Moderate exposure to ultraviolet rays is good for the baby. Under their influence, vitamin D is produced in the body. This substance helps strengthen bones and is a good tool for the prevention of rickets. But sometimes parents are too keen on tanning and expose their children to prolonged sun exposure. It does not pass without a trace for the child's body. Burns on the skin may not appear immediately, but after some time. Sometimes parents themselves do not notice how a child is sunburned. What to do in such a situation?
Damage to excessive sun exposure
It seems to moms and dads that a tanned baby looks beautiful. But darkening of the skin is a protective reaction of the body to exposure to sunlight. Intensive tanning in childhood is far from good for health. Most often, excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation causes the following health problems:
- heatstroke;
- skin burns;
- risk of developing tumors in the future.
In adults, under the influence of the sun, melanin is formed in the skin. This pigment also causes a tan. But in young children, such a substance is practically not synthesized. If you look closely, you can see that the skin of the babies is white. She is very sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, as a result, the child quickly gets burns, and not tan. Intense darkening of the skin after being on the beach is an alarming sign. This means that the child is burned in the sun. A sunburn in children can occur not immediately, but after 3-12 hours.
Signs of a sunburn in a child
Some time after being exposed to the sun, the child has the first signs of a burn. The skin becomes hot. The child feels pain when touching the affected areas. Redness is noticeable. The baby becomes tearful, restless. Sometimes painful sensations arise even when the clothes come in contact with burnt skin. The child begins to resist when parents try to dress him. In the future, when healing a burn, peeling of the skin is noticeable. Such signs indicate that the child is burned in the sun. What to do to parents and how to help the baby?
Further actions will depend on the degree of skin damage. In some cases, the child can be helped at home. But if the baby is charred in the sun very much, then a doctor’s consultation may be required, and sometimes you need to call an ambulance.
Degrees of sunburn
There are 2 degrees of sunburn:
1 degree. A few hours after exposure to the sun, the skin turns red. There is burning sensation and itching at the lesion sites.
2 degree. The burned areas become bright red, bubbles with watery contents appear. There is severe pain, fever up to 38-39 degrees. The child feels severe discomfort, nausea, vomiting and headache appear. These are signs of not only a severe burn, but also a general overheating of the body.
A degree 1 burn can be managed at home. But what if the child is badly sunburned and feels bad at the same time? In such cases, medical care is indispensable.
Skin cooling
First of all, with a burn, you need to cool the skin as soon as possible. However, this should be done very carefully. Do not apply ice, frozen foods, compresses with too cold water to the reddened places. With a sharp impact of cold on a hot body, vasoconstriction occurs. As a result, body temperature rises even more. In addition, such actions can lead to colds.
When cooling the skin, certain rules must be followed if the child is sunburned. What to do first?
- First of all, the child needs to be led into the shade.
- For the first degree of burns, wet wraps will help. It should be moistened in moderately cool water. You can take a warm shower or bath at home. The water temperature should not be lower than +25 degrees, then it can be gradually reduced to +22 degrees.
- To reduce pain, the child needs to be given an analgesic: Nurofen or Paracetamol.
- With burns, dehydration occurs, so you need to drink the baby as often as possible.
This should be first aid if the child is sunburned. What to do next depends on the symptoms of burns and overall well-being.
Treatment for minor burns
Treatment of burns of 1 degree is possible at home. Skin lesions usually disappear after a few days when the damaged epithelium begins to peel off. For some time, pigmented spots will remain on the burnt places.
Continue to soak the burns with cool water. It is important to ensure that contact with the skin does not hurt the baby. It is better to put on things from light natural fabrics that do not rub inflamed foci, and during sleep, cover the child with a light sheet. Until the burn is completely gone, avoid exposure to the sun.
These are general measures that will help a child who has burned out in the sun to recover more quickly. What to do at home, now you know, but you will also need the use of medical anti-burn ointments. Several times a day, you need to treat the baby's skin with one of the following drugs:
- Panthenol (ointment or spray).
- Bepanten.
- "Actovegin".
- Aloe Vera (gel).
- Pantothen.
These local remedies promote skin healing. Such treatment is useful to supplement with antihistamine ointments, they will help relieve swelling and itching. You can use the following drugs:
- Fenistil.
- "Psilobalm" for children.
At the healing stage, when the exfoliation of the epithelium occurs, it is useful to apply emollient creams and lotions. A small skin lesion disappears in a few days, but this only happens with the right treatment for sunburn. What should not be done, and what could be harmful, will be discussed later.
Why is it impossible to smear the skin with alcohol?
There are various folk methods for treating sunburn. But not all of them are useful. Often, parents begin to treat the baby's skin with alcohol-containing liquids, for example, cologne. It can do nothing but harm. If the parents noticed that the child was sunburned, you can not even make applications with alcohol-containing ointments. In addition, the application of such local remedies to the burned areas is very painful, it is very dry and irritates the skin. As a result, the healing process is delayed.
Does sour cream help with burns?
