5 steps to treat your child's bee sting

Nature is beautiful and peaceful but a nice day at the beach or the park can quickly turn into a screaming fest if your child gets a bee sting. And those aren’t alligator tears --- bee stings are truly painful! If you’re out and about and your child is stung by a bee, don’t panic. About 95% of all bee stings come from yellow jackets or honey bees, which aren’t poisonous or fatal.

Still, if you want to stop the tears and make this incident less traumatic for your little one, it’s important to treat the bee sting as soon as possible. Here’s how you can stop the pain and save the day.

1. Move somewhere safe.

Most bees only sting once but if your child was stung, you may be in an area where bees are relatively active. Don’t risk another sting and move to a safe place before attempting to treat the wound. Get your child comfortable and calm. Use your mom superpowers and a diversion tactic, like kids’ stickers.

2. Get that stinger out.

First, examine the area where your child was stung. While tweezers seem like the perfect tool to yank that stinger right out, it’s best to save your tweezing skills for tick or splinter removal. Using tweezers to remove the stinger can cause more venom to release into the skin, which is the culprit for the pain. Instead, use a piece of gauze and gently brush it over the area. The stinger should loosen and eventually come free.

3. Clean the area.

It’s best to clean the wound with antibacterial soap and water but if you’re out and about, a premium antibiotic ointment will do. Be sure your fingers are clean before gently running a bit of ointment on the area to disinfect it.

4. Use a cold compress.

A cold compress will help reduce pain and swelling.

5. Monitor your child for allergic reaction

According to the Journal of Asthma and Allergy, only about 5% to 7.5% of people will actually experience a severe reaction to a bee sting. A little swelling is normal and will generally go down after you apply a cold compress to the area. However, if there’s severe swelling, pain, or other signs of a potential allergic reaction, take your child in for medical treat right away.

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