I’m a sleep consultant – why you should never aim a fan at your baby during a heatwave, it can be so dangerous
IF your baby’s hot in a heatwave, your first thought might be to point a fan at them – but an expert says it’s super dangerous.
Cher, a Baby Sleep Consultant, was asked why the hack is so unsafe for our little ones, and she happily answered.
To clear up any confusion, she posted an explanation to her social media page.
Text above her head reads: “Why you shouldn’t point a fan at a baby on a hot night.”
Cher says: “During these hot nights it’s been really hard for mums and dads to keep their little ones cool.
“It can make a lot of sense, you know, you’ve got a fan pointed directly at them – that’s going to cool them right down.
“But this is really dangerous and I’m going to explain why.”
Cher reveals that babies don’t have the ability to cool themselves down or warm themselves up, which means blowing cold air at them is a recipe for disaster.
“In a heatwave when they’re really hot, they can’t cool down,” she says. “They can’t warm up when they’re really cold, either.
“So when you point a fan directly at a baby, they are more likely to get cold quicker and unlike adults they cannot regulate their own body temperature.
“This can be equally as dangerous.”
So what can we do instead to help relieve our little ones?
Cher explains: “What you want to be doing with the fan is to have it circulating the room.
“You don’t want it pointing at your little one. That will help them cool down a little bit but it’s not putting them in any form of danger.”
Hundreds of parents have commented on Cher’s post on social media, thanking her for the tip and sharing their own ways to keep babies cool safely.
One user replied: “I would put baby powder on mine as well to stop them getting sticky and hot. This seems to help as well.”
A second said: “My son is nine months and we have our fan on the lowest setting on rotate and he sleeps all night.”
And a third commented: “I heard it was better to have a fan circulating the room with a newborn as it helps prevent SIDS.”
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