NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – It’s summer in Texas, and experts say keeping kids healthy starts with hydration.
“A lot of people do only think about hydration once they start to sweat and once they start to feel kind of fatigued,” said Brittany Wehrle, a Performance Dietician with Children’s Health Andrews Institute.
She said to calculate how much water your child needs, divide their weight by two. That’s a baseline for how many ounces of water they should be drinking daily.
According to the CDC, a study on heat-related illness from 1999 to 2010 found almost all deaths happened between May and September, with the highest numbers reported in July.
Texas was one of three states accounting for 43 percent of all heat-related deaths.
Wehrle explained some of the symptoms to be on the lookout for.
“Headache, dizziness sometimes a little bit of trouble with coordination,” she said.
Those mean you could be dealing with dehydration or heat exhaustion. If you notice those symptoms in your child, you need to act fast:
– Get them someplace cool and shaded.
– Give them water or a sports drink.
– Put a wet towel on their skin.
– Ease cramps with stretching.
If not treated, heat exhaustion can develop into heat stroke which is a medical emergency.
“You may stop sweating, you may notice your skin is really flushed, your heart rate stays elevated,” Wehrle described. In a case like this, you’d want to seek medical help right away.
For more on heat safety, click here.
