Category: First Aid and Safety

Safe and Effective Sun Screens for Kids

Applying a generous amount of a water-resistant sunscreen that provides broad-spectrum SPF 15 to 30 sun protection at least 15 to 30 minutes before your child is going to be in the sun, reapplying every few hours, can help keep your kids safe in the sun.

One of the cardinal rules of summer is that you don’t let your kids get a sunburn.

While a really great rule, it misses that you also shouldn’t let them get a tan either, and the rule doesn’t just apply to summer.

How do they do it in Australia? Slip (on some sleeves) - Slop (on a lot of sunscreen) - Slap (on a hat) - Seek (shade) - and Slide (on your sunglasses).
How do they do it in Australia? Slip (on some sleeves) – Slop (on a lot of sunscreen) – Slap (on a hat) – Seek (shade) – and Slide (on your sunglasses).

That’s were sunscreen comes in. Slop it on.

Sunscreens for Kids

Are sunscreens safe for kids?

As with insect repellents, despite all of the warning about chemicals and toxins that you might read on the internet, the answer is of course they are. In fact, most sunscreens can even be used on infants as young as age six months. And it is certainly better than letting your kids get sunburned!

You do have to use them correctly though.

Choosing a Safe and Effective Sunscreen

Which sunscreen should you use?

This Blue Lizard sunscreen includes Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide, providing broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection.
This Blue Lizard sunscreen includes Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide, providing broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection.

Many parents are surprised that there are actually a lot of different ingredients in sunscreens, from Aminobenzoic acid and Octocrylene to Zinc Oxide.

While some are physical sunscreens (Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide), others are chemical sunscreens. Some provide UVA protection, some UVB protection, and some offer both. And not surprisingly, some have become controversial, especially retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) and oxybenzone.

All are thought to be safe though.

Which is best?

When choosing a sunscreen, start with the fact that none should usually be used on infants under six months of age. Otherwise, choose the product (whatever the brand, to be honest, whether it is Banana Boat, Blue Lizard, Coppertone, Hawaiian Tropic, Neutrogena, or Target) best suited to your child’s needs, especially considering that:

  • sun tan lotion and tanning oil should be avoided
  • SPF 8 only blocks 87 percent of UVB rays and should be avoided
  • SPF 15 blocks 93 percent of UVB rays (minimum you should use)
  • SPF 30 blocks 97 percent of UVB rays (good for daily use)
  • SPF 50 blocks 98 percent of UVB rays (good for daily use)
  • SPF 50+ don’t offer much more UVB protection and may encourage folks to stay in the sun longer than they should, putting them at even more risk from UVA rays
  • a broad-spectrum sunscreen provides both UVA and UVB protection
  • even if your kids don’t go in the water, a sunscreen that is water-resistant might stay on better if they are sweating or get sprayed with water

In addition to the active ingredient and it’s SPF, you can now decide if you want a sunscreen that is in a spray, mist, cream, lotion, or stick. You can then pick one that is fragrance free, PABA free (of course), tear free, oil free (important if your kids have acne), for your baby or your kid playing sports, for someone with sensitive skin, or goes on dry.

Using a whipped sunscreen is just one of the newer ways to protect your kids from the sun's harmful rays.
Using a whipped sunscreen is just one of the newer ways to protect your kids in the sun.

Or would you like your child’s sunscreen whipped???

While parents and kids often seem to prefer spray sunscreens, do keep in mind the warnings about inhaling the spray and that some experts are concerned that they make it harder to apply a generous amount on your child. How much of the spray goes off in the wind? How much end up in an oily spot on the floor? If you use a spray sunscreen, follow the directions, rub it in, and don’t spray it in your child’s face. Also, don’t spray sunscreen on your child near an open flame.

Most importantly, you want to choose a sunscreen that will help you get in a good routine of using properly and using all of the time. Personally, I like all of the newer non-greasy lotions for kids and adults that have come out in the last few years. They are easy to apply, even in generous amounts, and work well.

Using Sunscreens on Kids

Now that you have chosen your sunscreen, be sure to use it properly.

“An average-sized adult or child needs at least one ounce of sunscreen (about the amount it takes to fill a shot glass) to evenly cover the body from head to toe.”

