Summer is here and the sun is getting stronger.
It’s important to remember that babies less than six-months-old should be kept out of direct sunlight. Their skin is sensitive and contains less melanin than in older children. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their colour, and provides some protection from the sun.
Older babies should also be kept out of the direct sun as much as possible, particularly in the summer and between 11am and 3pm, when the sun is at its strongest.
If you go out when it's hot, attach a parasol or sunshade to your baby's pushchair to protect them from direct sunlight.
Apply a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to your baby's skin. Make sure the product also protects against both UVA and UVB rays and carries the four star protection logo.
Many brands produce sunscreen specifically for babies and young children and these products are less likely to contain additives that might irritate the skin. Apply the sunscreen regularly, particularly if your child is in and out of the sea or paddling pool. Even if the sunscreen is labelled as waterproof, drying the skin with the towel after staying in water often removes the protective cover of sunscreen from the skin.
Make sure your child wears a sunhat with a wide brim or a long flap at the back to protect their head and neck from the sun.
Babies and young children can become ill during very hot weather. Their health can be seriously affected by:
- dehydration
- heat exhaustion and heatstroke
- sunburn
Summer is traditionally a time for school sports days. Make sure you apply sun cream to your child at the start of the day and send them to school with a sun hat and a bottle of water.
Katarina Berankova, Clinical Director for Paediatrics at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said it is not uncommon to see children at the beginning of summer with moderate to severe sunburn.
She said: “Most typically, these are older children who get distracted in play forgetting about appropriate sun protection. It is very important that even in school age children and teenagers their parents keep reminding them to use the sunscreen and avoid direct sunlight when it is at its highest level in the middle of the day.
“Mild sunburns can be treated with application of creams containing Panthenol which provide cooling effect and help skin to recover. Any deeper sunburns (if forming blisters or if there are secretions from damaged skin) should be reviewed as soon as possible by GP or in A&E. They might require more specialised treatment and sterile dressing depending on the depth and extent of the sunburns. As they are also quite painful, appropriate painkillers should be used to decrease the distress of a child.”
Not treating sunburn can lead to problems later in life.
Katarina said: “Skin has a memory and every insult sustained during life will leave some trace in it. Repeated damage caused by sunburn can lead to a variety of chronic skin problems from loss of elasticity to malignant melanoma. It is therefore essential to protect the sensitive skin of the youngest ones as it is more prone to damage which in long-term run can lead to significant problems in later age.”
Avoid dehydration
Babies and young children need to drink plenty of fluids to avoid becoming dehydrated. Their bodies contain higher proportion of water and hence they become dehydrated more easily and faster than adults.
From 0 to 6 months
- Fully breastfed babies do not need any water until they've started eating solid foods. During hot weather they may want to breastfeed more than usual.
- If you're bottle feeding, as well as their usual milk feeds, you can give your baby a little cooled boiled water. If your baby wakes at night, they'll probably want milk. If they have had their usual milk feeds, try cooled boiled water as well.
- Remember you can ask your health visitor or another health professional for advice about any baby care issue, advice will then be tailored to meet your baby's needs.
From around 6 months
- Once you have started to introduce solid foods, you should offer your baby sips of water from a cup or beaker with meals. Remember that breastmilk or infant formula should be their main drinks during the first year. In hot weather, you may need to offer some additional water outside of mealtimes.
From 12 months
- Water, breast milk or whole cows' milk should be your baby's main drinks. In hot weather, you can try giving them frozen lollies made from plain water or from very diluted fruit juice to help keep them hydrated. Lollies made from diluted fruit juice should only be given at mealtimes because they can cause tooth decay.
- For older children, give them plenty of fruit and salad to help keep their fluid levels up. Remember that undiluted fruit juice or smoothies should not be given to children until they are 5 years old. Children often get distracted during play and don’t always remember to have a drink. Adults should encourage them to drink water or diluted juice in regular intervals to avoid dehydration.
Keeping cool
Follow the tips below to help keep your children cool and safe during hot weather.
- Playing in a paddling pool is a good way of keeping babies and children cool. Keep the pool in the shade during very hot weather and supervise the children carefully at all times.
- Run them a cool bath before bedtime.
- Keep your child's bedroom cool during the day by closing blinds or curtains. You can also use a fan to circulate the air in the room.
- Keep nightwear and bedclothes to a minimum. If your baby kicks or pushes off the covers during the night, consider putting them in just a nappy with a single well-secured sheet that will not work loose and cover their face or get entangled during the night.
- A nursery thermometer will help you monitor the temperature of your baby's room. Your baby will sleep most comfortably when their room is between 16C and 20C.
If in doubt, keep your child out of the midday sun and always seek urgent medical attention if you are worried your child may be affected by any of the above.
For more advice and information check out;
https://www.nhs.uk/.../first.../safety/safety-in-the-sun/