The child stuck his tongue to the metal what to do. What to do if the child has frozen his tongue to the iron in winter: first aid measures

In winter, children are attracted to the street a lot. White and fluffy snow, like crumbly sugar or ice cream. Silvery and iridescent icicles, similar to popsicles. Snowball fights, snowdrifts, downhill skiing, ice skating, snowman making. And, of course, every kid strives to lick a piece of iron on the playground.

The kid can accidentally touch the iron with his tongue or stick his lip to the metal. Or maybe try metal products out of curiosity about what will happen. Especially if the child is regularly and strongly forbidden to lick the swing, horizontal bar, carousel, slide and other similar metal objects that can be found in the yard, on the playground and on the street. Let's find out what to do if the tongue stuck to the iron in the cold.

What Not to Do

Since the tongue is wet, when it comes into contact with a cold metal surface, the moisture freezes and turns into ice. This clutches the crumbs with a cold object. Of course, the baby begins to cry a lot and pull his tongue. The main thing is not to panic. Reassure the child and tell him not to pull the tongue, otherwise it will be even more painful.

In no case do not pull the crumbs by force and do not tear off the tongue from the piece of iron. So you severely damage the mucosa. As a result, the tongue will begin to heal for a long time and is extremely painful. In addition, you can not pour boiling water, otherwise you will get a severe burn!

On the Internet, you can often find advice on how to gently warm a metal object with a lighter. But this is extremely dangerous. You can further injure or simply scare the injured child. In addition, you still will not heat the desired section of the piece of iron.

How to help a child

The safest and most gentle option is to warm with the help of breathing. Such heat is enough for the tongue to thaw in the cold. Place your palms as close as possible to the child's tongue and begin to breathe. As soon as the tongue begins to come off, gently tilt the crumb away from the metal.

If the child sticks his tongue to the iron, warm water will help, but not boiling water! Pour water over the metal surface as close as possible to the sticking point. Alternatively, collect warm water in a plastic bag and apply the bag to the desired area.

Warm water can be taken by running home or to a nearby cafe, supermarket, and so on. However, if you and your baby are only the two of you and there is no one to look after him, you are unlikely to leave the baby alone. Therefore, many recommend taking a thermos with warm water, compote or tea for a walk. By the way, warm tea or compote will help to have a snack or warm up during a long walk or trip out of town.

If the tongue sticks in the cold to a small metal object that can be carried, such as a ski pole or sled, move the child with the object to a warm room. In warm air, the surface will warm up and fall off by itself. To speed up the process, you can also use warm water or heat the area with a hair dryer.

If the tongue is injured

If the child does tear off the tongue, or you inadvertently detach it, the mucous membrane will be damaged. You do not need to run to the doctor, rinse the tongue or lip with warm water. If blood oozes from the wound, blot with a cotton pad with diluted hydrogen peroxide.

You can use an anti-inflammatory gel for both lips and tongue. And then in about a week the wound will heal completely. If the wound is large, bleeding and has not even begun to heal in the first two or three days, or the tongue has turned black, consult a doctor immediately!

Never apply snow or ice! This further irritates the mucous membrane and increases the risk of infection. The famous doctor Komarovsky advises treating the wound using either Chlorhexidine.

During the healing process, do not give your baby too hot or cold food, spicy or salty food. Products are recommended to be given in crushed form, as chewing will slow down healing.

How to prevent

To prevent such a situation, many parents hold explanatory conversations and forbid the child to lick something in the cold. However, prohibitions will not help here, but will only provoke the baby, and he will want to taste the metal object out of curiosity. In addition, it may stick to the piece of iron by accident.

Some parents are even ready to experiment, take the child outside and give something cold or icy metal. And they ask the baby to lick to see the result. Of course, this is the last resort.

Older children can be told how dirty these products are. Tell and show how many harmful bacteria, germs and worms are on a metal surface. Look for pictures on the internet to be sure. Say that if the baby tries to lick a piece of iron, then all the bacteria will be on his tongue, and then in his stomach.

Why did you freeze your tongue? The curiosity of children sometimes transcends all boundaries. In winter, the child usually wears a lot of uncomfortable clothes. Incorrectly constrain the movement of their bodies, restrain the stormy children's energy. Then the eyes or thoughts begin to "run" quickly. Do not let the baby indulge, distract from bad thoughts with useful activities. and get the most out of it, is written in another article.

