An Irish doctor has warned parents about a summertime danger that they may not have considered, but it can result in some nasty burns for children.
We are in the midst of some very hot weather, and many of us will be spending as much time outdoors and in the water with the kids as possible. But when water is involved, there are also safety precautions to consider, some you may not even have realised.
Cork Paediatrician Dr Niamh Lynch took to Instagram and TikTok to share the warning, telling parents to ‘watch out’ for the hazard that is lurking in most of our gardens.
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The danger is your seemingly innocent garden hose and according to Dr Lynch, when it has been left in the sun it, and the water inside, can become hot enough to burn your child.
‘It can be so tempting to just switch on the hose and spray down yur kids or your pets [in hot weather]’ the doctor said. But if the hose has ‘been left out in the heat, the water inside the hose has heated up, sometimes hot enough to give your child significant burns’.
‘Don’t spray your child immediately with the water from the hose,’ she urged. ‘Let it run for a few minutes until the water becomes cold again’.
@tiktokkiddydoc watch out for hot water #heatwave #summer ♬ original sound – Dr Niamh 🇮🇪
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‘Watch out for the hot water,’ the mum captioned her video, and in a further comment, she said that the water can reach up to 60 degrees Celsius, which ‘can burn skin’.
People took to the comments to thank her for sharing this info, as many had not realised the danger. ‘Would never have thought of that!!! Thanks,’ said one. and someone else exclaimed ‘whaaaat?’
One person said that they had seen this exact thing before, writing: ‘yes, seen this [before] were child got badly burnt, it’s horrible.’
Others warned that water sitting in hoses can also harbour a dangerous bacterium, Legionella which can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a rare but serious lung infection.
