’s protestations.
“Have the water continuously running over that burn the entire time,” she said.
“They’re gonna be screaming, they’re gonna be crying. It’s gonna be freezing cold.
“But you know what? You will save their life, you will save them a world of pain.”
The mum shared that the cold water doesn’t just assist in stopping the burn but also helps aid the pain.
“These poor babies are going to be in hysterics – my little boy was beside himself,” she shared.
“I had to sing Twinkle Little Star while I was sobbing, holding him in the shower, just running cold water over his burn.
“His whole face, his neck, his torso, his stomach, everything was bright red.
“It was terrifying, I thought instantly he was going to be in the burns unit, he was going to be getting skin grafts, he was gonna have surgery.
“And that would have 100 per cent happened if I had not done what I did that day.”
The mum said that, because of her actions, her son doesn’t even have “a mark on him” from the burns.
“These were significant burns and he has nothing on him,” she said.
Giunta added that you should never place ice, oil or butter on burns, “just the cold continuous water until an ambulance arrives”.
“That’s all you need to do, and you will potentially save your child’s life,” she reiterated.
She said her advice goes for all burns and for adults as well.
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