Splinters in the foot - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

bap104 · 07-23-2007, 06:55 PM

My 10 month old has a few splinters in his foot. He has started to walk and dummy me let him walk on our wood deck. He used to crawl all over it without any pain or splinters so I didn't think twice about him walking bare foot on it. They are under his skin so I can't easily use a tweezer or my nails to get them out. They are not bothering him at all. Should I let them be or work on getting them out? What else can I use besides tweezers? There is no way he will sit still to let me do it even with dh's help. Thanks

meechieny · 07-23-2007, 08:48 PM

Try soaking him in the tub as long as he will tolerate it. The water will make the splinters swell and pucker his skin so they may come out on their own or at least enough to grab them with the tweezers. Maybe you can do it when he is having a bottle or breastfeeding so he's not wiggling too much.
Hope this helps
Good luck

whiteluluflower · 07-28-2007, 07:41 PM

This used to always work for us when we got splinters.

get a little bowl/tupperware. (doesnt really matter) put warm water in it, and a piece of bread, rest the foot against the bread.

Not sure why/how it works. but it alwyas worked for us!

Keep his foot in the water/on bread as long as he'll tolerate, or, you see the splinter, so you can just take it out.

the wood moves to the top of the skin

sorry if this post is confusing..lol

mcr285 · 07-29-2007, 12:26 PM

there's always the risk of infection when you leave splinters...

something that's worked for us is to cut pieces of banana peel and taped/bandaided them to the splinter. leave them overnight and the next day the splinter is either gone, or pulled out enough that you can get to it. ofcourse, with your son being 10 months old and the splinters being on his feet, i'm not sure how practical that would be... unless he will keep socks on...

that being said, the bread trick sounds less complicated... we're definitely going to try that one next time!!!

mcr285 · 07-29-2007, 12:31 PM

one more thing...

the tv is a great tool for distracting your baby and getting at his feet...

if i have to mess with my daughter's feet (usually trimming toe nails), i strap her into her booster chair and turn the tv on - she LOVES to watch Noggin. then she'll pretty much let me do whatever i want to do with her! occasionally when she's in a bad mood, i'll throw some animal cookies or fruit snacks on her tray too and that keeps her distracted long enough!