Common Summer Ailments: A Parents’ Guide

As the sun shines brighter and outdoor adventures continue to beckon, summer’s extreme heat can turn into a health hazard if we’re not careful. While the season offers endless opportunities for fun in the sun, it’s not just the sunburns we need to watch out for — hidden dangers like poison ivy lurking in the underbrush can also put an itchy damper on our plans. By recognizing these risks and taking a few simple precautions, we can make the most of the warm days still ahead. Learn to identify, prevent, and treat summer ailments like sunburn, heat illness, dehydration, and poison ivy to keep your family healthy this summer.

Sunburn

When kids are outdoors, it’s important to protect their skin from too much exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UV rays), which can put an immediate stop to summer (and winter) fun with painful sunburn and skin damage, as well as long-term issues like skin cancer, premature aging, and eye injury.

How to avoid sunburn:

• Avoid summer sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Have kids wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and a hat.
• Apply sunscreen that provides UVB and UVA protection with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30.
• Apply sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before sun exposure and 30 minutes after exposure begins. Reapply after kids have been swimming or sweating.
• Although the best way to protect babies 6 months of age or younger is to keep them shaded, you can use small amounts of sunscreen (SPF of at least 30) on small, exposed areas, like the face.

Seek medical care if your child’s sunburn is severe, causing blisters, extreme pain, or facial swelling, or if it covers a large area. Also, if your child experiences fever, chills, headache, confusion, or faintness after sunburn. And keep watch for signs of dehydration.

Dehydration

Kids should drink often during hot weather, and those engaging in sports or physical play should drink extra liquids before and during the activity, taking extra drink breaks about every 20 minutes. This helps prevent dehydration and heat-related illnesses.

Here are some signs of dehydration to watch for:

• A dry or sticky mouth
• Few or no tears when crying
• Eyes that look sunken
• In babies, the soft spot (fontanelle) on top of the head looks sunken
• Peeing less or fewer wet diapers than usual
• Crankiness
• Drowsiness or dizziness

Seek medical care if your child shows symptoms of dehydration such as refusing to drink for more than a few hours, persistent vomiting, abnormal vomit color (bright green, red, or brown), hasn’t started eating within 3-4 days, or still shows signs of dehydration after rehydrating. Seek emergency care immediately if your child becomes very sleepy or unresponsive.

Heat Illnesses

Our bodies produce heat, which is usually released through sweating and radiation from the skin. However, in extreme heat or humid conditions, this cooling process can be disrupted, causing body heat to rise to dangerous levels. This can lead to heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke. In very hot weather, high humidity, and other conditions, body heat can build to dangerous levels. Heat exhaustion starts slowly, but if it’s not quickly treated it can progress to heat stroke. Heat stroke needs emergency medical care right away and can be life-threatening.

The steps to prevent heat illnesses are similar to those for protecting children from sunburn and dehydration. However, sometimes the causes can be very different. For example, never leave your child in a hot car even for a few minutes. 

Heat Exhaustion

Heat exhaustion happens when kids overdo it in hot weather, and it’s the most common heat illness doctors see when you factor in adult patients. If it starts to develop, have your child stop all activity, move to a cooler area, cool their body down, and seek medical care. If left untreated, it can progress to life-threatening heat stroke.

Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat-related illness. It’s a dangerous and potentially deadly progression from heat exhaustion and the key differences are signs of brain dysfunction, including confusion, behavioral changes, and slurred speech. Call for emergency medical help immediately if you suspect heat stroke.

Poison Ivy

Poison ivy is a plant that causes a form of allergic contact dermatitis. That’s because the plants produce an oily sap that contains urushiol (pronounced yer-OO-shee-all), which results in an irritating, itchy reaction. To help prevent an unpleasant run-in with this common plant (and its friend poison oak) show your children photos and teach them the rhyme, “Leaves of three — let them be!”

How to treat poison ivy rash:

• Remove any clothing that has touched the plant.
• Gently wash skin and scrub under fingernails right away with water and mild soap or dish soap.
• Encourage your child not to scratch and try not to break the blisters.
• Cut fingernails short to keep your child from breaking the skin when scratching.
• Place cool compresses on the skin as needed for itching.
• For itching: Add oatmeal to the bath and put calamine lotion on the skin (but not on the face or on the genitals). Antihistamines aren’t usually helpful for the itching from poison ivy, but doctors might recommend them to help itchy kids sleep. Talk to your doctor about what might help your child’s itching. 

Seek medical care if your child’s poison ivy rash covers a large portion of the body or is on the face or genitals. Also, if the rash worsens despite home treatment or shows signs of infection, such as fever, increased redness, warmth, pain, swelling, or pus.

Is Poison Ivy Contagious?

According to the FDA and other reliable sources, poison ivy rash is not contagious from person to person. However, the urushiol oil from the plant can remain on surfaces, clothing, and pets for a remarkably long time — potentially years! The oil can be effectively removed with soap and water or rubbing alcohol. But stick with showers because this stubborn oil can get into bath water and spread the rash to other areas of your child’s body.

---

For more tips and medically reviewed resources, visit our KidsHealth Summer Safety Hub