The child got sunburned: what can't be done

Children's skin is more sensitive to the effects of sunlight, which means that the baby can burn very quickly. It is important for parents to know how to help the baby and, no less important, what not to do so as not to aggravate the child's condition.

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Of course, the best way to prevent a child from getting sunburned is to follow simple rules, it's not difficult at all: don't go out in the sun with your child from 12 to 16-17 p.m., use sunscreen, remember that you can get sunburned even in the shade of trees and in cloudy weather. But if trouble still happened and the child got burned, remember what not to do.

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Cool only with the mind!

One of the most important actions in the treatment of any thermal burn, including solar burn, is to cool the affected parts of the body as quickly as possible. At the same time, it is important not to overdo it - it is absolutely impossible to apply ice or frozen objects to a reddened body: cold batteries that are used in cooler bags, ice water, etc. With a sharp temperature drop, a spasm of peripheral blood vessels can occur, and thus the internal temperature will rise. Not to mention that it is very easy for a baby to catch a cold with such treatment.

Use cool water, you can wet a towel and apply a cool compress to the burned area, changing it as it warms. Use a shower at room temperature or a warm bath (25-28 degrees), the water temperature can be gradually reduced to 22-23.

Source: freepik

Do not lubricate burns with kefir and cucumber

Such popular folk methods as sour milk products (kefir, sour cream), cucumbers and other vegetables can give the desired relief in the first few minutes, but only because they cool and moisturize over-dried, burnt skin. However, as soon as these masks-pseudo-helpers begin to dry, a feeling of skin tightness appears, and neither sour cream nor cucumber juice have an anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, the fat contained in dairy products blocks sweat glands. It is much more effective and safer to moisturize and cool the skin, if the child is sunburned, with ordinary cool water.

A fairly effective remedy is a chilled strong tea infusion, the tannins contained in the tea will help reduce skin inflammation.

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Do not lubricate the burn with fat

Never use oil for burns, even healing sea buckthorn oil, do not rub the baby with petroleum jelly or other fat-containing substances. Any fat clogs the pores, stops the process of heat transfer, which means that it will only worsen the condition of the burnt baby. After such treatment, the probability of bubbles increases even with minor burns.

Source: freepik

Puncture the blisters and tear off the detached skin

If there was a second-degree burn or you treated the child incorrectly, blisters may appear inside of which a transparent liquid is present - it performs a protective function, and opening such blisters at home is very risky - it is easy to introduce an infection into the resulting wound. It is also not necessary to tear off the dying fragments of the skin. Be patient, let the skin "peel off" itself.

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Do not lower the child's temperature with aspirin or analgin

When the baby's temperature has risen (and this is quite possible if a sunburn has occurred), the burned areas hurt, give him pain-relieving and antipyretic drugs based on ibuprofen or paracetamol (the effect is almost the same). Aspirin and analgin are dangerous for children, because they can cause additional problems.

And it is also very important - do not go to the beach with your child for a few days after the accident, but even later try to cover the burned parts of the body with thin, light-colored clothing.

Source: Instagram @for_little_star

Sunburn risk factors

The younger the child, the less melanin there is in his skin, which protects him from the sun's rays. Light-skinned children, especially red-haired ones, are more prone to burns than dark-skinned brunettes. A child can burn very quickly after swimming - water drops work like micro lenses, and sunscreen is washed off with water.