Posted on 07/06/2021
Without a doubt, the best way to keep your children and yourself safe from the harmful rays of the sun is to avoid directly exposing your skin to sunlight, particularly during the hottest part of the day. Hopefully in Part 1, 2, and 3, we convinced you that avoiding this kind of trauma to your child's skin is worthwhile, but we realize that sometimes sunburn can still occur. In Part 4, we looked at 4 basic steps you'll want to take with just about any sunburn for any member of your family: cool your skin down, moisturize your skin, take anti-inflammatory medication, and increase hydration. If the sunburn is especially severe or on a small child, there are some added steps you may want to take, and that's our focus for today.
Evaluate the Severity of Sunburn
How do you know when sunburn is severe enough to see a doctor? There are 3 main warning signs that severe enough damage has occurred that you should definitely seek out medical attention. First, if there is severe blistering over a significant portion of the body. (If you're not sure how to measure "severe" or "a significant portion," it's always best to err on the safe side and just head to Urgent Care or your PCP.) If the blistering doesn't seem severe or extensive enough to warrant medical attention, you still want to keep an eye on it. Make sure not to scratch open or pop blisters or an infection may result. You can watch for signs of infection, including oozing pus or red streaks; if you or your child exhibit any of those, be sure to seek medical care immediately. The second warning sign is fever and chills, and the third is confusion or feeling woozy.
Take Extra Steps for Small Children
The younger the child, the newer the skin; while that might sound like an obvious fact, it also influences how easily sunburn can become severe. If your kids are past the baby stage, you probably remember how easily your children could get irritated skin and yet also how quickly a cream could clear it up. Young skin is both more vulnerable and faster healing than older skin. Because it's less able to protect itself from injury - including sunburn - the skin of babies younger than 6 months of age should never be directly exposed to the sun's rays. After that age, they should be exposed only with sunglasses with UV-blocking properties and clothing or sunscreen that is designed to protect their sensitive skin.
If sunburn does occur on a child less than a year old, immediately bathe the baby in clear, tepid water to cool the skin, and then consider it an emergency and call your doctor right away. If the child is over a year old but the sunburn is accompanied by any blistering, severe pain, lethargy, or a fever over 101, be sure to call your doctor.
Because of the danger of dehydration, in addition to pushing fluids such as water and juice, watch for regular urination, and if the child is not regularly urinating, call the doctor. Be sure to pat, not rub, the skin while drying it off, and while applying a gentle moisturizer, make sure not to rub it in. If you use calamine lotion, make sure not to use one that includes antihistamine, and avoid using any medicated cream unless directly instructed to do so by a pediatrician.
You'll also want to make sure to keep your child entirely out of the sun until the sunburn is completely healed.
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