A child stuck to metal with his tongue in the cold - what to do and what are the consequences

GMS Clinic pediatrician Daria Tarasova, who acted as an expert for the Healthy Children Internet portal, tells how to provide first aid to a child whose tongue has stuck to metal in the cold.

Are you familiar with the situation when, in the cold, a baby stuck his tongue or lip to some piece of iron on the street?

Screams, tears, because it hurts and is scary. Children's curiosity knows no bounds - that's why many kids, during a winter walk, are drawn to taste bright metal objects. What should parents do?

What to do if a child’s tongue sticks to metal in the cold - instructions

Little children are quite inquisitive and active by nature. Therefore, in frosty weather, during children's games, such a nuisance can happen when a restless child sticks his tongue to a metal object.

This phenomenon is not fatal, but parents need to know how to act correctly in such a situation:

1. The child should be reassured and asked not to twitch. A sharp jerk can lead to injury to the tongue, which will cause a lot of discomfort in the future.
2. If the object touched by the child is small in size , it is transferred to a warm room. And here, with the help of warm water or a hairdryer, the detachment of the tongue from the metal is accelerated. For educational purposes, you can not take any action and wait until the ice thaws on its own.
3. In the event that the thing to which the tongue is frozen is not portable , perform the following measures: - Ask the child to calm down and focus on breathing. Exhaling steam on the piece of iron will promote gradual thawing. If the child is still very young and is not able to understand what they want from him, a similar manipulation should be done by the parents. As soon as the tongue begins to come off, the baby must be turned away from the metal object, otherwise he will freeze even more. - Water the tongue with warm water if there is no effect from the previous event. In a matter of seconds, the water will “free” the frozen part of the body. Although it is unlikely that in such a situation a thermos with warm liquid will be at hand. Don't be shy about asking people for help. Surely there will be some adults who live nearby and will be able to run home for water.

In case of this mini-accident, you should not call an ambulance either. Even if the team responds to such a call, by the time they get there, the child will be saved.

How to help a child with a stuck tongue?

• The first and most important thing is to calm the baby so that he does not twitch or try to tear off his tongue or lip on his own to avoid injury. Hug, reassure, tell that nothing bad is happening and you will help.
• The metal needs to be heated. The ideal way is with a warm drink from a thermos (this is not uncommon - mothers often take a thermos with them on walks). Pour a thin stream onto the metal surface in the area in contact with the baby's skin. The metal will heat up quickly, and the tongue will come off without injury.
• If there is no hot liquid nearby, warm the metal surface by breathing. Explain to your child how to breathe correctly: close your nose and exhale through your mouth. By warming the surface, you can slowly release the child's tongue, avoiding significant injury. It will take more time, but it will help.

What not to do - anti-advice

In Internet sources you can find several tips that definitely should not be used in such a situation, so as not to provoke disastrous consequences.

Here are some of them:

• Urinate on the frozen area. If you are in a crowded place, such a measure is impractical and will cause a lot of indignation from other parents. And the child himself will not be particularly pleased with such rescue measures. It’s another matter if the incident occurred in a place where there was not a soul around, and intense breathing on the piece of iron was not crowned with success. If you have a plastic bag nearby, you should urinate there and then apply the bag to the ice metal. For those driving a car, you need to look in your first aid kit for rubber gloves - they will be a high-quality replacement for the specified bag.
• Warm up a metal object with a lighter. Such a measure is unlikely to be effective, but what will really work well is to scare the child. Bringing fire close to the face can cause panic even in adults. In addition, there is a risk of getting burned.
• Quickly tear the frozen area away from the metal. Not a very smart idea - the child is guaranteed to get injured.

How can you prevent such a situation?

There are also “preventative” measures that can be used to prevent metal from licking in the cold.

1. 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 you will be able to go home with it.
2. Or another option. Let the child grasp the cold object with his hand so that he feels sticking with his hand. Explain that it will be even more difficult to peel off the tongue and lips.

Preventative work with the child to prevent him from licking metal objects with his tongue in the cold

Conversations with your child about touching metal objects with his tongue in the cold can bear fruit, but not always. For many children, prohibitions will only interest them more, and they will want to be convinced of the veracity of their parents’ words.

If your child is one of these children, he will benefit from the following experiment:

• Take a small metal object out into the cold in advance. The most suitable option is a teaspoon or tablespoon.
• After a certain period of time, ask (or force!) the child to touch the ice object with his tongue.
• Bring the young experimenter into the house after his futile attempts to free his tongue.
• Pour warm liquid over the frozen area.
• Explain that such an algorithm of actions will not work with bulky and heavy objects, and the consequences may not be so harmless.

It is very unlikely that a little prankster will want to do a similar experiment again on the same playground or in another public place.

