Last week I received one of the scariest phone calls a parent can get at work. My child was very sick with sun poisoning and might need to go to the hospital. Another parent had picked up my child at school since our daughters were having as sleepover. The children had a field trip that day and despite using a great deal of sunblock my fair skinned daughter became quite ill from the sun. She was crying uncontrollably from the pain, was nauseous, lobster red and slightly disoriented. I rushed home to meet the parent that was dropping off my child to assess the severity of the situation. He had already been supplying her with fluids and she was coherent, conscious and responsive though her voice was very raspy and she was lethargic. I decided to treat her at home since I cannot afford hospital bills.
Assess the severity of the sun poisoning
If your child is unconsious or vomiting violently you will need to buck up and make that expensive hospital run. However, if the symptoms are manageable then you may decide to treat the child at home. Painfully burned skin, light vomiting. fever, chills and dizziness can all be treated at home.
Easing the pain
Living in muggy Florida I try to avoid using the air conditoning to save money and instead open windows and use fans to dispurse the heat. Closing up windows and setting the air conditioning to 78 degrees was the first thing I did to make her feel more comfortable. I had to run it for three days which was nothing compared to a hospital visit.
Give the child more fluids then they really want to drink but don’t let them chug it. Drinking fluids too fast can cause stomach cramping. I started my daughter on gatorade and moved onto water and juices throughout that first day. Every time her glass was empty I was there refilling it to ease her parched throat.
Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen will help ease the pain of sun poisoning and bring down any fever your child may have.
Draw the child a cold bath and let them sit in there for as long as they want to ease the pain of sun poisoning. Just remember to check on them frequently because they still are in the danger zone of passing out!
Apply Aloe Vera every thirty minutes over skin that has been exposed to the sun, at least for the first few hours. I noticed that her skin just soaking up that healing goodness and wanted to spare her painful peeling and blistering later. The day after she was brought home my roommate couldn’t believe how fast her skin was healing!
Bed rest is important for the healing process. My daughter willingly spent the entire weekend inside and most of the time in bed. A person suffering from sun poisoning can go between being hot and having the chills within minutes of each other. It is best to having very thin and silky sheets for them to sleep with easy to reach light blankets if the need arises.
A cold compress is very helpful in making the child feel more comfortable and will bring their skin temperature down. I filled up a big metal mixing bowl with ice and water and set it next to her bed. Every twenty minutes I would wet and wring out a washcloth in the mixture and put it on her brow covering her eyes. I noticed that being in the dark eased her dizziness and nausea too!
If your child has a raspy voice and has pain speaking give them some cough drops to ease the discomfort of sun poisoning. My child was singing again by the third day of treatment thanks to my boyfriend having foresight.
