Children are being burned and scalded from hot instant noodles. Photo / Thinkstock
A tasty winter warmer is putting more and more Kiwi children in hospital with serious scalds and burns.
Injuries involving hot instant noodles can be so severe some kids require skin grafts.
Jackie Beaumont, clinical nurse specialist at the National Burn Centre in Auckland, says children under the age of 5 are most at risk.
This year, six people have been admitted to the National Burn Centre at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital with burns and scalds from hot noodles.
Four of the incidents involved very young children - one was under a year old and a 2-year-old required a skin graft to a badly burned arm.
Cases were expected to rise as the winter months kick in.
"Every winter we are seeing an increasing number of children being admitted with noodle burns," she said. "They can stay hot for a pretty long time and this can lead to some serious damage."
Beaumont said children will often sit with a bowl of hot noodles in their lap as an after-school meal.
Burns were most commonly to the legs, chest, stomach, arms and genitals.
"Parents see these snacks as a safe option for a quick meal," she said.
"But when the noodles come out of the microwave or have had boiling water poured over them and left to cool, they can still stay at very high temperatures for a long time.
"Tests have shown some of these snacks take an hour to cool down to safe levels for children to handle."
Australian studies on the preparation of the noodles - where boiling water is poured over the noodles and allowed to sit for two minutes - showed the instant meals were still at a temperature of 80C although the instructions on the packaging indicated they were ready to eat.
"People don't realise water burns like fire and it only takes a few seconds to cause serious damage to a child's skin."
In Australia, some hospitals report that injuries to children caused by hot noodles make up to 10 per cent of all scald burn wounds.
Last year, 51 kids were treated in the burns unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, for accidents involving instant noodles. In Queensland in the same period, 55 children were treated for similar injuries.
Beaumont said first aid instructions would be useful on pot noodle packets because many children were not treated properly by parents before being taken to hospital.
She knew of parents who had put toothpaste, butter, flour or eggs on burns, but said those treatments were not effective.
"It is best to put cold running water on the affected area for about 20 minutes.
"Then put some plastic kitchen wrap over the area and seek medical help."
The new free open-air saltwater pool is already proving popular.