My 15 month old just had to have a skin graft on his left palm.?

Question

I was cleaning up breakfast and let him walk down the hall alone. He found our iron up on a shelf. The iron was off, but plugged in. I never thought about the power button being red, but that is one of his favorite colors. He got the iron on and by the time he made a sound I was running doen the hall and grabbing him up with the iron sticking to his hand. This is by far the worst experience of my life. My son has just had a skin graft which means not only does he have a cast on his left arm, he has an open wound on his thigh where the donor skin was taken from. I am presenting 2 questions, has anyone had this experience? How on earth do you deal with the guilt and blame associated? ...okay 3 questions... how did the graft turn out? Thanks!

Answer 1

As a mother of 6 children, I have done lots of things that made me feel guilty, but the best thing to do with that guilt is use it to your advantage. Now you know not to leave the iron plugged in because of the red being his favorite color. And you can also let other people know about this, since it is common to think that if something is off, then it wont hurt you/your children, when in reality it needs to be plugged in.
As for the skin graft, my one year old was born with synbrachdactly - where two of his fingers were fused together. When he was 7 months old he had the operation to seperate his fingers, and he needed a skin graft as well. The skin graft healed nicely, there is a little scar, but as he gets bigger the scar gets smaller. And by crawling, he pulled the stitches from his skin graft open, so if he hadn't done that, I think it would be even les snoticable. When someone changes his diaper, you can barely even see the line.
Good luck, and remember, he is a boy, so be prepared for lots of trips to the doctors office for things you never thought you would have to do. Here is a sample of something that I learned... I learned not to take a shower while a 3 yr old is in the house supposedly sleeping and when there is a container of tile glue in the back of the cabinet above the stove because said 3 yr old may push a chair up to the stove, climb onto the stove somehow reach to the back of the cabinet and pull out the tub of tile glue, cover himself in the said glue, and need to be taken to the ER in the middle of winter naked (wrapped in saran wrap and a blanket to keep from gluing himself to the blanket) because he is covered in industrial strength tile adhesive.

Answer 2

Use it as a learning experience. Every mother has made a mistake. The ones who haven't, are LYING! You had the iron turned off. Have a good cry, take a hot shower & use this to as a learning tool. You now know that your son is smarter than the average 15 month old and more inquisitive, too! Unplug everything while you're not using it. Put a gate up to keep him out of the kitchen - you don't need him opening the oven or dishwasher while they're on! Hot water from a dishwasher can scald.

I'm learning from your episode as well. I will unplug all my small appliances and after reading the other mother's oven story, I'm buying a gate for my kitchen door. Sharing your story will help other mothers avoid this happening to their children.

Don't feel guilty, just be more aware. You're human! Thank God he only got burned on the hand & not on the face.

(((((((((HUGS FOR YOU)))))))))))

Now go cry, shower & kiss your son. :)

Answer 3

When my husband was 2 (he is now 21) he was burned all over his body, very bad. He has had multiple skin grafts and still has major scars all over his body. His mother still feels bad, even though she did nothing wrong. He loves her and of course knows that she did her best and didnt do it to him. You can see where his skin grafts were done but he doesnt seem to notice them and people dont really pay much attention. So Im thinking that your son will be fine and you need to stop blaming yourself. I am a mom of three and I realized almost right away, that people make mistakes, just learn from them and try not to be so hard on yourself! Hope everything goes well.

Answer 4

i don't have anything to say about the skin graft but i have recently had a similar thing happen to me. my son in 19 months and i was cooking dinner about a month ago. i went to the bathroom for a second and when i returned he had the oven door open and was holding the rack. i freaked out. i didn't know what to do. he had two blistered on his hand. i called my mother in law (my husband was in iraq at the time) crying cuz i didn't know what to do. she calmed me down and told he to go the the er. luckly he didn't do to much damage. just a scar. but these little ones are just to fast and to curious and there is no one to proof the whole house. not unless you put your kids in a bubble. but i know the blame is awful but your son doesn't blame you and people will be rude and answer with some nasty stuff but they are not perfect either. keep your head up this is just the beginning.

Answer 5

Well l accidents happen.You learn from your mistakes.15 month old is very bad time for the baby's.They want to get into everything.Specially the bright lights.Just leave everything and run after him.But you need time to cope with it.Time will heal and time will make it better.As a parent of two,honestly i would've felt the same way.But these things happen,no matter what you do.I hope your precious will feel better soon.

Answer 6

Its normal to feel guitly. You are going to get answerson here froma bunch of haters who think their crap dont stink.
You are a great mother, no matter what the accident was.
So please dont listend to mean people and just report them if they get too nasty.
About the burn.... I knew a little boy who was burned 45% of his body in a house fire, and they did the skin graph from his thigh and buttocks. It was amazing to see after it was healed. Because he was badly burned he did have some scaring, but in the end, the part where they graphed turned out great.

Good Luck!

Answer 7

Im really sorry to hear this hope he gets well soon xxxxx

Answer 8

Hi, I am sorry this happen...wishing the best for you and your child.