Hot cars? Babies overheating in prams just as deadly, safety message reveals common mistake

news.com.au

21 Feb, 2023 08:21 PM2 mins to read

The Australian study has looked at the impact of covering a pram on a hot day. The results may surprise you. Photo / Getty Images

An Australian study looking at the impact of covering a pram on a hot day shows it can have potentially deadly implications.

James Smallcombe, a senior research associate at the University of Sydney, said the study is the first in the world to examine the impact of different interventions on the temperature inside a baby stroller.

“The main finding shows the common practice of covering a stroller with a dry material cover – like a muslin cloth – actually increases the temperature in the stroller by four degrees compared to outside,” Dr Smallcombe said.

But it isn’t all bad news.

Smallcombe said draping material covering – with even a damp muslin cloth, coupled with an electric fan - reduces the temperature in the stroller by 5C.

Even still, there are caveats, he said.

Parents should still check their infants regularly, and trips longer than 20 minutes might require respraying the cloth with water.

Smallcombe said he would like regulators to update their guidelines to reflect their findings.

“During Australian summers babies are exposed to very high temperatures and so these findings have implications for the thermal comfort of a baby in the stroller and their risk of heat-related illness,” he said.

Smallcombe says parents need to use common sense tips when using strollers, such as avoiding taking a baby in a stroller out in the hottest period of the day (from 12pm to 3pm), and regularly checking their baby.

Babies cannot regulate their internal temperatures like adults and are at risk of fatal heat stroke.

Symptoms of heat-related illness include excessive sweating and skin becoming pale and clammy, or getting a heat rash.

Parents are advised to use common sense tips when using strollers, such as avoiding taking a baby in a stroller out in the hottest period of the day (12-3pm), and regularly checking their baby. Photo / Getty Images

Australian guidelines advise against covering prams for this reason, but until now it hasn’t been possible to quantify the danger.

One mother, Xanthe Hayes, told the ABC that covering her daughter’s pram with a muslin cloth almost had deadly consequences.

“I saw other chicks walking around with the muslin cloth on the front of the pram and thought, ‘Well, that’s probably what you’re meant to do,” she said.

“It was … boiling hot and Tasman just started screaming blue murder in the bassinet of the pram. Then I looked inside and she was dripping with sweat. She was red like a beetroot and she’d obviously really, really badly overheated.”