Caroleen’s Treasures

and hopefully will be the last. It happened yesterday morning and I feel so bad for him but before you freak out (like what Ella did) he’s okay now and he’s back to his old self. When we woke up yesterday, we stayed in bed longer to breastfeed. When he had enough I put him in his playpen, gave him toys and made our bed. Suddenly I heard a cry that sounded like he was hurt.  He’s just at my back so I immediately checked on him and I saw a yellow and black thing smeared on his mouth. I knew it right away, it’s a bee!

So I was in panic (what can you expect from me?) but I managed to keep calm. Ella was the one who was in real shock. I carried Eman right away and checked first his mouth because I suspect he attempted to ate it. He did. That bee was already in “coma” after Donald sprayed the night before. I don’t know where these bees come from but we have occasional visits from them. So we have a water-based insect spray ready each time they show up. I usually squeeze each of them with my slipper when they drop from the air and I didn’t know there was one that landed in the playpen. Apparently the little guy saw it and thought it’s delicious. The bee can still move and can still sting even when it’s almost dead or even when its head has came off. I carefully removed the sting and tried to make him feel comfortable by giving Paracetamol. Ella was like, “Mommy! Anong nangyari kay ading? Bakit ang laki ng space?!!!!!!!!” (Mommy what happened to my little brother? Why the space is so big?). That made me laugh.

See what she meant by SPACE. Donald and I call it “pouty lips”. Although I laughed at Ella’s hysterical statement, I still felt so bad for the poor little guy. Ella, Cheche and I have been stung too and we know how awful a bee sting is. It made us all CRY and jump in pain that lasted for days. No not the crying and the jumping but the pain that is. So I while Eman was still crying in pain, I gave him my milk and ice-cold water to prevent excessive swelling. I squirted breastmilk on his lip too every once in a while because breastmilk works wonders and even Ella knew that. She said I should put my milk on the “space” so it will heal because it has vitamins. I googled home remedy and found some helpful tips like dabbing malt vinegar OR baking soda mixed with little water. Baking soda helps ease the itch. After two hours, here’s what the SPACE looks like…..

After 4 hours:

He had his first popsicle that afternoon. After 24 hours:

I don’t know what is the most effective remedy of bee sting because I did ALL the tips I found in the internet. I can’t just try one and wait for any improvement. Then try the second one if the first didn’t work while I watch my son with that big SPACE. According to Babyworld, here is what you can do: * Bathe the puncture mark with cool water or an ice cube to relieve any swelling and heat * Apply an antihistamine or anaesthetic spray, according to the instructions * Vinegar may help ease a wasp sting while bicarbonate of soda and water is good for bee stings * Give your child the correct dose of infant paracetamol to ease any discomfort You can also find the same tips at Babycenter.com. In Eman’s case, I didn’t use antihistamine or anaesthetic spray because we don’t have that on hand.