KEY POINTS:
Dinnertime turned to horror for an Auckland family when their toddler, Jack, pulled a dish of boiling food out of the microwave.
The vegetables and two cups of boiling water poured down his front, burning his chest deeply.
He has been in hospital since the accident - on August 12 at their Hillcrest home on the North Shore - and is likely to be there for at least two more weeks.
Having witnessed the scalding harm of hot water, Jack's parents, Allissa and Paul - who do not want their surname published - are speaking out in a national burns campaign to help avert other youngsters suffering the same calamity.
"I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Paul said yesterday.
Safekids, the national child-safety organisation, launches its campaign today to encourage adults to reduce the risk of children being burned by hot water, especially hot drinks.
Children's skin is thinner, so hot liquids burn them faster, deeper and at lower temperatures.
A freshly brewed cup of black tea is usually hotter than 80C, and 70C water will burn a child's skin instantly.
"Hot water burns like fire," said Safekids director Ann Weaver. "A single hot drink spilled over a baby is equivalent to a bucket of boiling water tipped over an adult."
Jack, aged nearly 3, lay heavily bandaged on his bed in KidzFirst at Middlemore Hospital yesterday, but recalled his accident clearly.
"The bowl, it tipped on me," he said, agreeing with Allissa that his burns were very "owie".
His facial burn was superficial and has healed. The one on his arm is doing well, but his chest and abdomen were burned severely, in places down to the fat layer.
He has had three operations and faces a fourth before going home. At least a year of scar care will follow.
The couple said they had always been careful with hot drinks but had not thought the microwave hazardous, since it sat at the back of a bench.
Dr Richard Wong She, clinical director of the Middlemore-based National Burns Centre, said Jack was one of its more severe cases.
Burns to the upper chest tended to leave bad scars, despite the use of modern treatments.
BURNED CHILDREN
* About 220 children aged under 5 are admitted to hospital each year for burns.
* Of these, 15 on average are injured by fires or flames, 135 by hot drinks, and 70 by boiling pots, overheated baths and other hot-water sources.
HOT DRINK
SAFETY TIPS
* Always put hot drinks in the centre of tables.
* Never hold a hot drink and a child at the same time.
* Avoid tablecloths and placemats.
* Never pass a hot drink over a child's head.
