Scald Burns in Children: What to Do If It Happens

Scald burns in children can be terrifying and heartbreaking to witness. Unfortunately, scald burns are common and very serious. Every day in the United States, 300 children receive care at a hospital emergency room for a burn or scald, and two children die from these types of accidents. Approximately one-quarter of patient admissions to a burn center are children under 16. 

Top Risk Factors for Burns and Scalds in Children 

A burn or scald accident can happen in a split second, so it is important for parents and caregivers to childproof their homes and closely supervise the children in their care. According to the American Burn Association, most common reasons for scalds in children include: 

• Giving children a responsibility they aren't developmentally equipped to manage. Typical examples include cooking on the stove or giving a younger sibling a bath. 

• Caregivers who don't understand specific scalding dangers in their environment. For example, an adult carrying a toddler in one arm and a cup of hot coffee in another could easily stumble over something and spill the coffee, causing severe burns to both of them. 

• Improper supervision of children, such as caregivers who are abusing drugs, sleeping, or leaving kids in the care of people who don't have the maturity to watch them carefully. 

• Children playing with lighters or matches. 

• Friction burns, often from playground equipment. 

• Falling into a campfire or having coal ashes from the fire land on the child. 

Sadly, intentional infliction of abuse, such as holding a child under hot water or burning them with an iron, is a also common cause of burns and scalds in children. 

Why Children Are at Greater Risk of Burn or Scald Injuries 

Children are curious, yet they don't yet have the maturity to understand that fire and hot water, among several other things, can seriously hurt them. The risk of injury tends to be highest when either the caregiver or children feel tired, or the caregiver becomes momentarily distracted. Being away from home, having multiple activities going on at the same time, or being out of the normal routine are also huge risk factors for burns and scalds. 

The fact that children have thinner skin than adults also contributes to their increased risk factor of serious injury from a burn or scald. The skin doesn't typically start becoming thicker until around age four, and its thickness continues to develop throughout childhood. 

Tips to Prevent Burn and Scald Accidents in Children 

Below are some tips to avoid these occurrences in the bathroom and kitchen, considered by many burn prevention experts to be the riskiest rooms in the home. However, parents should keep in mind that these accidents can happen anywhere at home or away from home. 

Bathroom 

When bathing a child, caregivers should use a bath thermometer to ensure the water is at a safe temperature before putting a child into it. The water should be no more than 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Similarly, it's important to turn the cold water on both first and last when running a bath. Caregivers should always keep children within arm's length when bathing them and never leave them unsupervised if they need to walk away to attend to something else. 

Adults in the home and children old enough to understand the instructions should keep the bathroom door closed when it's not in use. Parents of particularly curious children may even need to put a lock on the door. 

Kitchen 

Burn prevention experts consider the bathroom and kitchen the riskiest places in the home for a scald injury to take place. Parents should take the following precautions in this room: 

• Never leave a child unattended in the kitchen. 

• Childproof the oven and microwave, and don't allow young children to use them at all. 

• Never hold a child while drinking or eating something hot. 

• Parents who heat coffee or tea in a kettle should consider investing in one that's cordless. 

• Keep all hot foods and beverages away from the edges of the table and countertops to avoid having a child pull them off. 

• Carry plates to pots to serve food and not the other way around. 

• Give toddlers and preschoolers a safe mug all their own so they don't attempt to drink out of one that is too difficult for them to handle and spill hot liquid on themselves in the process. 

• Babies and toddlers can go play in a playpen while parents are busy preparing a meal for the family. 

As soon as children are old enough to understand, parents should teach them how to stop, drop, and roll if their clothes catch on fire. They should also seek immediate medical attention for any scald or burn injury to a child.