What Happens When Your Toddler is Attacked by Wasps

Dear Dumplin,

What happens when your toddler is attacked by wasps?  You panic! Absolutely!!! You freak the f*ck out! And that’s exactly what happened to me when you were attacked by wasps this past Sunday.

Now, is that what you should do if some sort of freak wasp attack happens to your little one in the future?  No.  Absolutely not.  You must remain calm.  Thank goodness your Auntie Cassie was here who is a pediatric nurse.  (Yes, honey!  God is good!) She calmly and professionally walked me through the steps to make sure you were ok.  But first, let me give you a little back story.

First, right before you turned one, we bought you what we thought was the cutest little bee chair.

You wanted nothing to do with it.  You would not even go in the same room as it.  You would stand in the doorway, check to see if the chair was still there, then walk away.  After two days of this we returned the chair and got the Doc McStuffins chair you love.

Later that year I got the bright idea to dress you as a bee for Halloween.  I had this vision of you with your little bee wings saying “Buzz!!! Buzz!”  That’s not what happened.  You would not even put the wings on.  You wanted no parts of it.  (But you still looked cute though.)

Fast forward to Sunday.  Your Auntie and Uncle came over with their boys to visit and you were HAPPY.  You had playmates!  You had not even been in the backyard five minutes when you started screaming at the top of your lungs.  My first thought was “What is she mad about?”  But when I saw the look on your face I knew it was something else.  The strange thing is that you were walking.  You didn’t run.  You just walked to me slowly while screaming.  (I now realize I had never taught you to run from bees and wasps!!!  I’m so sorry my Dumplin.)  I didn’t immediately understand what was happening so I tried to get you to talk.  Then you started jerking as if something was pinching you.  Just at that moment your Uncle said, there’s a bee on her leg!!!   I swat it off and rush you inside so I can take another look at the sting.  You stop crying for a moment then start screaming again!  You Auntie says, “TAKE OFF ALL OF HER CLOTHES !”  We run into the family room and start to strip off your clothes.  And do you know what happened?  Wasps started to fly out of your clothes. YOUR VERY CLOTHES!!!!  It was like something out of a movie!!!

I grab you and run upstairs so that I can get to a room with no wasps.  These things had followed you into the house to keep attacking you!  I never would have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.  Your Dad and Uncle turn into Batman and Robin.  I hear them beating the wasps to oblivion.  Meanwhile, your Auntie Cassie (Did I say God Bless her yet?) walks me through the steps.  I’ve added a few of my own now that I’ve experienced this hellish nightmare.

1. Immediately get to a safe place with no wasps.  You want to be able to see the bites and if they are swelling up.
2. Take off ALL of your child’s clothes. I mean all of it.  These things climbed into your sandals, your shorts, and your shirt. They meant business!
3. Give your child water and keep them drinking.  If they go into anaphylactic shock, swallowing will become difficult and you will need to call 911 immediately.  If you think your child is having an allergic reaction, don’t wait.  Call an ambulance.  Don’t try to drive to the hospital.  Call an ambulance.
4. Give your child some type of Children’s allergy medicine.  I gave you Children’s Benadryl.  (Your doctor previously gave me the ok to use this when you had a bad cold.)
5. If your child takes an oral antihistamine, you cannot put a topical antihistamine cream on their skin.  It has the same components and you do not want to overdose your child.
6. If your child is stung by bees and not wasps, you will need to remove the stinger.  Do not pinch them out with tweezers because this could release more poison.  Instead, scrap it with a nail or a credit card.  Since you were stung by wasps (who do not leave their stingers), I did not have to do this step.
7. Put something cool like water or ice on the stings to relieve the discomfort. You may also need to give the child some children’s pain medicine.  I put you in the bathtub since there were so many stings and rinsed you with cool water.  I also gave you children’s Motrin.  Within 10 minutes you started to act like your normal self.
8. I changed your clothes into a loose dress so that nothing would irritate your already abused skin.
9. You were then monitored.  Your Auntie said if you were allergic we would have known within the next 15 minutes.  I kept you home from school the next day regardless.  I just felt better with you near me.
10. Give your child a treat.  They have been through a traumatic experience!  I let you eat ice pops until your lips were red.  My poor baby!  You deserved it.

Once I knew you were going to be ok, I was able to relax a little.  But I kept asking you, are you ok?  Are you thirsty?  Are you hungry?  Do you want a toy?  You would say, “The bees get me Mommy.  The bees get me.  Daddy kill them?  And Uncle Jean too?”  I said yes honey, your Dad and Uncle Jean made sure to get rid of those mean bees.  And it was true!  They found the nest and got rid of it.  This is what they found underneath the ramp leading to the shed:

Something out of a movie right?  Unbelievable.  We had just had pest control to the house for regular maintenance.  Of course we called them back and asked what gives??  Apparently a nest like this can be built in a day or two.  As a result, you have to check for nests periodically.  Who knew?  We are going to add this to the category “Things Nobody Told Me About Moving to New Jersey.”

I’m just glad you are ok.  And I promise, no more bees from me.

Love,

Mama

Note: I am not a medical professional.  The above advice is simply from this recent experience.  If you have real concerns about wasps or insect bites, you should contact your child’s health professional. I am not a doctor, an insect specialist, or anything of the sort.