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You can, of course, tell a story “about one boy,” as some parents do, or resort to other tricks. After all, there are things that relate to the safety of a child. And it is necessary to warn children about them. For example, when the tongue is frozen to the iron in the cold, what the child should do in this case must be discussed in advance.

How to explain the danger

Before telling what measures are taken in existing circumstances, let’s try to talk about what methods are used in order to avoid the unpleasant case of freezing to the iron.

• Just explain the danger.

Of course, not everyone has storytelling talents and knows how to approach a ban with cunning. Therefore, first of all, tell us that in the cold, iron will definitely “glue” a wet object to itself. And, if a wet mitten is easy to tear off from a metal post, then with the skin it becomes more and more difficult and painful.

• Show a clear example.

Take a wet handkerchief and press it against the cold metal. At the same time, it is not necessary to go to something static. You can bring something iron from home and wait for it to freeze. Show that it is difficult to tear off the scarf, and if you do, then lint will remain on the metal, maybe even a piece of fabric will come off. Tell me that the same will happen to the skin.

• Tell it in the form of a fairy tale/life story.

And if something similar happened to you in childhood or you witnessed it, then you don’t need to invent anything. Be sure to say that it is very painful for someone whose tongue is frozen to the iron, and even if you then carefully detach it without injury, the unpleasant sensation will remain for a long time. There are also such “progressive” parents who, as an example, act “out of the blue.” And instead of showing it on a handkerchief and explaining something, they take and force the child to lick a piece of iron they brought from home in the cold. Of course, there will be results. And there’s less effort... but the child’s psyche will definitely suffer from this. This method is unacceptable!

What to do if a child licks a swing in the cold

But not everything can be predicted. And, unfortunately, many do not think about this danger until it happens. If a child has already licked iron in the cold, what should you do? 1) Don't panic or scare the child. Out of fear, he may twitch and blood will flow from the resulting wound in a copious stream. Or, on the contrary, it will press harder and freeze even more. 2) Do not use dubious methods and advice, such as “pee on the hardware.” Not only is it difficult to imagine how you will organize this, but you will also waste time. Unless you are in a completely deserted place, there is nowhere to wait for help and nothing else helps. But this, you know, is mystic. 3) First, assess the situation:

• If the child is frozen only with the tip of his tongue, not too much, it will be enough to breathe warm breath on the place of contact;

All this time, the child must leave his tongue taut, so that as soon as it freezes, he can immediately remove it.

• If a child licks an iron in the cold and his tongue freezes heavily over a large area, and there is severe frost outside, you can hardly get by with just one breath.

Look around - there are probably people nearby, perhaps someone lives nearby, loudly ask those standing nearby and ask who can bring warm water.
Has anyone responded? Great, ask for hot but not boiling water. Know! A warm one will not do - while they are carrying it, it will completely cool down and will only make it worse.
Boiling water is also a so-so option - you will have to wait until the water reaches a comfortable temperature so as not to burn the child. This can cause even greater injury. Let them bring it straight from the tap; there’s no time to wait for the kettle to boil.

Important! Even if they are already bringing you water, you should try to detach the frozen tongue yourself at this time. Let the child breathe warmth himself.

What to do if a frozen tongue is torn off by force

The child may panic and twitch himself. Or get scared. Or he just doesn't want to wait. If a child’s tongue is frozen to the iron, and he tore it off by force, bleeding begins, you need to quickly take the right measures. 1) Apply a handkerchief or napkin to the wound to stop the bleeding. 2) Immediately go home or to a place where you can treat the wound, the main thing is to do it quickly. A clinic, a store, any open establishment - there is always a first aid kit. As a last resort, go to the pharmacy and buy what you need, treat your tongue right in the pharmacy. 3) Rinse your tongue with warm water; if you don’t have warm water, at least with water at room temperature. 4) Treat with hydrogen peroxide or chlorhexidine.

Attention! There is no need to use iodine and brilliant green, they will burn the wound on your already sensitive tongue.

5) Let the child not eat or drink for a couple of hours. 6) After time, give the food warm, pureed, liquid. 7) After every meal, rinse your mouth with chamomile. As soon as possible, show the wound on your tongue to a doctor so that he can assess how strong it is and whether any further action is required. Perhaps he will prescribe some kind of painkiller and disinfectant ointment.

Important! In any case, try to support your baby, do not shout or scold, it is better in this situation to calm down and help correctly. And you will explain later.

May you never have to put these tips into practice.

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How to treat the victim?

There are cases when the child nevertheless frees himself from the gland, causing serious injuries to the tongue. In this case, you must go home immediately. DO NOT apply snow or ice to your tongue as this can cause infection.

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

Over the next week, the child should be fed pureed food and ensure that the food is not hot. If, a few days after the incident, the tongue still does not heal and begins to darken, immediately consult a doctor.