Protect Your Baby From Scalds
Scalds Caused 80% of All Burns to Children Under Five
Hot Beverages
Put the coffee down when you hold the baby. A wiggling baby can jiggle your arm and spill the drink all over himself/herself.
Put drinks and soups toward the center of the table away from curious fingers. Babies like to grab things.
Consider replacing tablecloths with place mats to prevent your child from pulling everything on the table onto herself.
Hot beverages caused one-half of the burns to children under five.
Three-quarters of the people burned by hot beverages were under five.
Tap Water
It takes only one second for water at 155 Degrees (F) to cause a third degree burn.
Set your hot water heater to temperatures of 125 Degrees (F) or less. (Massachusetts law states that the temperature must be between 110 Degrees (F) and 130 Degrees (F).
Test the bath water before you put the baby in it. The temperature of how water can vary.
Always supervise young children in the bath. Babies and toddlers like playing with knobs and levers. They may turn on the hot water then you turn your back.
55% of the tap water scald patients were under three years old.
Cooking
Turn pot handles inward.
Establish and enforce a NO zone around the stove. Do not let children play near the stove or barbecue. This protects children from cooking liquids, grease and the hot metal.
One-fifth of the people burned by hot cooking liquids were under five.
Statistics were obtained from the 2003 Annual Report of the Massachusetts Burn Injury Reporting System.
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