# splinter in toddlers foot...please help



## babygr4200 (Jun 20, 2005)

My 2 year old daughter has a splinter in her foot but she wont let me near it. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what method I should try to get it out?


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## tyedyedeyes (Apr 5, 2005)

Ouch, mama, been there. I ended up giving DS a popsicle, and laying him down on a towel with another towel rolled up underneath for support of the head. I tried to get it out with a tweezers without restraint...but to no avail. As horrible as it sounds, I had to sit on the floor perpendicular to the way his body was laying, and put my leg over his stomach...I didn't just plop it there, and I made sure I wasn't crushing his belly...It just acted as a barrier from what he could see, and he was occupied with the popsicle. I also sang a song that he knew while I did it...Just tried to distract him like crazy. "Ooh, Gavin, point to your nose....okay, point to your ears...okay, where's your tounge?" Just tried to do anything and everything I could to get his mind off of me needing to be down there for the thirty seconds it took. Course, it was ten or fifteen minutes of preparation and cajoling for a thirty second surgical procedure... :LOL I might also try soaking the foot...if it's not a splinter thats too far in there, take a bath...the skin will loosen up and soften and it should be easier to get it out of there.

Good luck mama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## 4evermom (Feb 3, 2005)

I took one out of my ds's hand while he was sleeping.


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## LailaCA (Jan 4, 2003)

An old home remedy from downeast MAINE is to get a piece of salt pork (available in any grocery store) and put a piece of it on the splinter. Wrap it with gauze, or a clean piece of cloth. usually overnight the salt pork will draw out the splinter.


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## Song of Joy (Jan 19, 2004)

nak...
unless they are really bad/painful/infected/getting infected we just let them work themselves out. so far we have only had to pick at one. the rest came out over a few days with no problems.


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## wenat (Apr 17, 2004)

DS got a TON of teeny splinters from a wood deck last year. I just waited until he was asleep and then went at them with a tweezer. He flinched a little in his sleep, but didn't wake up.

Good luck. It's awful to see them in your baby's skin.


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## Carolinamidwife (Dec 18, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Song of Joy*
nak...
unless they are really bad/painful/infected/getting infected we just let them work themselves out. so far we have only had to pick at one. the rest came out over a few days with no problems.

Yeah, that.

There is no reason to hold them down, most splinters come out on their own.


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## VikingKvinna (Dec 31, 2003)

You can also purchase something called "drawing salve" at most drugstores. It's just a cream that you put on, and it draws out the splinter. It's also good for bits of glass or any other debris that gets under your skin.

Good luck!
~Nick


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## girlndocs (Mar 12, 2004)

I went through this recently with Dd. She had a tiny shard of glass in her foot







She was favoring that foot and everything, it was also starting to get red around the entrance wound.

I *knew* it was in there but couldn't pick it or squeeze it out, and I asked for advice here, and someone told me to soak it. Just soak it as much as you can in clean, preferably warm water (I added a little sprinkle of sea salt). I kept Dd in the bath for most of that night and the next day -- even when she fell asleep, DH or I would hold her with that foot stuck in a bowl of warm water. I also squirted breastmilk on it a couple times.

Then she was walking comfortably again, so I let her be (kept her foot covered with a sock to keep the entrance wound clean). The night after that, I looked and the hole was _gone_, and now she's fine. I never did find the offending shard, but apparently at some point her body forced it out.

Now I know I never have to hold down a screaming child and pick at a splinter again!


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## babygr4200 (Jun 20, 2005)

thank you.. i'll try your suggestions and see what happens.


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