My ds, who just turned four, got a little wooden splinter on the pad of his pinky finger. It's not deep but right under the skin surface but when I tried to get it out, my ds, was screaming and squirming in pain so much I was unsuccessful. When I called his nurse, she advised me to just leave it in there and wash it in cold soapy water and apply Neosporin on it and hope it will work its way out. I really want to get it out but my ds is just going "nuts" and is so uncontrollable. Anyone with a similar experience? My ds wants a band-aid on it but I'm not sure that's the best thing. Any advice would help. Thanks!

By Melanie on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 10:44 am:

I always work out splinters right after the kids have a bath. The skin is much softer and it usually comes right out. Good luck!

By Mommyathome on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 11:17 am:

We *just* went through this with my DD(4). She has done it twice within the past couple of weeks.
She would completely freak out when I would try to remove it!
So, we just washed it up good and applied some neosporin (just like your nurse suggested) and let it go. A day or so later, we were driving in the car and DD says, "mom, I got my sliver out". She picked it out herself. The skin over it had dried up a bit and she got it out with no problems. She did the same thing again about a week after that when she got yet another one.
After she got it out, we washed it up good again and put more neosporin on it.
Good luck!!

By Tklinreston on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 11:27 am:

I thought of doing the same thing as Melanie.. in fact, I had him soak it in water for awhile but then I was told not to do that because it would cause the wood to swell, which it did overnight. But is that necessarily a bad thing? I just don't know.. Even with the skin soft he just won't let me near his hand... goes nuts, and so I think I need to go your route, Robin. The only problem is I think just touching that area lightly hurts him so I'm worried about infection but it doesn't look infected. Robin -- did you put a band aid on it after the neosporin? I did because he's in preschool and I didn't want to get germs in it... Thanks.

By Joy~bundles on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 06:10 pm:

DS picked up a couple splinters earlier this year. I soaked his hand for a while and was able to get them out. DS was NOT thrilled with the process, but he wanted the splinters out and soaking did the job!

By Mommyathome on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 08:12 pm:

Yep, I added a bandaid for outside playtime, school etc. But, when it was just normal time (reading, playing games etc.) I let it air out. That helped with the skin drying on it so she could "pick" it. (gross I know)

Ashlyns was the same way, really tender to touch and a bit red around the sliver. After a day or two, the tenderness was gone and that's when she decided to get it out herself.

By Marcia on Monday, October 20, 2003 - 08:55 pm:

My kids have had tons of slivers from the decks and climber. I've always taken them out right away, with a sterile needle. If he won't let you do it, try when he's sleeping. I've done that before., when they were quite young.

By Tklinreston on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 11:03 am:

My ds accompanied my parents to the doctor appointment for my younger ds and they had the nurse look at ds' splinter for advice. She told them it had to come out and proceeded to open up the skin but not in the right place - missed the splinter. When I saw my ds after work, he had a little cut and scab (from bleeding) and the splinter still lodged as before. I was pretty upset about it because the nurse had hurt him with no result. I took Melanie's advice and had him take a long bath. Afterwards when the skin was soft I poked at it with a sterile needle until it hurt him too much. By then the opening was big enough that when I washed his finger under running water, it came out. HURRAY!!! We were both so happy, we jumped up and down squealing in delight. DS was in such a good mood after that... it was a great night. Thanks, everyone. I always know where to turn when I need help.

By Mommyof4 on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - 01:16 pm:

My dd's preschool teacher told me once that she put ambisol on the area first to numb it and then took a sterile needle to get it out. I am a wimp when it comes to splinters and dh must take out all of our kids spinlters. If I happen to get one myself I soak it in hot water and if that looks like it absolutelty will never work then I let dh pull it out. I tried the ambisol on one of my splinters and I didn't feel it at all when he was taking it out.