It is widely believed that the use of kefir, sour cream, fat or the application of slices of cucumber helps with burns. But this is not true, all children's doctors are against such methods of treatment. When parents asked the doctors the question: “The child is sunburned, what should I do?”, Komarovsky Evgeny Olegovich (the famous pediatrician) answered that it is impossible to cure the burn with any food. Fats, kefir and milk can only clog skin pores. This disrupts heat transfer, the condition of the child worsens, and a 1st degree burn can go into severe skin lesions with blisters.
Cucumber and potato slices can only tighten the skin, but these products do not have anti-inflammatory properties. Dr. Komarovsky believes that the best remedy for burns is Pantenol ointment and aloe-based creams. And for the prevention of burning, you need to use special sunscreens.
Of the popular recipes for treating burns, only strong tea leaves are effective. This tool has anti-inflammatory effect due to the high content of tannins.
Severe burn treatment
Sometimes the burn becomes covered with bubbles if the child is badly burned in the sun. What to do in this case? Categorically you can not open them, so you can infect a wound. With such a burn, the help of a doctor is required. And also it is not necessary to break off flaky skin during healing. You should wait until the epithelium is completely updated on its own.
The formation of blisters is a sign of a burn of the 2nd degree. In such cases, it is necessary to seek medical help, since it will be difficult to conduct treatment only with home remedies. The doctor will apply a bandage and conduct antibacterial therapy to prevent infection of the opened vesicles. Treatment for such burns can last several weeks.
Before contacting the clinic, do not touch the burn with dirty hands. Everything must be done so that the wound does not become infected. It is advisable to apply a bandage to the lesion. The doctor can prescribe the following ointments to the child:
- Levomekol.
- "Povidone-Iodine."
- Balm "Rescuer".
Sometimes there is nausea, vomiting, fever after the child is sunburned. What to do? The temperature in such cases can not be brought down with antipyretic drugs. With such symptoms, you need to call an ambulance. These may be signs of not only a burn, but also heat stroke.
Risk factors
Small children are especially exposed to sunburn. The younger the child, the more likely it is to burn. With age, more melanin begins to be produced in children, this pigment protects the skin from exposure to the sun.
Children with blond or red hair and white skin are at greater risk of sunburn. Such children need to be especially protected from excessive exposure to the sun.
Children easily get burns when they go to sunbathe immediately after bathing. Water droplets on the skin act like small lenses, and exposure to sunlight becomes more powerful.
Tanning Rules
Sunburns are easier to prevent than to treat. To do this, follow the tanning rules:
- Sunbathing is best between 7 and 11 a.m. or after 4 p.m. During this period, ultraviolet rays do not affect the skin so aggressively.
- It is better for the child to sunbathe in a small shadow, and not in direct sunlight.
- The baby's head must be covered with a panama hat or cap, and the eyes are protected by dark glasses. If the baby's skin is prone to burns, then you can put on a light shirt or shirt on the beach.
- Be sure to use sunscreen. It is necessary to process the skin with these products on the way to the beach, after each bath and on the way home. Sometimes parents neglect this advice during cloudy weather. But even when the sun is hidden behind the clouds, ultraviolet light affects the skin of the child. Particularly carefully you need to apply the cream on the protruding parts of the face and body: nose, ears, cheeks, fingers and toes.
How to take baby baths?
Often parents worry and ask doctors: "The baby is sunburned, what should I do?" The treatment for sunburn before the age of 1 year is the same as for older children. But the burning of a small child is always the result of excessive and incorrect sunbathing. To avoid this, the following recommendations should be observed:
- The baby is accustomed to the effects of ultraviolet radiation gradually. The baby should take the first sunbath at home by the open window in warm weather. The duration of the session should be no more than 2 minutes. Then this time is increased by 2 minutes each time.
- During a walk in the summer, the baby can be in the sun for no more than 30 minutes. In this case, it is necessary to install a special canopy in the stroller.
- Dr. Komarovsky does not recommend the use of sunscreens for children under 6 months of age. A well-known pediatrician believes that up to this age, children should not even be in the active sun.
How to choose a sunscreen for a child?
When choosing a sunscreen for a child, you need to pay attention to the composition. If the product contains zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, it will effectively protect the skin. It is these compounds that protect against ultraviolet radiation. If the cream does not contain such substances, then it is unlikely to be reliable. If the child will bathe, then you need to choose a waterproof remedy.
You must take into account the number on the package. Cream with the number 30 will allow the child to be safely in the sun for 30 minutes. Such a tool, Dr. Komarovsky considers optimal for children. After all, if the number 40 or 50 is on the package, this does not mean that the product will protect the child for 40 or 50 minutes. For such a long time, the baby will sweat or bathe, and even a moisture-resistant cream will be partially washed off the skin.
It is necessary to pay attention to the age category. Cream for a 10-year-old child is not suitable for a one-year-old baby. And also you need to study the contraindications to the use of the drug. Some sunscreens can cause allergies in children.
It is important to remember that the product should not be applied to the skin during sunbathing, when the baby has already come under active sunlight, but 20-30 minutes before arriving at the beach. Only then can you be sure that the child will not receive burns from the sun.