FDA

Do your kids still get burned or tanned despite using sunscreen? They aren’t immune to sunscreen. You are probably just making one or more common sunscreen mistakes, like not using enough sunscreen (start using a lot more), waiting until you’re already outside before applying it on your kids (you want to apply sunscreen at least 15 minutes before you go outside so that it has time to get absorbed into their skin), or not reapplying it often enough (sunscreen should be reapplied every few hours or more often if your kids are swimming or sweating a lot).

How long does a 6 or 8 ounce container of sunscreen last you? Remember that if you are applying an ounce before your kids go outside, reapplying it every few hours, and using it on most days (not just in the summer), then it shouldn’t last very long at all.

A layered approach to sun protection can help keep your kids safe in the sun.
A layered approach to sun protection can help keep your kids safe in the sun.

For the best protection and to avoid mistakes, be sure to read the label and follow your sunscreen’s instructions carefully, and also:

  • encourage your kids to seek shade and wear protective clothing (especially hats, sunglasses, and UPF sun-safe clothing), in addition to wearing sun screen for extra sun protection
  • use sunscreen every time they go outside, even when it’s cloudy
  • reduce or limit your child’s sun exposure when UV rays are strongest, which is usually from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (and all of the way to 4 p.m. in most areas), especially on days when the UV index is moderate or high and/or when there is a UV Alert in your area.

If you forget something, remember slip, slop, slap, seek, and slide.

Facts about Sunscreens and Sun Protection for Kids

Other things to know about sunscreen and sun protection for kids include that:

  • Waiting for improvements to sunscreen labels and new requirements for sunscreens? The FDA made their ‘big changes’ to sunscreens back in 2011. The main things that got left were the SPF cap and the rating system for UVA protection.
  • Tanning beds are not a safe alternative to getting a tan outside in the sun.
  • It is not safe to get a base tan. It won’t protect you from a sunburn and it increases your chance of future melanoma.
  • Still confused about how much sunscreen to use? Another handy rule is that a handful of sunscreen (fill to cover the palm of their cupped hand) should be a generous amount that’s enough to cover your child’s entire body. Since bigger kids have bigger hands, that should help you adjust the amount for different-size kids and as they get older.
  • Avoid combination sunscreen/insect repellent products. Use separate products instead, applying the sunscreen first and reapplying the sunscreen every few hours as necessary. Since you don’t typically reapply insect repellents (unless you are going to be outside for a really long time), if your child starts to get bitten, next time, you will likely need to consider using an insect repellent with a different active ingredient or at least one with a stronger concentration that might last longer.
  • SPF is only a measure of the sunscreen’s level of protection against UVB rays, but does say anything about UVA protection. A sunscreen that is labeled as being broad spectrum should protect against both UVA and UVB radiation.
  • According to the FDA, “SPF is not directly related to time of solar exposure but to amount of solar exposure.” What does that mean? While you can stay in the sun longer when protected with a sunscreen, no matter the SPF, it doesn’t tell you how long. Other factors, including the time of day, weather conditions, and even your location will help determine how quickly your skin will burn.
  • Sunscreens should be stored in a cool place and be thrown away after they expire. While it might be convenient, your car is not a good place to store your sunscreen.

Ready for some fun in the sun now? You sure you won’t come home with a sunburn or a dark tan?

What To Know About Sunscreens for Kids

Applying a generous amount of a water-resistant sunscreen that provides broad-spectrum SPF 15 to 30 sun protection at least 15 to 30 minutes before your child is going to be in the sun, reapplying every few hours, can help keep your kids safe in the sun.

More About Sunscreens for Kids

Safe and Effective Insect Repellents for Kids

When used properly, insect repellents are safe and effective and the best way to help your kids avoid getting eaten up by mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks and other things that like to bite kids.

While other measures are important too, insect repellents are typically the best way to protect your kids from biting insects and ticks.
While other measures are important too, insect repellents are typically the best way to protect your kids from biting insects and ticks. Photo by James Gathany.

