Heading to the park or the beach in this weather is a no brainer. Packing a picnic and getting the kids out sounds even more ideal.
However there’s one big mistake that you could be making that makes the experience not only uncomfortable but highly dangerous for children.
Swedish paediatrician, Svante Norgren, has revealed that most parents are tempted into the heat but often attempt to cover a pram to create shade.
“It gets extremely hot down in the pram, something like a thermos,” he said to a
Swedish newspaper.
“There is also bad circulation of the air and it is hard to see the baby with a cover over the pram.”
Reporters at the Swedish newspaper decided to test the warning. They left a pram out in the sun from 11.30am for approximately 90 minutes (not an unrealistic picnic length).
Without a cover, the pram temperate reached 22ºC.
With a thin cover over it for 30 minutes, the pram temperature rose to 34ºC, according to Kidspot. After an hour it had reached 37ºC.
“The results of this study do not surprise me, and illustrate the dangers of excessively covering during hot weather,” Dr Hamed Khan, an A&E doctor told
The Huffington Post.
Khan continued to warn parents to be mindful of the fact that young children cannot communicate and convey their discomfort.
“Keeping a close eye on young children, checking up on them regularly, and making sure that they are well hydrated is extremely important” he continued.