If a metal object comes into view, which stands out favorably from the snow-covered landscape, then I really want to touch it at least with my tongue in order to understand how it differs from other objects.

Understanding comes instantly. The tongue painfully freezes to the iron and does not allow to speak. Surely some adults remember this feeling. It is not forgotten. The child begins to scream, despite the fact that his tongue is frozen. It is immediately clear that this is the reason for his cries.

Need urgent first aid

Warm up the iron. If the tongue is frozen not far from home, you can quickly take out warm water and pour it on the metal. In the absence of such an opportunity, you will have to warm the iron with your own breath.
Raise the ambient temperature. This is the case if the tongue is frozen to a small metal object that can be carried along with the child. Any warm room will do.
Tear off the frozen tongue from the metal surface. I do not recommend this method because it is very painful. In addition, a bleeding wound remains on the tongue. One day, a worried neighbor came to me for hydrogen peroxide to treat the bloody surface of his daughter's tongue. The determined dad did not know what to do when it happened. He did not come up with anything better than to tear off his beloved child from iron, leaving a deep mark in the memory of the baby.

In order not to take it to extremes, it is better for parents to know the first two first aid methods if the tongue is frozen.

This problem torments the minds of millions of parents. Wherever there is winter and snow, people stick their tongues to iron objects. For various reasons, many people have fallen into this situation at least once, from gray-haired elders to very young children. Curiosity and excitement of the discoverer pushes some to lick the cold swing, others - valiant prowess and the desire to show their courage to friends. What should be done when a small child freezes?

Common Causes

There are several reasons why people freeze to metal objects:

How to help a child if he stuck his tongue to the iron?

If it sticks to a small object (keys or zipper on a jacket), it is best to take the victim to a warm place to thaw from the iron. Unfortunately, more often children freeze to swings and slides, it is impossible to transfer them to heat. If your naturalist is old enough, then explain to him that you need to warm the place where the tongue meets the iron with breathing. This is the easiest and safest way to break free from the shackles of ice.

If the trouble happened near your house, then you can go for water. Contrary to popular belief, even a cold one will do, because it is still warmer than the ice that glued your child to the slide. She is poured over the junction of the tongue with the metal. For obvious reasons, it is forbidden to take boiling water. In the complete absence of water around, it makes sense to try to melt some snow with your hands and pour over it. After that, you need to rinse your mouth with boiled water.

You can try to heat up a place on a metal object next to the tongue: use your hands, a heating pad and other warm objects. Some extreme people advise warming with a lighter, but this is a bad idea, as you can cause even more harm to the innocent victim of the ice trap.

What can not be done?

The main thing in this situation is not to panic. Nothing terrible happened, so there is no need to scare your baby even more. It’s not sweet enough for him anyway, besides, a frightened child may try to free himself, leaving pieces of his tongue at the scene.

It is not recommended to tear off the frozen tongue by force, this will inevitably lead to injury. Metal conducts heat well, so a wet tongue instantly freezes to it. Plus, it is well supplied with blood, which is why all more or less major injuries are accompanied by bleeding. Because of this, it is impossible to tear off the tongue without damaging it. Although in some situations this is the only way out, it is not always possible to free the child in other ways.

What if the tongue was injured?

If, after releasing the tongue, a wound remains on it, do not be alarmed. Upon arrival home, rinse it with boiled water, then treat it with a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution. It will remove dirt and infection from the wound. A hemostatic sponge is used to stop bleeding. Instead, a sterile bandage folded several times is also suitable. It is pressed to the site of injury and held until the bleeding stops.

After that, the wound can be treated with an anti-inflammatory gel and Miramistin. The wound is usually shallow, but if it is extensive, inflamed, and the child has an increase in body temperature, then it makes sense to show it to the doctor. In severe cases, he will prescribe painkillers, antibiotics and suggest hospitalization.

Winter. Many people's favorite time of the year. Snow, cold, sleds, skis, snowballs. How wonderful it was to walk with your parents as a child. But there are unpleasant situations that can overshadow any beautiful walk.

Remember how in childhood we could lick icicles, snow, pieces of iron? Modern children are also not devoid of curiosity and desire to lick and taste something in the cold. Children under the age of five are especially susceptible to this.

