Infant Heat Rash: How to Prevent
Infant Heat Rash: 10 Tricks/Tips for keeping your Infant or Sensitive Child Cool on Hot Summer Days
I live in southern CA, so I know hot weather. We have hot summer days all. Year. Long. My son was born in mid-May. I was not able to keep him home in summer with an active 2 and half-year-old, just because it was a hot day. The summer can be nerve-wracking with an infant. They are unable to regulate their body temperature the way older kids can, and they cannot wear sunblock for 6 months. So, what do you do? Here some tricks I learned to beat the summer heat, that both of my children (and me) still benefit from:
1. Polar Air Cooling Towels. These are perfect for laying on the pack of the car seat to cool them down. Placing over your infant’s lap in the stroller to prevent sunburns and keep their temperature down, or simply to put behind your little one’s neck.
2. Gel ice packs for placing on the seat to cool them down. You can keep them in an ice pack in the car. When you return to the car they should still be cold. It also is helpful to hand to your child to just hold and cool off.
3. Car seat sun protectors. These are essential when you can’t find a shady spot to park. Which bring me to…
4. Park in the shade! I know it seems obvious, but my husband did not realize how much cooler the car is when parking in the shade. It’s significant!
5. Window Shades. These are also great if your little one has sensitive eyes. I also keep sunglasses at my reach to hand back to the kids when they complain.
6. For older kids, they can hold a travel fan. Make sure their hair is pulled back, so they do not get it caught in the fan blades.
7. Get a few vacuum sealed water bottles. You can fill them up with ice cold water and keep some in your car. The water remains cold for several hours. You can also use this water for re-wetting the Polar Air Cooling Towels.
8. Placing your hand sanitizer in a glass spray bottle, instead of the plastic. The sun really heats of those plastic bottles.
9. Opt. for a squeezable Chapstick tube instead of the regular tubes. Our family cannot be without hand sanitizer or Chapstick, so these were obvious tricks for us.
10. Lastly, keep an extra house key in your car. This way you can keep your car running with the air conditioner and still get into the house if you need. I use this spare key all the time!
Look for more summer advice with kids? Check out Family Camping & 10 Uses for the Pool Noodle
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