National Burn Awareness Day is on Wednesday 11th October. The British Burn Association and the Children’s Burn Trust work together to raise awareness, provide guidance on how to avoid burns, and tips on how to treat them. However, the risk of burns is something to keep in mind all year long and you should be aware of how to treat them if the worst does happen.
Most Common Causes Of Burns For Babies And Children
There are a few common causes of burns in the home. These can be perfectly normal things that you don’t usually give much thought to.
Hot Drinks
60% of all under 3 paediatric burn patients in A&E are due to a hot drink. These simple rules can help protect your little one:
- Keep hot drinks out of reach. Move them to the back of the counter or put them high out of reach.
- Never carry a baby and a hot drink at the same time.
- Don’t pass a hot drink to someone over the head of a baby or child.
- Don’t put a hot drink on a table with a tablecloth.
- Think about creating a hot drink safe space in your home as somewhere you and visitors can go to enjoy a hot drink safely.
Radiators
Radiators, towel rails and pipes are another common cause of household burns. Most standard radiators can actually reach temperatures of 75 degrees. These tips can help keep your little one safe:
- Cover low-level pipes with insulating material.
- Fit fireguards to all radiators, fires, and heaters.
- Make sure all appliances, heaters etc, have been serviced as often as appropriate.
- Keep flammable materials away from heaters.
- Keep children away from open heat sources, and radiators.
Hobs
The kitchen is the most common room in the house for burns to take place. The hob is one of the risks in a kitchen. It is obviously a necessary item, so it’s important that you know what you can do to minimise the risk.
- Always put saucepans at the back rings of the hob.
- Keep children out of the kitchen when you’re cooking.
- Turn saucepan handles away from the edge of the hob.
Fireworks
It is estimated that around 500 children and their families will have some form of incident on bonfire night this year. Most firework injuries are to the head, hands or eyes. Most injuries happen at a family firework display, or a private display. Most injuries are caused by rocket fireworks, sparklers, or air bombs.
These tips can help you keep your little ones safe:
- Never give sparklers to children under the age of five.
- Always make sure older children are wearing gloves.
- Make sure that they hold the sparkler at arm’s length away from their body.
- Keep a bucket of water close by so the sparkler can be extinguished hot end down into the water.
- Only attend organised public firework displays.
- Keep young babies away from fireworks.
Learn Baby Safety Skills
One of the things that is important in keeping your baby safe is for you to be aware of what the safety risks are.
We’ve partnered with The Baby Academy to offer free baby safety classes. It will give you information and guidance, but you’ll also have the opportunity to ask the experts your questions. This class can help to give you some baby safety skills and provide you with some peace of mind.