Do not Cry. Screaming can further frighten the child and provoke a sudden movement, and the mucous membrane of the adhered tongue or lips will be damaged.
Do not force your child off the ice surface.
Do not use a lighter to warm iron. First, it can be intimidating. Secondly, you can burn the child's face. Thirdly, it is inefficient, since it will not work to heat the metal in the right place to the optimum temperature.
Do not water the frozen place with urine, as some extreme people recommend.

What to take with you for a walk in the cold season?

Spare gloves or mittens for yourself and your child.
Thermos with warm tea. Again same for themselves and child.
Napkins.
Fat cream for baby, protecting from frost.

What to do if the tongue is frozen to the iron in winter?

So, your baby licked the iron in the cold. You are confused, he is scared.

The algorithm of your actions should include several consecutive steps.

Reassure the child. Explain that there are troubles and you are not angry.
Ask the child to breathe by directing the air onto the metal. Try to breathe in the same way. Perhaps the warm breath will melt the ice, and you can free the baby.
You can try to warm the metal with your hands.
If you or other moms have water (not necessarily warm), pour it between the stuck tongue and the iron.
If water is not available and there are no people nearby, try to melt the snow (unhygienic, but better than tearing it off by force).

How can such a situation be prevented?

There are also "preventive" measures that can be used to prevent licking of metal in the cold.

Offer your child an experiment. Take a clean metal object (spoon, buckle) from home. Let it cool in the cold and offer to lick it with your tongue so that the tongue sticks. Since the item is small, it will easily warm up, and it will be possible to go home with it.
Or another option. Let the child take hold of a cold object with his hand so that he feels sticking with his hand. Explain that peeling off the tongue and lips will be even more difficult.

What to do upon returning home?

But still it happened that the baby twitched and damaged the delicate mucous membrane of the tongue. How to treat such a wound? What can be done to help a child at home?

You have come home. The child cries, blood flows from the tongue or lips. Wash your hands first, take either a bandage or sterile wipes. Give the child and try to persuade him to press the napkin to the wound and hold it with his hand. If the child is small or, most likely, afraid of even more pain, blot the blood yourself.
Look at what you have from antiseptics, treat the wound (Miramistin, Chlorhexidine).
Within a few days after the injury, the tongue will swell and hurt, which means that it is necessary to give the child mild mashed food, rinse the mouth with chamomile decoction, saline, soda solution.
It is possible to use children's sprays for the treatment of the throat. They need to be sprayed on the wound.

If discharge appears from the wound or the mucous membrane darkens, a doctor's consultation is necessary.

When winter comes, don't be stingy with your time. Explain safety rules to your child. You are a mother, and he will listen to you sooner than anyone else. After all, if the child’s tongue is already frozen, it’s too late to explain.

Happy winter walks.

Freezing tongue to iron in winter is a simple matter: the moisture of the tongue, when in contact with cold metal, turns into ice itself and “hooks” the child with an ice object (swing, horizontal bar, door handle, pipe, lock, etc.).

The kid can accidentally touch the iron with his lips, or maybe just show curiosity, it’s not for nothing that he is so strongly forbidden to lick the swing. A minute ago, he was laughing merrily, and now he is crying from fear and pain. How to save a child from ice captivity?

Tongue frozen to iron - how to save?

In no case do not pull the child away and do not tear off the metal by force, so you can damage the mucous membrane of the tongue, which will heal for a long time and painfully. And try to calm him down so that he does not injure himself.

The only solution is to warm up.

Breath

The heat in the breath is enough to help the tongue thaw. If the child is already of school age, explain to him how you need to breathe, exhaling steam on a piece of iron so that the tongue thaws. When the baby is still very small, you will need to “breathe” him from the swing. And do not waste time, as soon as the tongue begins to come off, deflect the child from the metal, because if you delay, the vapor from your breath may have time to cool down and play a disservice - freeze even more.

Water

You can also rescue the child by watering the stuck tongue with warm water. However, this method can rarely be used - you hardly have a thermos with warm water or a cup of hot tea at hand. But if it is not possible to release the tongue with the help of breathing, it is still better to look for water than to tear the child off by force, because this will definitely be a severe injury. Watering the stuck tongue, you will rescue your child in a matter of seconds.

