What You Need to Know About Bottle Warmer Burns in Texas Daycares

What Are Bottle Warmers Used for?

Bottle warmers are often necessary tools when caring for infants. They help heat milk and formula to an optimal and safe temperature so that babies will take the bottle and continue to stay fed.

The process of heating milk in a bottle warmer requires indirect heat to the bottle—and usually, that requires pouring water into the heating portion of the device. This water helps heat the milk or formula evenly while preserving its nutritional value. Our Texas child injury attorney dives deeper into what can happen when negligence is involved.

Why Do Texas Daycares Need Bottle Warmers?

Many parents place their infants in daycare. That means that caregivers will likely use bottle warmers to heat up milk and formula for babies. It is essential to the safety of children that daycares know how to properly store bottle warmers to ensure children do not get hurt by them.

How Should Bottle Warmers Be Stored in Texas Daycares?

Bottle warmers pose serious risks to babies when not properly stored out of reach of children. To properly store bottle warmers, daycares must ensure that:

• They are out of reach by putting them on a high surface where children cannot knock them over.
• They are properly secured so that they do not accidentally tip over.
• Any loose cords are hidden

We have found that serious bottle warmer burns happen when cords are accessible to kids. A child might pull the cord, and the bottle warmer filled with boiling hot water may fall on them.

Injuries a Child Experiences from a Bottle Warmer Burn at Texas Daycares

Burns can be devastatingly painful and dangerous to young children. If hot water from a bottle warmer falls onto a child, they may suffer from physical injuries like:

• First, second, or third-degree burns
• Painful blisters and peeling skin
• Loss of limbs
• Muscle or tissue damage
• Extreme pain and discomfort
• Shock
• And even death

Additionally, children who are burned by bottle warmers in daycare may also suffer from psychological injuries like:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• PTSD
• Other forms of emotional trauma
• Regressive behaviors
• Nightmares

Something as simple as properly storing bottle warmers can save a child from suffering from these horrifying injuries. Daycares must ensure that they do everything they can to prevent young children from being severely injured, including properly child-proofing their space and supervising the children in their care.

Steps to Take if Your Child Was Injured in a Bottle Warmer Incident in Daycare

Unfortunately, daycares often overlook safety procedures. We see daycares cut corners repeatedly to save time and money, often at a child’s expense.

If your child was injured because of an improperly stored bottle warmer at daycare, you need to:

1. Get immediate medical attention for your child. A severe burn will likely mean a trip to the emergency room and continued care throughout the healing process.
2. Get an incident report from the daycare. Make sure that the incident is recorded and that you have a copy of the report.
3. Report the incident to the state. If you live in Texas, you’ll report to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which, together with the Texas Health and Human Services, oversees daycare licensing in the state.
4. Contact a Daycare Injury Attorney. Daycare injury attorneys, like our team at The Button Law Firm, have experience handling cases involving bottle warmer burns at daycares in Dallas, Houston, Midland, and across the country. It is important to have a knowledgeable team that knows what to do in these often-complicated cases.

Bottle warmer burn cases are 100% preventable. If your child does experience one, it’s important that you hold the daycare accountable, get justice for your child, and ensure this type of preventable injury does not happen to another child again.