Kimberly de Montbrun: Summer Safety - Never Leave Your Baby in the Car |
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As summer approaches hundreds, maybe even thousands, of babies across the continent are placed in danger by their parents and caregivers. They are left alone in a situation that could lead to death within a few minutes time, a danger which seemingly few parents recognise. These babies are not left near pools, or near camp-fires or any such obvious threats. They are left waiting in cars whilst their parents go about their errands. The task of waking a sleeping, hot, cranky toddler to go into the bank for "just a minute" may seem unnecessary, may seem over-cautious, may seem a downright pain in the neck. The task that was going to take you two minutes to complete with the utmost ease suddenly seems painstakingly difficult. You envision your toddler pulling at your hand, whining with fatigue and then throwing an all-out "I wanna go HOME!" fall-on-the-floor tantrum .You see your baby sleeping peacefully in the safety of their car seat. You crack a window, lock the doors. The line-up doesn’t seem to be that long. You can see the car from inside the bank. Nothing could possibly happen. This, unfortunately, is the mistake that many parents make. A mistake that can quickly lead to the loss of a child. What is it that can make this situation so fatal? There are many answers to this question, the top of the list being heat exhaustion. The temperature of a car in the summer months can reach furnace levels of heat within mere minutes. Cracking a window may seem the answer, but in reality does very little to alleviate the temperature inside the car. In as little as 10 minutes, car temperatures can reach as high as 120 F, and in 40 minutes, as high as 140 F . Studies have shown that the colour of the car, where the car is parked (whether in the sun or in the shade) and whether or not the windows have been cracked make merely minute differences in the heat of the car. To read more on one of these studies: http://injurypreventionweb.org/states/la/hotcars/hotcars.htm Heat exhaustion, which leads to heat stroke, sets in very quickly with infants and can be irreversible. The baby quickly becomes dehydrated as it sweats from the heat, resulting in heat exhaustion. If the child is not treated and given fluids immediately, heat stroke soon follows. The baby exhausts it’s fluids and can no longer sweat. The body temperature quickly rises, as the body has no more defenses for stabilising the temperature. Damage to internal organs begins to occur and eventually leads to death. Even though you can see your baby from the bank window, peacefully sleeping, she may be in grave danger of being baked as if in an oven. The risk increases as the customer in front of you unleashes a disorganised mess of papers on the teller, making you wait. A friend that you haven’t seen for months stops you as you rush out of the bank. "We should get together and have coffee sometime! Did you hear about…" You realise that you ran out of milk and the corner store is right beside the bank, you can still see her… A few seconds turns into minutes which turns into a half-hour… far too long for any child to be left unattended. Heat exhaustion is not the only danger for children left in cars. Early this year a mother lost her 6 year old son when she stepped out of her car to buy him some juice from a sandwhich shop. She hadn’t even made it through the door of the shop when a man spying the car with the keys decided to steal it despite the presence of the child in the back seat. The mother tried to free her child from the moving vehicle, but he became tangled in the seatbelt. She was knocked from the car as the driver sped away, dragging her 6-year old boy behind. This mother is suffering a grief that no parent should have to face. Many of us think, "well, that could never happen to me…". I am sure that no parent who loses his or her child through accidental death knew that it was inevitable. Parents need to use their common sense in these situations. Leaving a young child or baby unattended for any length of time is dangerous. Period. It may be inconvenient to wake your child from his car seat sleep to bring him inside the house. He may not fall asleep again for hours, and you may really need the break. But parents need to know, that by leaving their children unattended in cars, that their children may not wake up at all. Surely no parent would balance the risks of their child losing his or her life against a moment’s convenience. |