As we become more and more aware of diseases that can spread from the bites of insects and ticks, it becomes important that we learn to protect our kids. Plus, itchy bites can turn into nasty scabs that your kids pick at over and over, leaving scars that might even get infected.

What should you do?

Insect Repellents for Kids

In addition to simply trying to avoid mosquitoes and ticks, which can be difficult, especially as your kids get older and spend more time outside, you should learn to protect them with insect repellents.

Are insect repellents safe for kids?

Despite all of the warning about chemicals and toxic pesticides that you might read on the internet, the answer is of course they are. In fact, many insect repellents can even be used on infants as young as age two months. And it is certainly better than your kids getting Chikungunya, Dengue, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, West Nile, or Zika. Or MRSA from an infected bite.

You do have to use them correctly though.

Choosing a Safe and Effective Insect Repellent

If they are using the new EPA label, your insect repellent will tell you how long it will protect your kids against mosquitoes and ticks.
If using the new EPA label, your insect repellent will tell you how long it will protect your kids against mosquitoes and ticks.

Which insect repellent should you use?

Although traditionally insect repellents with DEET have long been “considered the best defense against biting insects,” the CDC has now said that some other DEET-free alternative insect repellents may work as well as lower dose DEET, including those with 2-undecanone, Picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, and 2% soybean oil.

Of course, that has led to a lot of new insect repellents on store shelves these days. And to a lot of confused parents trying to decide which is the best for their kids.

Don’t be one of them.

When choosing one of these insect repellents, start with the fact that none should be used on infants under two months of age and products containing oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under age three years. Otherwise, choose the product best suited to your child’s needs, especially considering that:

  • no protection insect repellents should be avoided (garlic, vitamin B1, bug zappers, insect repellent wristbands)
  • shorter protection insect repellents last about two hours (less than 10% DEET, essential oils, 2-undecanone)
  • medium protection insect repellents last about 3 to 4 hours (20% DEET, 7% Picaridin)
  • longer protection insect repellents last about 5 hours or more (24% DEET, 15% Picaridin)

In addition to the active ingredient and it’s strength (how long it lasts), you can now decide if you want an insect repellent that sprays on smooth and dry and isn’t greasy, has a light, tropical scent, or is unscented. Or instead of a spray (pump or aerosol), you can even choose insect repellent wipes or a lotion.

Do keep in mind that the CDC advises that products above 30% DEET reportedly do not provide any extra protection, although it doesn’t keep stores from selling sprays with as much as 100% DEET. For other products, those with higher concentrations of DEET aren’t necessarily stronger, they simply provide longer protection.

So if you are going for a walk around the neighborhood with your preschoolers, some good choices might be:

  • Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus Towelettes (IR3535)
  • BioUD Spray (2-undecanone)
  • Buzz Away Spray (Citronella oil)
  • Cutter All Family Spray (7% DEET)
  • Cutter Lemon Eucalyptus Spray
  • Cutter Natural Spray
  • Cutter Skinsations  (7% DEET)
  • OFF! FamilyCare II (5% Picaridin)
  • OFF! FamilyCare III (5% DEET)
  • OFF! FamilyCare IV (7% DEET)

There are many other brands too, including Sawyer, Repel, and discounted store brands from CVS, Target, and Walgreens, etc.

Using Insect Repellents on Kids

Now that you have chosen your insect repellent, be sure to use it safely.

That means reading the label and following the instructions carefully, being sure to:

  • only apply the proper amount of insect repellent to exposed skin or clothing
  • avoid applying insect repellent near your child’s eyes and mouth, on cuts, irritated skin, or under your child’s clothing
  • wash off the insect repellent when you return indoors
  • avoid spraying insect repellent inside your home or car, directly on your child’s face (apply to your own hands and then rub it on their face) and hands (they might rub their eyes or put their hands in their mouth), or allowing them to spray it on themselves
  • instead of insect repellent, consider using mosquito netting to cover your infant’s stroller or carrier when outside, and especially when in high risk parts of the world, using insecticide treated bed nets

It can also help to mosquito-proof your home and work to control mosquitoes and ticks where your child plays. And of course, have your child cover up and dress to avoid getting bit when possible, with long socks and clothing that covers their arms and legs.

