I regret having overlooked this topic, but better late than never!
As I’m looking at some of the sun damage I have on my shoulders (and searching for a skin product to help me get rid of the brown spots), I look back on the days when I , as a kid, insisted on staying in the sun all day and my mom would try to drag me back into the shade. I’d get a sunburn or two, my skin would peel, I’d go “ouch” and “ooh” every time mom would apply something with aloe vera on me, but the cycle would repeat the next time we went to the beach.
Knowing how hard it is to apply sunblock on your child and taking into account that it doesn’t always work, and we overlook things, and kids tend to become unruly, here’s a few tips how to treat sunburns.
Mind you, prevention is always better than cure. If you can stop your child from getting a sunburn (by making him or her wear protective clothing, sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat – good luck with that), well that’s great, but should you realize you weren’t lucky with sun exposure, you need to know what to do.
- Get your child out of the sun immediately at a first sign of over-exposure
- Draw him or her a cool bath (not cold – just cool enough to relieve the burn a bit). A shower may be quicker, but it’s also more irritating for the skin.
- You can also wrap your kid in a wet towel or sheet some time after the bath. Sunburns tend to feel worse within 24 hours after exposure, so it’s your job to keep the child cool.
- Get him or her enough water. Keep them hydrated at all times.
- Use after-sun lotion or a lotion containing aloe vera (or better still – topical anesthetic) to soothe the burn. What you need to understand is that unfortunately there is no instant solution to treat a sunburn. All you can do is keep applying the lotion every few hours (the skin will be absorbing it pretty quickly) thus keeping the moisture in and relieving the pain.
- Over-the-counter pain relievers also work if the pain is bad.
Now, this is all applicable in first-degree burn cases only. If your child has blisters or severe redness, there is only one way to handle this: see a doctor immediately. Even if you did not need to seek medical help, you still must report the incident to your pediatrician. This way your doctor will be able to keep an eye for any skin changes your kid might have.
I also find this “sunburn instruction sheet” quite interesting and recommend it for your review, because it contains all the major signs and symptoms of a sunburn and also repeats the steps you should follow in a sunburn situation.