Tick Bites In Children: How To Deal With Them
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When you have children at home, you naturally develop protective instincts toward them. Since children hop and jump around, play a lot indoors and outdoors, they end up gathering a lot of infection-causing organisms on their selves. And kids are often prone to insect bites too. Since we usually recognize a mosquito or an ant bite, we are more or less aware of the basic ways of dealing with them. However, what if your child comes home with an unusual insect bite mark? Or, if you notice a weird-looking tick crawling over your child’s exposed arms or legs?
Anyone who has a dog at home might be aware of what a tick is. However, if you don’t know what a tick looks like, a simple internet search will throw up innumerable images of it. They are usually found in pets like dogs or in woody and grassy areas. Ticks are carriers of infections of other diseases, which is why a tick bite can often infect the blood easily (1). Here are a few FAQs regarding tick bites answered just for you:
In This Article
What To Do When I Find A Tick On My Child?
First and foremost, do not panic if you find a tick on your child. It’ll make your child panic too. Be calm and check if the tick is crawling or attached to the skin. If it’s still crawling, then slowly pick it up with a tissue and flush it in a toilet.
What If The Tick Is Attached To The Skin?
If the tick is already attached to the skin, pull it out as soon as you can. But do so gently with a pair of tweezers. Focus on the front of the tick, preferably close to its mouth. Grasp it firmly with the tweezers and pull it out evenly and gradually. Make sure you remove the tick completely and none of its body parts remain. Also, don’t squeeze the tick’s body as the tick’s infected blood can enter your child’s bloodstream, especially if the tick is bloated.
Are There Any Home Remedies To Remove The Tick?
Some people believe that applying nail polish or petroleum jelly helps to remove the tick. A section of people also advice burning the rear of the tick with a matchstick. However, do not try any of these. It might irritate the tick and make it regurgitate the contents of its stomach into your child’s bloodstream. Also, a hot matchstick can burn your child’s skin too.
What To Do After Removing It?
Once you’ve removed the tick, wash the area with warm water and soap. Gently dry the area with a tissue but don’t rub or tap hard. Apply an over-the-counter antiseptic lotion. If your child develops any signs of infection in the area like swelling, redness, or oozing, take him/her to the doctor immediately.
What If A Part Of The Tick Remains Behind?
If a tick’s part remains attached to the skin even after removal of the tick, try to take it out like how you’d remove a splinter. However, do not dig deep or cause injury to your child. If you are unable to remove it, you can take your child to the doctor instead of causing more injury.
What Other Precautions Should I Take?
Once you have removed the tick from your child’s body, check for any other ticks. Search carefully for any signs of tick bites or ticks on your child’s head, inside and around the ears, back of the knees, between the legs, armpits, belly button, waist, and between toes and fingers. These are the usual hiding places of the tick.
Will It Cause Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is usually caused by ticks carrying the infection. If your child develops symptoms such as fatigue, headache, fever, or a rash, get your child to a doctor immediately. Usually, a week’s course of antibiotic medicines should be enough to treat your child (2).
We hope that this piece of information regarding ticks has been helpful to you. However, if you are still unsure if a particular insect bite on your kid is a tick or not, then do not hesitate to seek medical aid for your child.
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