Facts About Insect Repellents for Kids

Other things to know about insect repellents for kids include that:

  • Protect times can be different for protection against mosquitoes vs ticks.
  • IR3535, also known as Insect Repellent 3535, is a synthetic biopesticide (ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate). It was once only found in Avon Skin So Soft products, but can now be found in other brands too.
  • It is the chemical in oil of lemon eucalyptus, PMD or para-menthane-3,8-diol, that gives it pesticidal properties.
  • Avoid combination sunscreen/insect repellent products. Use separate products instead, applying the sunscreen first and reapplying the sunscreen every few hours as necessary. Since you don’t typically reapply insect repellents (unless you are going to be outside for a really long time), if your child starts  to get bitten, next time, you will likely need to consider using an insect repellent with a different active ingredient or at least one with a stronger concentration that might last longer.
  • Although available, insect repellent lotions are often harder to find in stores.
  • In addition more standard insect repellents, permethrin treated clothing is available.
  • Don’t be fooled by natural insect repellents that ‘smell amazing’ and say that they aren’t “full of chemicals.” They likely contain para-menthane-3,8-diol, ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate, or other chemicals. While they are DEET-free and some may be natural, they aren’t free of chemicals. And keep in mind that many natural insect repellents are non-EPA registered.
  • Call poison control (1-800-222-1222) if your child gets the insect repellent in their mouth or eyes or has a reaction.

Although they are the best protection, since insect repellents aren’t perfect, you should also learn how to remove ticks and the symptoms of mosquito and tickborne diseases.

Yet more protection options include the Dengue vaccine (not available in the US yet though) and preventative medications for malaria.

What to Know About Insect Repellents for Kids

When used properly, insect repellents are safe and effective and the best way to help your kids avoid getting eaten up by mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks and other things that like to bite kids.

More About Insect Repellents for Kids

Treating Hard to Control Nosebleeds

Don’t panic when your child has a bloody nose. Instead, encourage them to sit, lean, pinch, and wait and learn to prevent chronic nosebleeds.

Parents usually get scared when their kids get a nosebleed.

Fortunately, most nosebleeds aren’t serious. That doesn’t make them less scary when they are happening though, especially when it is your first or it doesn’t stop right away.

Nosebleeds

There are two things to understand about nosebleeds in kids. They are common and most of the things that you probably know about stopping them aren’t very helpful.

We no longer recommend tilting a child’s head back during a nosebleed, pinching the bridge of their nose, stuffing tissue into their nostrils, or holding a tissue lightly against their nostrils. Although your child’s nose will likely eventually stop bleeding with these methods, it will take a long time and it won’t be from any of those interventions.

Treating Nosebleeds

When your child has a nosebleed, the best treatment advice is to:

  • have your child sit down
  • encourage them to lean forward
  • pinch the tip of their nostrils firmly for five or ten minutes with their fingers or a tissue if it is available (don’t check every few minutes to see if it has stopped)
  • continue to pinch for another ten minutes if it is still bleeding (again, wait and don’t check every few minutes to see if it has stopped)
  • for persistent bleeding, some experts recommend blowing out the clot, spraying a nasal decongestant into your child’s nostril, and then applying firm pressure for ten minutes

If blood is still coming out while you are pinching the soft, lower part of your child’s nose, then you likely aren’t pinching firmly enough or may not be pinching in the right spot. Pinching the bony part doesn’t help.

Keep in mind that it takes at least a few days for blood vessels to heal, so your child  might easily get another bloody nose in the hours or days after a nosebleed. That’s why some kids might get a nose bleed without really doing anything to provoke it.

After a bloody nose, you might encourage your child to avoid blowing out the clot in their nostrils and leave their nose alone.

Treating Hard to Control Nosebleeds

What about if your child has hard to control nosebleeds?

If the nosebleed is hard to control because it just won’t stop after about 20 minutes, then you likely need to seek quick medical attention.

