Minute by minute what happens to your child in a hot car – even at 22C
IT can be tempting to leave your kid in the car if you're dashing between shops.
You've already got things to carry and they look more than comfortable in the back seat.
But cars can be incredibly dangerous places for children if they're left for a while.
We know that leaving them in direct sun is a really bad idea but they can suffer hugely even if it's a cloudy day.
And the longer you leave them, the more at risk they become from severe health issues.
According to Omni Calendar, many experiments have shown that even on a relatively mild day, temperatures inside a closed car can quickly rise to over 52'C.
That's just off the world record for the hottest temperature ever recorded of 56'C in Death Valley, California.
So, here's what happens to your child's body when you leave them in your car:
22'C with scattered clouds in a dark car
45 mins:
- hyperthermia
- sweating
- thirst
- very uncomfortable
70 mins:
- severe sweating
- flushed
- increased heart rate
- children with epilepsy may start convulsing
105 mins (life-threatening):
- fainting
- dehydration
- weakness
- vomiting
- breathlessness
Every symptom is sped up significantly as it gets hotter – or if you have a dark-coloured car.
By 27'C, it takes just 25 minutes for hyperthermia to kick in and under an hour for children with epilepsy to start fitting.
100 minutes in 30'C is a medical emergency, with kids suffering from hallucinations, dizziness and delirium.
But it doesn't have to be very hot at all for trouble to start.
A word from the doc…
GP and clinical director of Patient.info, Sarah Jarvis, says:
You may think leaving your child in the car for just a few minutes is fine unless we’re having one of the few really sunny days we get in the UK. But apart from the security aspect, there are real risks to your child’s health from spending just a few minutes in a car with the windows up.
The smaller your child, the less good they are at regulating their body temperature. That means they’re at real risk of dangerous heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
Their body fluid is carefully regulated, and depends on the right balance of fluid and salts. But babies and small children lose fluid very quickly from sweating and increased breathing rate, leaving them at serious risk of dehydration.
Once their body reaches a critical temperature, the normal body mechanisms don’t work any more. Their temperature can skyrocket, leaving them at risk of organ damage and even death.
The inside of the car is like a greenhouse, and we all know they’re designed to keep plants much warmer than being in the open air. There’s no breeze, and even on a cloudy day sun on the windows and roof with rapidly leave the inside of the car like a sauna.
So no matter how short and no matter how cloudy, just don’t do it.
18'C (colder than it is today in many parts of the UK) is enough to put children at risk.
85 minutes sees their heart rate rise and severe sweating start.
The problem is that the cabin of a car can become 20'C hotter than the temperature outside, even on cool and cloudy days.
To prove how hot cars can become, Aussie chef Matt Moran overcooked a lamb loin in 90 minutes…using only his car.
He left a pan on the front seat and didn't apply any extra heat.
The meat wasn't just cooked, it was too well cooked.
Granted, Australia tends to be hotter than the UK, but the sun can turn any car into an oven.
So however tempting it may be, never leave your pets or kids in cars – even if it doesn't seem hot or cloudy.
Just think what the current temperature would be like if it was 20'C hotter and use that as your guide.
Source: Read Full Article