Do you guys use alcohol or water to clean PRE & POST pricking?
My ENDO uses water bc if there's a trace of alcohol when reading, it makes it lower.
How about other tips to keep little fingers from brusing?
How about tips to make it as painless as possible?
THANKS FOR SHARING!
i use water too… I use cream while they are sleep and one finger does not get it a night for night pricks… then once a week I use neosporin … i rotate fingers too … it hard not to have it hurt major watch is how ur setting ares now mine kids need it on 7… sometimes 8… but i know the sides hurt way more and the very tips are not a good spot either…
Just use warm water, (warm water also brings blood closer to survace) alcohol increases scarring. also use the lowest possible setting on your lancet devise. I rub aquaphor on his fingertips everynight to also help prevent scarring. I will use alcohol if we are somewhere water is not accessible, or if I feel it is a germmy area (kids play areas, parks, so forth)
I use alcohol swabs on my daughter’s fingers before pricking her finger, and I’ve been doing it that way for over 2 years now. But I don’t just use the swab, I also use a square of tp every time. I rub the spot I’m going to prick with the swab, then I wipe it with the tp. Then I prick that spot, wait for a sm drop of blood and wipe it away. Sometimes I do that twice before I’ll use the blood. Then after I’ll have her hold the square of tp on her finger until it stops bleeding. She hasn’t had any scarring besides what you can’t avoid (that’s what her endo said) and her fingertips don’t get dry and crack even though skin on other parts of her body will. Parts that never see rubbing alcohol.
I also use the lowest possible setting, and then press hard when using it. Seems to hurt lots less. I’ve also found that the pinky needs a much smaller setting than the rest of the fingers. Her pinky gets a 1 and the rest get a 3.
no alcohol, plain water or a hand wash. use sides of the fingers, never the tip. If she’s asleep I sometimes use the top of finger behind the nail on a very low dial on her poker. I try to use the fingers she doesn’t so much (when she’s sleeping) or the opposite side to what she usually uses.
I don’t use anything if my hands are fairly clean (for the last decade or so). Until I was about 18 though, the norm was to use alcohol every time. I did it religiously. Then a CDE told me that I could stop and I never used it again. LOL
Using the sides and favoring the ring and middle fingers can be a little less painful. Switching from whatever you’re using to the Accu-Check multiclix is my best suggestion though. It’s the least painful lancet device I’ve used in my 20 years with D. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I think it might save those sweet baby fingers from some of the more painful lancets. I can barely feel it.
My 16 year old son also loves the Multiclix. I would think that it would be a must for little ones because it is so easy to change the lancet out for each test. Having a new needle each test should help.
The Multiclix has the disk inside with many lancets that spins instead of having to insert those little individual lancets each time. My son tended to re-use the lancet instead of changing it out and then it was not sharp and not sanitary.
my 3 yr old, dxd at 13 months, uses the multiclix…well, i use the mulitclix on him 
i suppose it’s to each their own, we use alcohol swabs every time. we were told to always use an alcohol swab unless the hands have just been washed. so we do.
they do it when we are in the hospital, we do it at home.
ben’s fingers are so callused that pain is virtually non existent. there have been times that the ‘depth’ setting has been moved and then he says ouch, but i’ve gotten pron to double checking it before i test so i don’t hurt him.
ben plays with his ‘poker’ all the time and pokes himself all over the place. he isn’t phased at all with little needle pokes, lol. he thinks it’s great to have complete control over it
anyways. to each their own, i suppose…you are mom and dad, you know what’s best