Burns in babies

It has been such a long time that my blog remained inactive, owing to being busy with my son!! :) Now that he is 1.5 years, things have picked up pace as he is running all over the place!!! :) Time just flies.....:)

Recently, he burnt his finger when his curiosity took over him and he touched a bowl of hot water. Curiosity because I had asked him not to touch and exchanged our little "danger" sign. Yet the accident happened.

Immediately I remembered my mom's advice of handling burns and within 30 minutes, he forgot he had burnt his finger and it did not even leave any mark.

It is my prayer that your baby is protected and has no such incidents. But, God forbid, if it happens then the following may prove helpful:

a) Immediately, allow the burnt area under plain running water for a minute or so. Avoid ice water as it may cause blisters.
b) Pat it dry and rub the area with cut potato.
c) If no potato, apply honey on the affected area.
d) After a while, apply calendula cream. Within minutes, it will alleviate the pain.
e) If calendula cream not available or not sure of the efficacy of it, then simply apply boroplus or borolene or apply some more honey.
f) Once the child is soothed a little, give him or her some warm milk with turmeric powder mixed in it. This really helps a lot to alleviate the pain.

These were a few things in my knowledge, of course, there would be many more. Readers please share some more home-remedies for the benefit of all.

With best wishes to the parents and prayer of safety for the babies, I sign off!

World Environment Day - How Ironical!

Lion grabbing a coke bottle at Hyderabad Zoo

Is it not an irony that a lion grabbed a coke-filled bottle in the Nehru Zoological Park at Hyderabad just a day before the World Environment Day?

This weekend our family planned a visit to the Nehru Zoological Park or the Hyderabad zoo on Saturday, 4^th of June 2011. It was sort of an educational tour for our 16-month old son too. He was all excited seeing the animals and birds we have shown him in his board books and DVDs. Besides recognizing the animals and the birds, we also taught him not to throw plastic wrappers of the chips.

Around 4 p.m., we went to the area of lions and found lot of shouts and cries of excitement. After reaching there we found that someone had thrown the “coke-filled plastic bottle” in the water to get the attention of the lions. Well, the audience did succeed in getting their part of the fun but no one ever thought of the hazards of the action.

The zoo authorities have been making all attempts to keep the animals safe. At numerous places, it is written that feeding the animals is prohibited and to throw waste in the dustbins. It is also mentioned in bold letters that plastic is hazardous to animals for it can cause choking in them. Along with the authorities, it becomes our responsibility as well to keep the animals safe which provide us the entertainment we seek during holidays.

After coming home I was admiring my photographic skills in capturing some rare poses of wild animals in the zoo but this photo reminded me of the reason why I clicked it. It is to bring to public attention that not everything is fun and that we must be cautious of our actions.

The incident caused much pain and anxiety to us and we appeal to the future visitors to be more cautious of their actions in the zoo. Teach our children to take care of the animals like our own. On World Environment Day, let us take a pledge to conserve the animals and the zoo ecology to ensure that the respective animal enclosures remain filled with healthy and happy animals.