On the other hand, if you can stop your child’s nosebleeds, but they are hard to control because they keep coming back, then ask yourself these questions and share the answers with your pediatrician:

  • Are your child’s nosebleeds seasonal, which could mean that allergies are a trigger?
  • Have you been using a nasal steroid to treat your child’s allergies? Nosebleeds can sometimes be a side effect of using a steroid nose spray, especially if you don’t spray towards the outside of the nostril when you use them.
  • Does your child frequently pick his nose?
  • Have you noticed any other signs of heavy bleeding or easy, large bruising? If not, a bleeding disorder is almost certainly not causing your child’s nose to bleed.
  • Do your child’s nosebleeds increase in the winter, when it is dry in the house?
  • Does anyone in the house smoke? Second hand smoke is an irritant.
  • Has your child been using a nasal decongestant for more than a few days? That can dry out your child’s nasal passages and lead to nose bleeds.
  • Could your child’s head or nose have been hit recently?
  • Did your child stick anything in his nose?

In addition to treating uncontrolled allergies, things that might help chronic nosebleeds include keeping your child’s nails cut short, encouraging your child to not pick his nose, using nasal gel (or Vaseline) or saline spray to keep your child’s nostrils moist (can discourage picking too), using a cool mist humidifier (this can increase mold and dust mites and make allergies worse though), and avoiding second hand smoke.

A pediatric ENT can help your child with chronic nosebleeds when routine treatments don’t work. Although a little painful, cautery with a silver nitrate stick is an option to seal blood vessels in the nose for some kids who keep getting nosebleeds.

What To Know About Treating Hard to Control Nosebleeds

Don’t panic when your child has a bloody nose. Instead, encourage them to sit, lean, pinch, and wait and learn to prevent chronic nosebleeds.

More Information About Treating Hard to Control Nosebleeds

Multiple Layers of Protection Can Keep Your Kids Safe

A layers of protection child safety plan can help keep your kids safe from accidents and tragedies, such as falls and drowning.

Parents are well aware of the need to use protection to keep important things safe.

After all, we build our homes thinking about fire protection, with firewalls and smoke detectors, plug our computers into surge protectors, and use virus protection software on our computers.

The same type of protection, usually grouped into a layers of protection plan, can also help keep your kids safe.

Layers of Protection

Using a layers of protection approach to child safety means using more than type of child safety technique, barrier, or warning, as a protection against a specific hazard. That way, if one protective layer breaks down, then one of the other layers of protection will still be in place to keep your kids safe.

Of course these layers of protection aren’t meant to keep your kids safe forever. They can buy you some time though if your child gets away from you for a few moments.

“…parents ought to appreciate the importance of applying multiple injury prevention strategies to a single category of risk, to provide children with layers of protection.”

Mark Widome, MD

Although often used in connection with the pool safety campaigns of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it was mentioned as early as 1992 by Mark Widome, MD, who is on the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence & Poison Prevention.

Layers of Protection for Water Safety

The concept of using layers of protection is often easiest to see when you think about water safety.

Consider some common drowning scenarios:

  • A 23-month-old in Redford Township near Detroit, Michigan, drowned by getting out of the house (the family was visiting friends) and climbing a ladder into an above-ground pool that only had about two feet of water in it.
  • A 3-year-old drowned in La Plata, Maryland during a birthday party while several other people were in the pool. When some started to get out of the pool, they noticed the child at the bottom of the deep end of the pool.
  • An 8-year-old drowned in a busy community pool near Indianapolis, IN.

To help prevent these types of drownings, the CPSC and the AAP recommend a layers of protection plan for water and pool safety, that includes:

  • close, constant, direct supervision of small children near water, whether it is a lake, pond, in-ground pool, spa, large portable pool, small wading pool, bathtub, or even a large bucket of water, etc.
  • closer “touch supervision” whenever an infant, toddler, or older child who is a weak swimmer is in the water, meaning that you are within an arm’s length of the child at all times.
  • installing a climb resistant isolation fence (a 4-sided fence that doesn’t allow direct access to the pool from inside the house) around backyard pools with a self-closing and self-latching gate.
  • adding a door alarm so that you know if your kids get out of the house and into the backyard, especially if your house makes up one of the four sides of the fence around your pool. A gate or pool alarm might also be useful.
  • making younger children wear a coast guard approved personal flotation device if they don’t know how to swim well and not just air-filled arm floaties. They should wear their personal flotation device whenever they are by the water, even if they are not swimming.
  • teaching kids to learn to swim, especially once they are 4-years-old, keeping in mind that knowing how to swim does not make your child drown-proof.
  • learning CPR, having a flotation device, and a telephone by the pool in case there is an emergency.