If an emergency happened on the playground, make sure to ask one of the walking parents to take out warm water. Feel free to ask for help. Of course, it’s hard to think when your own child is beating in hysterics nearby, but the main rule of every mother is not to panic. You don't need to call an ambulance right away. It is unlikely that they will even go to such a challenge, but even in a positive case, by the time the car reaches you, neighbors and random passers-by will already help you.

You can find advice on the Internet to heat the metal with a lighter. Now imagine if you are ready to bring fire to your child's face? Forget about this know-how: firstly, you will not heat up the metal in the right place, and secondly, you can injure and frighten the victim even more;
People of the old school sometimes advise, ahem, to urinate on the place of sticking (similar to warm water). For aesthetic reasons, we believe that this method can only be applied in extreme conditions, if the situation happened somewhere in a deserted taiga in a 30-degree frost and there is no other way to escape;
Some advise to abruptly tear off, for reasons: it is better to hurt, but quickly, than longer, but perhaps painfully. As we already wrote at the beginning, this is absolutely not worth doing - there will definitely be an injury. But what if the child himself twitched and tore off a piece of the tongue?

What if the language is still injured?

Go home immediately, no application of snow or ice - you will only bring the infection.

At home, rinse the tongue with warm water and blot with a hydrogen peroxide swab. If the wound is quite large and the blood does not stop, make a gauze swab (wrap cotton with a bandage in several layers), moisten it with diluted peroxide and put it on the tongue. If nothing helps (although this is unlikely to happen), call an ambulance or take the child to the nearest hospital yourself.

The next few days, until the mucosa is restored, you will have to feed the child with grated food, since the tongue is also actively involved in chewing. Make sure that the food is not hot, this can also cause pain.

If, over the next two or three days, you do not see positive dynamics in the healing of the tongue, or, even worse, it began to darken, go to the doctor immediately.

What to do so that the child does not want to touch the iron in the cold?

Prohibitions and moralizing often do not work. Remember yourself as a child: the more forbidden, the more interesting. And therefore, in order for the child to satisfy his curiosity, but not to get into this painful situation, there are such courageous parents who conduct the following experiment with the child:

In advance, they take out something metal (a spoon, an iron ruler, a wrench) into the frost, with which it will be possible to return to the house later.
They give him an icy piece of iron, make him touch it with his tongue.
When the "clutch" has occurred, the young experimenter tries to pull the frozen metal. He obviously won't succeed.
Release the child with warm water.
Discuss the results of the experiment. They especially pay attention to the baby that with a cold spoon on the tongue you can go into the house and warm up, but it won’t work from the swing.

Such a simple experiment, on the one hand, will satisfy the curiosity of a young researcher, and on the other hand, it will clearly demonstrate what will happen if ... Most likely, the child will no longer be interested in freezing to swings and horizontal bars.

READ ALSO: First aid for a child in emergency situations

Dr. Khabibullin - what to do if the tongue is frozen?

Hello dear readers of my blog! Today, while walking with one of the twins, we encountered a terrible situation: a child at the age of 7 stuck his tongue to the swing. I, as an adult lady, had to immediately provide first aid to the victim. Instead, I'm petrified. What to do in such a situation?

Since the beginning of 2017, I have been constantly thinking about this problem. However, instead of looking on the Internet, I came up with other topics for writing posts, doing creative work with children, preparing January delicacies, meeting guests, etc. After all, January was created for family holidays. But it was not there.

How did it all start?

As I remember now, on January 4, somewhere in the afternoon, meeting my sister with her husband and baby, I slightly stuck my wet hand to a metal door (it happened in a country house). It wasn't hard to peel off. However, it was then that the question arose in my head: what to do if the tongue stuck to the metal in the cold?

I asked myself a question, but there was no answer. Mother laziness played a cruel joke on me. Today, however, I witnessed the "terrible acquaintance" of language with iron. Not for nothing they say thought is material. The moisture of the tongue, when in contact with cold metal, turns into ice - hence the "clutch".

Thank you very much to the man who passed by. We both rushed to the rescue of the frightened boy. I calmed down mentally as best I could, our savior (without him I would not have coped) “unstuck” the tongue from the piece of iron.

