3 year old won't let me get a splinter out

[Anonymous]

I went to an urgent care center the other night and there was a little boy there with a splinter in his foot. The doctors were able to get it out.

[Anonymous]

Put him in a tub and let him play for a good long while to softened up his skin.

Then hold the little stinker down and get that SOB out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think a 3yo is stronger than his mother....
Just hold the child and get it out if all the bargaining doesn't work.
It had worked for us through 3 children.

Mine was!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think a 3yo is stronger than his mother....
Just hold the child and get it out if all the bargaining doesn't work.
It had worked for us through 3 children.

Mine was!

Seriously! Mine too. I could pin her down if I had to, but not get her immobile enough that I could be sticking a needle in her finger with any success. Let alone sparing the hand I'd need to hold the needle.

I know everybody else on this thread has horror stories, but my parents never took my splinters out, and so far I've never taken DD's splinters out (I tried and she was histrionic), and they've all worked themselves out with no problems. You could take the wait and see approach and just keep an eye on whether it's getting infected.

[Anonymous]

Put some Ambosol (the gel stuff for a tooth ache) on the spot where the splinter is first. It won't numb it completely but it helps our kids enough that they will stop fighting. Also, much better if the child doesn't see you coming at them with the needle. Numb it up and then try and get the hand in a position where they can't see what you are doing. With my dd she would be hysterical if she saw it, but fine if she didn't know what we were doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Seriously! Mine too. I could pin her down if I had to, but not get her immobile enough that I could be sticking a needle in her finger with any success. Let alone sparing the hand I'd need to hold the needle.

I know everybody else on this thread has horror stories, but my parents never took my splinters out, and so far I've never taken DD's splinters out (I tried and she was histrionic), and they've all worked themselves out with no problems. You could take the wait and see approach and just keep an eye on whether it's getting infected.

This, and this. I'm keeping an eye on one right now! I put a dab of neosporin on it when I think of it.

And sometimes, a bit of infection can be helpful. It builds up a little pressure behind the splinter, and you can pop it out like a zit. Then neosporin and a bandaid. Admittedly, I've never had a kid splinter get infected, but I've had a few of my own that ended up that way.

[Anonymous]

My son ran his hands along a reflective pole that was covered in some sort of fiberglass tape. Ended up with tiny little glass spinters covering both hands (palms and fingers). It was HORRIBLE! The Elmer's Glue thing is what worked for us. He wouldn't let me near him with a tweezer (tried several of them and they stung way too much), but the glue experiment was just fascinating to him and it did pull out the splinters. Good luck!

I would NOT wait for it to get infected, by the way - not a great idea. While rare, it's possible for a "minor" infection like that to suddenly become very major and cause big problems.

[Anonymous]

You've got to just suck it up and do it, OP. Soaking it first definitely helps. But then I've resorted to bribery (candy! TV! New Matchbox car!) and brute force (DH bear hugs him while I do it). I think it's the thought of it that weirds my DS out a little bit.

[Anonymous]

I love the people with easy kids - HA!

[Anonymous]

After my DH and I lost several wrestling matches with my son , we gave up for a few hours.

Then we waited until later- after bath (and had my son take an extra long bath). Then we explained that he had to let us get the splinter out or we would have to go to the doctor and I lay down beside him (comforting and pinning him down) and then I put my hand over his eyes - fairly tightly. When he couldn't SEE daddy doing anything, he didn't flinch. We told him daddy was just using his hands (failed to mention the needle and tweezers). I'm not sure why this worked - why he finally stopped fighting, but it did. I do think the bath helped to ease the pain and the covering of the eyes made a huge difference.