A boy who tipped a popular snack onto himself was burned so badly he needed skin grafts. Nicole Lego told how her son was rushed to hospital after spilling a boiling hot cup of noodles onto his lap.
And she took to social media to warn others to try to stop another child going through the same suffering as her child. Speaking in a tiktok video she said: "If you are a parent of small children, honestly college kids or even just an adult I need you to listen to this.
"I'm only even coming on here because I don't ever want a child to experience what my son has been through in the past three days. As a parent you think of like all the worst case scenarios like making sure they are in the right car seat, make sure they have a helmet on, you know, make sure the bath water's not too hot but I had no idea the amount of mundane things that we do every day could literally alter your child's life forever.
"My son has been in the burn ICU unit for the past three days now over something that I would have never imagined in my entire life could happen.
The American mother, who regularly posts about her family on the social media platform, told how her son, who is in elementary school, loves noodle snacks which come dried from supermarkets and are made up by adding boiling water to them. She said he had wanted a cup of noodles but then dropped the entire cup in his lap.
She said: "Immediately he's screaming at the top of his lungs, he pulls his pants off, all of the skin is melting off like a literal ice cream cone, everything starts melting off."
She said they rushed him straight to the hospital where there was a burns unit. She added: "Little did we know that he already had deep second degree burns at that point. A lot of people don't realise a burn like that does not stop burning, even though you take the hot water off. It continues to burn for hours."
She said even once he reached hospital it didn't ease with him continuing to be in pain which no medicine relieving his suffering. She said he had then had to have grafts where pig skin was used to cover the nerves.
Nicole added: "The amount of infection and the scarring and the literal trauma that they will have for the rest of their lives over a cup of noodles. What I do know is I will never, ever even think lightly of something like hot chocolate or even noodles or anything like that ever again."
She told how guilty she felt saying she knew people would ask why give it to him if the water was too hot. But she added: "Nothing that you can say can make me feel any more guilty than I already feel."
According to one study from the University of Chicago instant noodles account for almost one in three of childhood burn injuries. And many of Nicole's followers reassured her that people make mistakes.
Paige Antonelli said: "This exact thing happened to me when I was 2. I still have the scars at 26. Please don’t hold onto the guilt. I’ve never once blamed my mom for it."
Isa added: "My daughter was also burned by a cup of noodles. I have never driven home from work so fast. Seeing her scream and shiver from pain haunts me."
The NHS has advice for people who have suffered a burn or scald. It says:
- immediately get the person away from the heat source to stop the burning
- remove any clothing or jewellery that's near the burnt area of skin, including babies' nappies, but do not move anything that's stuck to the skin
- cool the burn with cool or lukewarm running water for 20 to 30 minutes – do not use ice, iced water, or any creams or greasy substances like butter
- make sure the person keeps warm by using a blanket, for example, but take care not to rub it against the burnt area
- after cooling the burn, cover the burn by placing a layer of cling film over it – a clean plastic bag could also be used for burns on your hand
- use painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to treat any pain
- raise the affected area if possible – this helps to reduce swelling
- if it's an acid or chemical burn , dial 999 , carefully try to remove the chemical and any contaminated clothing, and rinse the affected area using as much clean water as possible