Also be sure to empty buckets of water, the bathtub, small kiddie wading pools, and other things with water when you are not using them.

Layers of Protection Work

How do the layers of protection work to reduce the risks of a drowning?

Consider a house with a fully childproofed pool. It has a 4-sided fence with a self-closing and self-latching gate. The door leading to the backyard is childproofed so that the twin toddlers who live in the home can’t open it. During a recent pool party, they even have a designated adult watching the kids in the pool.

When that person has to go to the bathroom, she asks someone else to take over. The new watcher isn’t as responsible though and gets distracted when he gets a phone call (one layer gone). One of the twins who had been inside, decides she wants to swim again. She walks to the backyard right through the door that someone had left open (another layer gone), through the open gate (yet another layer gone), and jumps into the pool without anyone seeing her.

The gate to the pool had been propped open during the party because people got tired of opening it every time they went from the pool to the house, and unfortunately, this breakdown in pool safety is a common way that kids drown. Fortunately, because the parents were using a layers of protection plan, the child was still safe, as she was still wearing her personal flotation device (last layer intact).

Layers of Protection for Home Safety

How can the layers of protection protect your kids at home?

For one thing, you can simply get rid of some of the things that are unsafe around kids, such as poisonous plants, unused household cleaners or poisons, and recalled products.

Next, add a few extra layers of protection when childproofing the house, since you can’t be expected to supervise your kids every second of the day:

  • install child-resistant door knob covers so that kids can’t get into rooms that are hard to child proof, like the bathroom
  • set the temperature of your hot water heater to 120 degrees, so that if your child does get into the bathroom and turns on the water he won’t get burned
  • store household cleaners and other poisonous substances in a high, out of reach location and then put a child-resistant lock on the cabinet for an extra layer of protection
  • place TVs and other appliances on stable furniture that won’t easily tip over, but as an extra layer of protection, anchor both the TV and furniture to the wall
  • lock your car so that your kids can’t get back in (hot cars, especially getting trapped in the trunk, is a common hidden danger for kids), and then secure your keys for an extra layer of protection

The layers of protection idea can even apply to car safety, In addition to an age appropriate car seat, booster seat, or seat belts, and keeping your kids in the back seat until they are at least 13-years-old, you can add to your family’s safety in the car by not getting distracted talking on your phone or texting.

What extra layers of protection can you add to other risks in and around your home?

More Information On Layers of Protection

The Numbers Behind Keeping Food Safe

Learn the numbers behind food safety to help keep your kids safe from poisoning.

Learn the four basic steps to keep your food safe from germs.
Learn the four basic steps to keep your food safe from germs.

There is no safe food when it comes to food poisoning. Eggs, fruits, meats, vegetables and even organic sprouts can all become contaminated.

That makes it important to learn how to keep your food safe.

Although many things are being done to reduce contamination before food gets to us, it is just as important to prepare, cook and store food properly so that our kids don’t get sick.

Food Safety Numbers

There are some numbers related to food safety that you might be all too familiar with – about 48 million people get sick from food poisoning each year, sending 100,000 people to the hospital, and causing about 3,000 deaths

Reducing food poisoning is a “winnable battle” though, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But of course, safe food doesn’t just happen. It takes a little work, starting with understanding some of the other numbers associated with food safety, such as:

  • 4 – the number of steps to proper food safety – clean, separate, cook, chill
  • 0˚F – the temperature to set your freezer (0˚F or below)
  • 40˚F – the temperature to set your refrigerator (between 40˚F and 32˚F)
  • 140˚F – the temperature you should keep food after cooking
  • 145˚F – the minimum internal temperature to cook pork, fresh ham, steaks, roasts, chops and other whole meats (cook to the right temperature)
  • 160˚F – the minimum internal temperature to cook egg dishes and ground meat (cook to the right temperature)
  • 165˚F – the minimum internal temperature to cook poultry and reheat leftovers (cook to the right temperature)
  • 3 minutes – the amount of “rest time” you should wait to make sure harmful germs are killed after cooking food, which is especially important after cooking steaks, roasts, chops, fresh pork and fresh ham. Don’t just heat and eat your food.
  • 2 hours – the maximum about of time that perishable food should be left out before you put it in the refrigerator
  • 90˚F – the outside temperature that should alert you that you need to refrigerate perishable food after just one hour, instead of the usual two hours
  • 20 seconds – how long you should wash your hands before, during and after preparing food and before eating.
  • 4 hours – the amount of time that a refrigerator will usually keep food cold if the power goes out and the refrigerator door is not opened. After that time, throw out perishable food that has been above 40˚F for two hours or more.
  • 3 to 4 days – how long most leftovers can be safely stored in the refrigerator
  • 15 to 20 – the number of Salmonella cells in undercooked food that can cause food poisoning
  • Less than 5 minutes – how long it takes to report a case of food poisoning to your local health department so that you can help to prevent a larger outbreak.

How can you tell the internal temperature of foods that you are cooking? Use a food thermometer, as you can’t tell when foods are safely cooked by simply looking at them.

And be on the alert for food recalls, to make sure that you don’t have contaminated foods in your home.

What To Know About Keeping Food Safe

Do all of these numbers sound too hard to do or keep up with, especially when you are trying to have fun at a cook out or family dinner?

Remember, it is better than the alternative, 2 to 10 days of vomiting and diarrhea because your family developed symptoms of food poisoning…

For More Information on Food Safety Numbers:

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Fire Ant Bites

Learn how to treat and avoid fire ant bites and stings.

A classic fire ant mound popping out of a nice green lawn.
A classic fire ant mound popping out of a nice green lawn. Photo by Bart Drees.

Are you worried about your kids getting bit by fire ants?

If not, then you don’t live in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas, where they have been around for a while.

Fire Ants

Fire ants are thought to have been imported on ships into Mobile, Alabama from South America. They have continued to spread ever since, lately making it as far as eastern New Mexico, the southern half of Oklahoma, and parts of California.

Like imported killer bees, fire ants are more aggressive than native ants.

Many of us get annoyed when we see large fire ant mounds pop up in our yards after it rains, but it can be really concerning one or more fire ants bite or sting your child.

Symptoms of Fire Ant Bites

While many insects bite, it is the classic behavior of fire ants that can make their bites so much worse.

When disturbed, fire ants emerge aggressively, crawling up vertical surfaces, biting and stinging “all at once”.

Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project

In a typical situation, a toddler or preschooler steps on a fire ant mound in the yard, and before you know it, dozens of fire ants are covering their feet and legs. Or they fall onto the mound, with the fire ants all over their hands and arms.

As you scramble to move your child and get the ants off (quickly rub them off with a cloth or your own hand), they will likely all start stinging.

Multiple fire ant bites on a child's hand.
Multiple fire ant bites on a child’s hand. Photo by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Fortunately, very few people are allergic to fire ant stings, which might trigger a whole body reaction, with dizziness, shortness of breath, and hives, etc.. The redness, swelling, and white-yellow pustule at the site of the bite are usually the normal symptoms of a local reaction to the fire ant venom.

The pustules go away over a few days to weeks. There is no need to pop or try to drain them. In fact, popping them might lead to their getting infected. It’s better to leave them alone.

After you are bit, it is going to hurt or burn for a few minutes too – that’s why they are called fire ants.

How do you treat fire ant bites?

After you remove the ants, basic first aid and treatment for fire ant bites might include washing the area with soap and then using a cool compress, oral antihistamines, and topical steroids to treat itching.

And of course, seek immediate medical attention if your child is having an allergic reaction to the bites or if it appears that the bites are later getting infected, with increased pain and swelling when you would think that they should be improving.

What To Know About Fire Ant Bites

Although fire ant bites are rarely dangerous or life-threatening, your best bet in protecting your kids is to get rid of any fire ants in your yard and in other places that they play. You might also encourage your kids to wear shoes (not sandals or Crocs) and socks when walking or playing outside.

For More Information on Fire Ant Bites

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