Mr. E: Go to the nearest Clinic. We are bringing DonDon
Me: What has happened?
Mr. E: He has been burnt by hot water.
I did not panic. I quickly alighted from taxi at Mawanda Road.I got onto a boda boda to Princeton Children’s clinic and sat there waiting for my husband to arrive with child. When i saw my child of 9 months wailing, i cried too.
You see, i had introduced a rule on child care and instructed our maid never to allow the child near the cooking area. Why? Because Zachary our first child was burnt by a charcoal stove.
This was new. I never said anything about carrying a toddler in one hand and an open saucepan of hot water in the other hand. And now the child had fallen into the saucepan of hot water and that was the reason for the emergency. ( Not a cool site). We nursed the wounds till he was completely healed out. And another rule on child care was birthed.
7 years later…..
Our 3rd son is born and all is well till 31st December, 2019
Ring Ring. I answered a call from my brother-in-love.
Uncle Sam: Joanne, where are you? Me: I am on my way home, around mulago Uncle Sam: Which hospital should we take Theo? Me: What has happened to him? Uncle Sam: He has been burnt by hot water Me: How bad is it? Uncle Sam: It is bad. i hang up.
I call back and tell my brother in law to take Theo to Princeton Children’sMedical Centre.
I alight from taxi at Mawanda Road and get a boda boda to the clinic. i wait there for what seemed like eternity till i hear the loud wail of my 7 months old. I cried too. I thought i had covered all bases with the rules on hot substances and now this.
So the bath water was poured from a flask into the baby’s basin and the child’s care taker left him on the bed in the bed room and went to get the cold water to mix into the bath water. Baby fell off the bed into the water and now his back, shoulders, ear, cheeks were badly burnt. We are nursing him and now i have introduced the cold water rule:
” Cold water first into the basin and hot water last to derive the perfect temperature for his bath.
The cold water rule seems to apply in most households but for some reason, i never knew about it and i thought i knew a lot about child care. While this is true, i now realise i do not know everything.
But this i know for sure: Do not allow a child to go near a hot charcoal stove, Do not carry a baby together with an open saucepan of hot water and then lastly, Do not add hot water first to the bathing water of a child. Always add cold water first.
Mother of Boys 