Scald burns are common injuries for young children that arise when our skin or our mouths and mucus membranes have contact with burning hot liquids or steam. Children under age 5 account for nearly 1 in every 5 burn victims each year in the United States. The bathroom and kitchen are the typical danger zones. Many burns come from liquids heated in the microwave but children are also commonly burned from scalding liquids or water heated on the stove or in the shower or tub. The video details ways to protect your children (and family) from a terrible burn. Fortunately, you can improve your child’s safety in a matter of seconds: today, turn your water heater down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Preventing Scald Burns in Children
Be protective of young children around hot liquids from day one. Never carry hot tea or coffee while holding your baby. Insist on the same from anyone who has the privilege of holding your baby. I’ve taken care of infants with severe burns and plenty of older children. Severe burns are not only extremely painful and onerously traumatic, they can lead to serious health complications and lasting disfigurement. Now is the time to protect your child.
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Dave Hoffman says
Many, if not most, hot water heaters don’t have accurate temperature settings on their dials. Instead, they are marked “Low-Medium-High” or something similar, but you really need to know if the water is over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
As a test (NOT WITH KIDS IN THE ROOM!!!), I recommend running the hot water in the bathtub for several minutes until it is as hot as it can be. Fill a cup with hot water from the faucet, and place a meat thermometer into the cup. If the temperature is over 120 degees, dial down the water heater and recheck in a couple of hours.
When I first did this, I was amazed at how hot the default setting was in our home. When I got it down to 120, it still felt plenty hot to the touch, but it made a scald nearly impossible.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD says
Thanks for the great advice. The meat thermometer–awesome, practical, affordable way to test the settings. Love it.
Oddly enough (ironic and just strange with the video I posted) while traveling this past weekend with the kids I got a scald burn on my hand from a water supply that was using an on-demand heater. The “mixer” on the pipes wasn’t functioning and the water fluctuated from scalding (nearly “smoking” as it came out of the shower) to cold as the on-demand heater turned off and on. I jumped out of the shower but managed to still get burned. I’d never had this happen before and it was a true example of the ability of water over 150 degrees to burn in seconds. I talked with the owner of the heater to see if a mixer could be applied to avoid this. But as we see more and more on-demand heaters used for economic/environmental reasons, we may have to come up with improved advice to protect children [and adults!!].