Sugar in bowl and sugar cubes blue

Beat the Heat this Summer!

September 4, 2024 General /Family

With record-high temperatures and extreme weather happening more often, staying cool is a priority, especially when you have little ones and when you’re pregnant.

Staying Hydrated

Drinking plenty of fluids is key when it’s hot! Water is best. Limit drinks high in sugar and caffeine, as these can make your body lose fluid, leading to dehydration. It’s also best to limit sports drinks unless you are sweating for multiple hours.

Boy Drinking Water
drink

The best thing you can do for mild dehydration is drink more water. Severe dehydration needs immediate medical treatment at a hospital. This may require giving fluids through an intravenous drip (a needle in your arm).

Some signs of dehydration include:

  • Cold, clammy skin
  • Dizziness or feeling lightheaded
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Muscle cramps
  • Nausea
  • Darker-colored urine
  • Thirst
  • Preterm contractions

Planning to Stay Cool

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Plan outside activities for early in the day. This means everyone needs to get to bed on time so they can get up early. It also means planning meals ahead of time so you’re not eating dinner too late or rushing through breakfast.

Plan cool activities like taking your children for swimming lessons, or visiting a public swimming pool, lake, or splash pad.

Dad Son in Pool

Your local mall or recreation center likely have air conditioning. Visit these places at the hottest times of the day to stay cool while staying physically active.

Keep your parked car cooler by using a windshield shade and parking in an area shaded by trees or other surroundings.

Leather and vinyl car seats can burn skin in the summer. Keep towels in the car to sit on.

stay cool flower

Pregnant? It’s Even More Important to Stay Cool!

Heat exposure during pregnancy has been linked to preterm births, stillbirths, and low birthweight infants. During the first trimester, heat exposure may increase the risk of certain birth defects.

Managing Indoor Heat

Fan Cooling Ait

You can bring cool air in and push warm air out by using two fans in front of two windows. In the room you want to cool, place one fan to blow air out one window, and the other fan to blow air in from another window. This will create a nice cross breeze. If possible, put the inward-facing fan in front of a window that’s in the shade.

mom and son playing

Open windows in the morning or evening if it’s cooler outside. When it warms up, close windows and shades to keep the sun and heat out.

Fan Rotation

Make sure your ceiling fan is turning counterclockwise to keep hot air near the ceiling and cooler air below, where you want it. In the winter months, set your ceiling fan to turn clockwise to do the opposite.

When windows are closed, fans don’t cool the room, they cool the people in the room. Save energy (and money) by turning fans off when you leave a room.

Consider doing meal prep in the morning, when temperatures are usually cooler. Avoid using the oven if possible or only use it during the coolest part of the day. Instead use the microwave, slow cooker, toaster oven, or stove top.

DIY Air Conditioner!

hot tip

Place a fan on the floor with a towel in front of it. Then put a container, bucket or roasting pan filled with ice on top of the towel, directly in front of the fan. The fan will slowly melt the ice and blow out cool, refreshing air.

Managing Outdoor Heat

Dress yourself and your family in loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing.

Bring a water bottle along for everyone in the family.

If the temperature outside is cooler than inside, try eating or reading outside under the shade. Consider taking a fan outside with you, if there’s a safe place to plug it in.

Check out personal fans and handheld misting fans to use when outside. You can also wet a scarf or bandana in cold water then loosely drape it around your neck.

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Do you remember running through the sprinkler when you were a kid? Create the same vibe by attaching a simple rotating sprinkler to your garden hose and have fun staying cool!

hot-tip-new

Check out the HeatRisk Tool from the U.S. Center for Disease Control, and Prevention, where you can find the heat risk and air quality (and how to deal with it) in your town.

Never leave a child in a car in the heat. Even when the outside temperature is 80o F, the car temperature can quickly increase to 120o F!

REFERENCES:

Centers for Disease Control. Beat the Heat Infographic:
https://www.cdc.gov/extreme-heat/media/pdf/beat-the-heat-2017.pdf

National Library of Medicine. Pregnancy and Heat Exposure: A Comprehensive Review
on Hot Ambient Temperature and its Impacts on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10298495/

Centers for Disease Control. Clinical Overview of Heat and Pregnancy:
https://www.cdc.gov/heat-health/hcp/clinical-overview/heat-and-pregnant-women.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/heat-health/hcp/heat-and-pregnant-women.html

Centers for Disease Control HeatRisk Tool:
https://ephtracking.cdc.gov/Applications/HeatRisk/

The Spruce. How to Use Fans to Cool a Room:
https://www.thespruce.com/do-fans-cool-a-room-5271790#:~:text=Move%20cool%20air%20into%20the,line%20from%20the%20first%20windo.

Feeding a 6-7 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon and from a bowl, never from a bottle.

Feeding a 10-12 Month Old

Breast milk is the most important source of nutrition for your baby, even after you start offering solid foods.

Feeding a 8-9 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon. Never put cereal in a bottle.

Tips

Mom new born home

Breast milk and formula feeding:

Around 2-3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months of age, babies may experience a growth spurt when they feed more often.

As they grow babies can hold more milk, so feedings may become further apart and take less time.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Start offering whole milk when your baby is one year old.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and that breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months and beyond.

feeding solid foods

Feeding solid foods:

Wait to offer solid foods until your baby:

  • Can sit up and hold up their own head.
  • Opens their mouth when they see food.
  • Can close their lips around a spoon.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Try one new food at a time. Wait 5 days before trying another new food to watch for allergies. Food allergies may include wheezing, rash, or diarrhea.

Introduce peanut butter around 6 months. Spread a small, thin smear of peanut butter or nut butter thinly on a cracker.  Watch your baby for any reaction for the next 2 hours.

Babies under one year should NOT have honey due to the risk of botulism. Also, babies should not have foods that can cause choking like nuts or whole grapes.

All babies are different. Talk with WIC or your baby’s healthcare provider about your baby’s needs.

Feeding Cues

Feeding a 4-5 Month Old

Before teeth come in, wipe gums with a soft, clean wash cloth after each feeding, especially before bed.

Feeding a 0-3 Month Old

Newborns have tiny tummies and need to be fed often. In the first few weeks, you may need to wake your baby to feed if they sleep longer than 4 hours.

Growth Spurts

Many babies are fussy during a growth spurt and will want to nurse longer and more often. This is called cluster feeding. This is your baby’s way of helping you increase your milk supply so that you can keep up with their needs. Remember, the more your baby nurses, the more milk your body makes.

Growth spurts can happen at any time, and every baby is different.

They often happen at these ages:

two-three-weeks

2 to 3 Weeks

6 Weeks

three-months

3 Months

six-months

6 Months

What foods can I get?

Authorized Food List
Authorized Food List

Where can I shop?