Sunburn in children can often be a side effect of playing outside or of heading to the beach, and even when parents are being extremely diligent about getting the sun screen on their child, a spot might be missed or the child might end up wiping some off, resulting in a nasty burn. Children are very prone to burns during the summer and if your little one has gotten burned, there are a few things that you can do to treat it. Take some time to learn how to treat your child's sunburn; it is less involved than you might think!
Sunburn in children can look very alarming, but the important thing to do is to keep a cool head.
One of the best and oldest treatments around for sunburn is to put your child in a bath of cool water.
Make sure that the water is not icy cold, because this can be a very unpleasant shock. The cool water can draw the heat out while making your child more comfortable and at the end of the day, this can get both parent and child calmed down to the point where other treatments can be considered. You may wish to add oatmeal to the bath as well, as this can soothe the skin wonderfully.
After your child gets out of the bath, consider applying a moisturizer to their skin. A good moisturizer will be very soothing and it will also trap the water against the skin as well, which will allow the heat to be drawn out even when the child is not sitting in the water. Make sure that you do not apply the moisturizer too soon, though, because it might well trap the heat. If you do not wish to moisturize your child, consider using a lotion with powder in it, like calamine lotion. This can also help the skin lose heat. In a pinch, talcum powder can be used to give your child more comfortable.
When you want to relieve the pain for your child, remember that acetaminophen, children's Tylenol, can be great for this. You can expect your child to be in some pain for about two days after a
bad burn
and a mild painkiller can be an important step for the healing process. Most doctors will tell you to avoid Benadryl, either in spray or cream form because it would cause a reaction.
When you are looking for a way to
treat sunburn
in children, remember that
aloe vera is extremely effective; applying it externally can cool down your child's burns very quickly
and it will certainly
help the burn heal faster.
Take some time to consider how to help sunburn in children; it is surprisingly easy if you just remember a few things. Before your child goes outside, do remember that they should have a strong sunscreen on and that it should be used every day. Make sure that you look for ingredients like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, which will create a barrier between your child's skin and the
sun. Top