Breastfeeding infants and children younger than four years of age are more sensitive to changes in ambient temperature. Five Simple Tricks To Keep Your Baby Cool This Summer.
That’s why avoiding exposure to heat in the summer is just as important as protecting them from excessive cold in the winter.
This article details five tips for keeping babies cool in the summer. 1. Controlling the ambient temperature. 2. Keeping the little one hydrated. 3. Offering the breast on demand. 4. Avoiding the hottest hours and 5. dressing them properly.
1. Heat-protected babies: Controlling the Temperature at Home
The heat is the same for a baby as it is for an adult. However, small children’s bodies react differently to high temperatures. Therefore it is necessary to increase precautions with them in the summer.
As the experts in Primary Care Pediatrics point out, the system that regulates the body temperature of children under one year of age is still immature, and it is the adults, therefore, who have to make it easier for them to stay cool and comfortable during the summer period.
While the child remains inside the home, it will be easier for the parents to control the ambient temperature.
It is advisable to maintain an average temperature of 71ºF to 75ºF in the rooms where the baby is.
The air conditioning (never directly on the child) or a fan can facilitate the regulation of the temperature.
If you do not have them, you can choose to have the blinds lowered when the sun hits the windows and take advantage of the air currents between the different exits to the outside.
2. Keep the Baby Hydrated
Maintaining an optimal level of hydration is essential during the summer, especially when it comes to the babies. Babies is one of the population groups “most vulnerable to the consequences of dehydration”. As the experts at the Hydration and Health Observatory point out.
Specifically, the total recommended daily intake of liquid is between 0.6 and 0.7 litres in children under one year of age. And between 1.3 and 1.4 litres in children between one and eight years of age.
Specialists explain that during the summer season babies require a higher intake of liquid to “reach the water balance situation”, since their body has higher water content than adults and it is common for them to engage in greater physical activity during these months.
Also, their sense of thirst is not developed like that of adults, so they are more reluctant to drink.
They often have to be offered a variety of drinks (water and juices) and water-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables.
3. Hot Babies: Breast on Demand
As for breastfeeding babies, the Breastfeeding Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics points out as essential advice to offer breastfeeding on demand, whenever they require it.
Alba Padró, advisor of the Alba lactation group, remembers that the child fed with exclusive breast milk does not need any other liquid. “With breastfeeding he receives adequate hydration,” she explains.
Padró adds that during the summer it is common for the infant to demand the breast more frequently, even if the feedings are shorter. It’s a natural way of satisfying their thirst.
To avoid excessive heat during feedings, choose a place with a pleasant temperature, look for cool and comfortable positions and place a gauze or cotton cloth between the baby’s skin and the mother to avoid excessive perspiration.
4. Avoid hottest hours
Going for a walk with a baby in summer at three o’clock in the afternoon is a crazy idea.
But that doesn’t mean that in summer, because of the heat, the child can’t enjoy the outdoors: just look for the right time.
With younger children, it is advisable to choose the coolest hours to go out for a walk, to go to the beach or to the swimming pool, whether in the early hours of the morning or in the late afternoon, when the sun begins to set.
Above all, avoid direct exposure to the sun during the central hours of the day.
If it is necessary to move the baby during the hottest hours, it is advisable to keep him always in the shaded and cooler areas, as well as trying not to make excessive physical exercise.
5. Dressing the child in Summer
When the heat arrives, tight tights or a nice Lycra T-shirt should remain untouchable in the drawer of the child’s clothes, as these clothes will only raise his body temperature even more.
When choosing baby clothes for the summer, specialists recommend using common sense, that is, opting for light-coloured garments, as fresh as possible.
Fabrics that allow perspiration, such as linen or cotton, and that are loose, never tight.
As far as footwear is concerned, small children who are not yet walking can go barefoot, as their feet are one of the areas with the greatest perspiration.
Those who walk can opt for an open footwear, like sandals, that allow the feet to breathe.
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