Instructions for saving the language

For the first time in my life I am writing an article based on the words of the hero of a children's walk. The Internet slightly corrected the acquired knowledge.

I am a journalist by education and I had to take a lot of interviews and often. However, I did not succeed in doing articles so quickly. This incident happened around 15.00 Moscow time. It took me 30 minutes to write this post.

So let's get down to the detailed operation to save languages:

In no case should you pull and tear off the tongue from the metal. This can cause serious injury to the victim. It is necessary to morally calm the person and proceed to further actions.

Instead of tearing off, you need to engage in warming. In our case, the child was already big and the “rescuer” explained how to breathe on the piece of iron in order to unstick from it. It is necessary to exhale steam on the metal so that the tongue begins to thaw. Luckily it helped. However, sometimes a very small child can stick to the metal. In this case, parents will have to warm up.

If the warming process does not help, pour warm water over the tongue. Of course, such water may not be at hand. But it is better to wait and take a cup out of the house than to cause pain and suffering to a curious creature.

If this problem touched my children, I would panic. However, this should by no means be allowed. “Calmness, only calmness” - as Carlson bequeathed, a man in the prime of life (every day we read Astred Lindgren with the children, so the quotes ask for a blank sheet).

There are enough advisers in our life. However, not all of them are competent in this matter and can cause unnecessary problems with their comments. For example, there are people on the Internet who advise warming up a piece of iron with a lighter. Are you a spectacle? You bring fire to your child's face - a terrible picture, isn't it?

Elderly people can advise the old way: to pee. This is a kind of analogue of warm water. However, for aesthetic reasons, this method can only be applied in extreme cases.

Someone is still advised to tear off the tongue. By principle, it hurts better, but quickly. Only how then to treat the crippled tongue, they do not know. So the choice is yours.

How to treat the victim?

There are cases when the child himself is nevertheless freed from the piece of iron, while causing serious injuries to the tongue. In this case, you must immediately go home. DO NOT apply snow or ice to the tongue, as it can cause an infection.

At home, you need to rinse your mouth with warm water and apply cotton wool with hydrogen peroxide to the tongue (by the way, I recently cured my wisdom tooth with peroxide, but more on that next time). If the bleeding still does not stop, you need to urgently call an ambulance. You can't do without specialists.

During the next week, the child should be fed pureed food and make sure that the food is not hot. If a few days after the incident, the tongue still does not heal and begins to darken - urgently see a doctor.

How to prevent language familiarity with metal?

Children are all different and when you say to someone - NO! - he immediately goes to do it is impossible. Some sites advise to visually show children how the bonding of language and metal occurs.

To do this, they take the spoon out into the cold, then bring it home and ask the child to lick it. After the “coupling”, the child is freed from the spoon with warm water and explained to him that it is impossible to do this on the street with a swing. Would you dare to experiment with your child?

I doubt my 2.4 year old twins will understand this experiment. Today Andryushka was frightened at the sight of a child in an embrace with a piece of iron. Will he remember such an example - the future will show! However, the second twin did not see this, and given his stubbornness and curiosity, everything is still ahead of us.

I told you about this story and it became easier! I hope my post will help someone become a little wiser. I certainly now know how to act in such situations. The main thing is to warm the poor curious child without panic with the help of breathing or warm water.

That's all, my dear listeners! On the one hand, today was a scary, but informative day. I look forward to your comments and reposts. See you soon!

Always yours, Anna Tikhomirova

Common Causes

There are several reasons why people freeze to metal objects:

Curiosity. Brilliant swing compares favorably with the surrounding snow. Since children experience the world with all their senses, it is difficult for them to resist tasting the swing. Surprisingly, many adults, trying to catch up in childhood, deliberately lick the glands.
Feeling of contradiction. As you know, forbidden fruit is sweet. If you constantly forbid a child to do something, then he will definitely do it.
Unsuccessful fall on an iron slide. With a certain amount of luck, falling can be hard to freeze.
For a dispute. So not only children freeze, but also adults. God only knows how many languages have suffered after the words "And we bet that I lick this swing and not stick?".

How to help a child if he stuck his tongue to the iron?

What can not be done?

What if the tongue was injured?

