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Every family has certain defining characteristics.
Some admirable, some despicable, and some just odd.
The Casale family, oddly, prefers cool temperatures in our living spaces. OK, I’ll be honest, not cool, cold. A standing joke among family and friends is that in the dead of winter, while visiting our home, you go outside into the January blizzard to “warm up.” Of all the home emergencies that are an inevitable part of 40 years of married life, none — not a flooded basement from a leaky water heater, not clogged sewer lines on Thanksgiving morning during prep for a 20-person dinner, not ceiling tiles falling from a leaking roof — cause a bigger disruption than an iced up air conditioning system during a heat wave.
We’ve lived in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and spend some time on Cape Cod. In each community we’ve identified great medical care, wonderful dentists, landscapers and any number of helpers but none more critical to the survival of our marriage than the HVAC team. In fact they’ve always been on speed dial. Mary and I have finally acquiesced to the fact that home AC systems are not refrigeration units. It seems that our granddaughter, little Rowan, now almost 10 months old, has inherited the same thermostat as her mother and grandmother. She hated the 100 degree temperatures last week in Chicago, unless she was in the pool!
The summer can be a tricky time to keep babies safe and comfortable. If a baby is overdressed, she could develop a heat rash or even more serious consequences, since babies’ ability to regulate their temperature is not robust.
Underdressing or exposing his delicate skin to the sun can cause a damaging sunburn or heatstroke. Overheating of babies has also been linked to sudden infant death syndrome. There are terrible stories circulating about the awful consequences of babies being injured when heating systems run amok while parents, in other sections of the house, are unaware of the dangerous temperatures in baby’s room.
Good baby monitors now have temperature alarms that help prevent these catastrophes.
To make sure baby stays cool and protected during the hot summer days, follow these tips:
• Pick the right clothes – dress babies in loose fitting, lightweight cotton garments to absorb perspiration better. For outdoors, light-colored long pants, long-sleeved shirts and a hat with a brim will protect the baby from the sun’s harmful rays.
• When dressing your baby in the morning, rub a little cornstarch baby powder on the belly, neck and back areas. This helps absorb sweat and prevent heat rash.
• Provide ventilation – never leave baby alone in an overly hot room or in a parked car. Never. Not for an instant.
• Keep infants hydrated. Babies should drink at least 50 percent more than usual in the summer. Add an ice cube to sippy cups of water for a cool, refreshing drink. Keep track of the number of wet diapers as a gauge of adequate fluid intake.
• When outside, seek shaded areas out of the direct sunlight.
• Use sunscreen – babies under six months of age should use a minimal amount of sunscreen, while babies older than six months can use more sunscreen and have it applied more often.
• If you’re cooling off in a pool or under a sprinkler be extremely careful, babies can drown in as little as a partially filled bucket of water.
Taking a few precautions against the summer heat can make the summer a safe and enjoyable one for baby and everyone in the family. Remember take plenty of pictures of baby’s first summer. We are. Especially of Rowan in the cute bathing suit and sunhat!
