While we always do our best as parents to keep our children safe from harm, short of keeping them literally swaddled in cotton wool 24-7, it’s near impossible to remove every single danger.
But CPR Kids has shared to their facebook page a post from a frantic mum, warning other parents to be vigilant with phone chargers, after she spent a terrifying night in the emergency room.
“My daughter was admitted into the hospital Monday after receiving a pretty bad electrical shock from trying to plug my phone charger in,” the post begins.
“Unfortunately, this happened right in front of me. I didn’t realise she knew how to attempt to plug in a charger until it was too late.”
She was thrown across the living room
Image source: iStock
The mum explained that, right in front of her eyes, “she tried putting the phone part of the charger into the outlet,” when it “popped, shot sparks and what looked like flames and black smoke and threw her a few feet across the living room.”
You can just imagine the panic rising in the poor mum, especially when, as she says, after going quiet, her daughter then started hysterically screaming and crying.
The mum said she took her daughter straight to the hospital where “they found an entrance wound but not an exit which worried them that it zapped her heart.”
As a precaution, she needed to stay overnight, but thankfully, she is OK, besides the burn on her hand.
Sharing to help others
Image source: iStock
The mum wanted to share what had happened, because – like so many parents – she thought she’d done everything right.
“Even though my house is baby-proofed with outlet covers, door stoppers, baby gates, stove knob covers, etc, my baby still got hurt from something I stupidly never even considered would be an issue.”
What she realised – like so many of us do when it’s too late – is that little kids are always watching us and trying to mimic what we do. It’s all part of their learning and development, but it’s up to us to be vigilant and to set boundaries and most of all, to make sure we limit the areas they can get into (dangerous) trouble.
The post racked up hundreds of likes within hours, with people offering suggestions – like specialised boxes and tapes – to keep cords safe and out of reach from inquisitive hands.
She wasn’t alone
Image source: iStock
Plenty were also sharing their own stories of burns (and near misses) and thanking the mum for raising awareness.
“My son just started trying to do this! So glad your bub is OK and thank you so much for the post,” said one mum, while another said, “Gosh. I didn’t think about this. Thanks for sharing. I need to be extra careful now.”
CPR kids wanted to make sure they provided adequate advice to parents, adding the following tips on how to deal with electrical burns.
- Always remember to first switch off the circuit breaker (safety switch) before touching your injured child, so that you yourself don’t also become a victim and can then no longer assist
- Electrical injuries can cause damage to the heart and other organs, so always be prepared to follow DRSABCD (Danger, Response, Send for help, Check for Airways, is the person breathing, perform CPR and use a Defibrillator)
- REMOVE, COOL, COVER, SEEK as demonstrated in our first aid for burns video
This article was first published on KidSpot and was republished on theAsianparent with permission.