Prevention

It is easier to prevent trouble than to deal with its consequences. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Trying to explain to a child that licking a swing is dangerous to health, you will only kindle the excitement of a natural scientist in his heart. On the other hand, it is even worse if he gets into such a situation alone, when no one can help him, because then injury cannot be avoided. It is better if it sticks to the swing under your supervision. You can show him an experiment: in the cold, wet your hand and take on something metal. Feeling the effect of sticking on itself, the child will no longer want to lick the iron swing.

Licked the handle of a swing or door in the cold, do not panic. This situation is common and frequent. The moisture of the tongue, when touched with cold metal, turns into "ice" and makes the child stand motionless next to an icy object to which his tongue has stuck - a swing, a slide, a doorknob, a pipe, etc. This situation always causes controversy regarding first aid.

There are three ways to release the child sticking tongue to iron:

1. tear off tongue. If the child finds himself in such a situation that there are no adults nearby and there is no one to wait for help, you should not stand in the cold for a long time and shed tears. Explain in advance to a child who likes to play on frosty days outside that if he accidentally finds himself in such a painful situation, you must quickly tear off the stuck tongue from the iron. He can do it himself, without the help of adults.

Certainly, mucosa of the tongue in a child will be damaged, but the wound is usually small in such situations and heals within 3-7 days. To avoid infection, rinse your child's tongue with water and lubricate it with an anti-inflammatory ointment. If the bleeding does not stop, moisten a swab with hydrogen peroxide and place it on your tongue. During the time until the mucous membrane of the tongue heals, give the child only grated, non-hot food. If after 7 days there is no positive dynamics in the healing of the tongue or even worse, it began to darken - consult a doctor.

Task parents convey to your son or daughter that during walks on frosty days, you need to make sure that open parts of the body do not freeze - the face, ears and hands. And yet, you can’t take off mittens in the cold and touch iron objects with your tongue - “sticking” is possible.

Children like winter, because at this time of the year you can go sledding, skiing, skating, playing snowballs, making a snowman, and just wallowing in the snow. Prohibitions and moralizing in the case of children who are passionate about the game often do not work. Therefore, so that the child does not stick his tongue to a metal object, it is recommended to conduct such an experiment: go for a walk with the child, take a spoon and a thermos of warm water with you. Then let the spoon freeze in the cold and ask the child to touch it with the tongue. When the clutch occurs, pour the child's tongue with warm water brought in advance. Children remember such experiments for life and try not to repeat them again.

2. Warm up the iron. A more correct and painless solution to rescue a child whose tongue is stuck to a metal object is to warm the iron. This can be done by breathing or warm water. The heat in the breath is enough to help the tongue thaw. Explain to the child that he is already big and how to breathe on a piece of iron so that the tongue thaws. If the baby is still small, then you will have to "breathe" him from a metal object. As soon as the tongue begins to come off, take the baby away from the metal.

release child from "captivity" you can also water the stuck tongue with warm water if you have a thermos with warm water with you or have the patience to wait for someone to take it out of the house at your request. Agree, waiting for such help is unrealistic in a situation where it is cold outside and an upset child is standing still.

3. Get into a warm room faster. If the baby sticks his tongue to the sledge or a metal toy, then the easiest way in this situation is to lift the baby along with the object in his arms and quickly go to the nearest warm room. In this case, you do not need to do anything, but you just need to wait a bit and the tongue will come off by itself. The disadvantage of this method is that with a cold toy on the tongue you can go into a warm room and warm up, but it will not work with a swing or a slide.

Today you can meet on the internet a lot of bad advice on how to help a child if his tongue is stuck to the metal. For example, some advise to urinate on the sticking site or heat the metal with a lighter. Using such methods, you will not only not be able to warm up the right place, but there is also a high probability of injuring the child and scaring the victim even more.

And finally, want to remind parents that the dangers that await while walking on the street are not a reason for a child to stay at home in frosty weather. You need to dress warmly and go outside. Walking in the cold is much more beneficial than in hot summer weather. In winter, the concentration of oxygen in the air is 30% higher compared to the hot air of the summer heat. Therefore, children who often walk outside on frosty days get sick less and sleep better.

For so that the child's body got the most out of winter walks in the cold, adhere to the following rules:
- do not go for a walk if the humidity is too high. You should not expect a beneficial effect from walking in cold, damp weather.
- do not allow the child to walk outside for a long time if the air temperature is -20 ° C or lower.