With summer only getting hotter, it’s important for parents to know how to keep their kids safe when playing outside. Pittsburgh Parent spoke with Dr. Hayley Hellstern, a local pediatrician at Zest Pediatrics of Fox Chapel, about the signs of heat exhaustion, preventing sunburn and other need-to-know facts for parents.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
What tips do you have for preventing heat exhaustion?
The biggest things are to avoid excessive heat and stay hydrated. I think just being aware of what kind of day it is and what sort of activities you’re doing with your kids. Playing at a hot baseball field is going to be different than playing in a sprinkler or in a pool.
And then recognizing the early signs of heat exhaustion, or even worse, heat stroke. Just recognizing that there’s this spectrum of possibility, being aware of the signs along the way to look for and catching it early. Making sure you’re just frequently offering your kid water, replacing electrolytes, staying hydrated and generally staying cool.
What are the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke?
The first thing you usually notice are heat cramps, where you get those muscle spasms in the arms or legs or abdomen, so if you’re seeing that, it’s time to go inside, cool down, hydrate and rest for a couple of hours. If that’s going on for more than an hour, it’s time to go inside and get medical attention like going to the ER. Once you get to the point of heat exhaustion, that’s where you have all of those cramps, but you’re getting headaches, fatigue, weakness. A kiddo or adult might be excessively sweating, or might even have cold clammy skin, and then sometimes also nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fast breathing, fast heart rate. If you are not sweating, your temp is 103 (F) or higher, you’ve got that red, hot dry skin, that rapid pulse, throbbing headache, dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness, that’s going to be a call 911, get to a shady or cold place, remove clothing and cool the child situation.
Do you have any dressing recommendations?
The loose-fitting cool clothes, absolutely. I think we also have to balance that though with sun protection. Athletic wear that is light but covers everything I think can be really great. Lighter color clothes reflect sunlight off, versus darker clothes like dark blues, dark greens, blacks are going to be absorbing more heat from the sun and tend to make us feel hotter. Moisture-wicking attire can often be helpful.
Do you have any age-specific tips for parents?
For little babies, we often recommend sun avoidance rather than sun protection — keeping them in a cool place, avoiding really heavy blankets, putting them in a onesie and in a stroller under a tree.
If you can’t do that, then sunscreen is better than a sunburn. Sunburns lead to skin cancer. I would much rather temporarily just have sunscreen on a kid. For any kids, especially the younger ones, I usually recommend a mineral-based sunscreen, so something with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.
What other tips do you have for kids playing outside?
A couple of big ones. Especially in Pittsburgh, ticks are huge. It’s a really bad season for deer ticks. So, if you know you’re going to be in a tick-ish area, weather permitting, wearing long clothing, using insect repellent on skin, shoes and socks is great. We recommend using a bug spray with DEET in it. For newborns to 2-year-olds, use 10% DEET. For older kids, use 30% DEET. Then, when coming in from playing outside or hiking, a bath or shower, do a tick check and then wash your clothes, or at least tumble dry your clothing on the high heat for 10 minutes, and that’ll kill whatever’s on there.
If you do find a tick, I always recommend first just snapping a quick picture so that you can send it to your child’s pediatrician, because that’s going to help us identify, hopefully, what kind of tick it is, if it’s engorged or not. We care about how long it’s been on for, and if it’s been on for a certain amount of time, but [if] it’s within a certain time frame of tick removal, then we can give a single dose of antibiotic to prevent against things like Lyme disease.
