Home daycares have many burn hazards.Burns are not typical childhood injuries. Our Texas daycare injury lawyer explains that they do not happen when a child falls off a swing, grabs a toy from another child, or trips on her shoelaces. Instead, early childhood burns, including bottle warmer burns, are often the result of abuse or neglect. 

Different Types of Texas Daycare Burns That Occur

Not all burn injuries are the same. Without proper supervision, policies, and procedures, daycare children may suffer from:

  • Thermal burns. Thermal burns are what many of us traditionally think of like a burn injury. These types of burns happen when the skin comes into contact with something hot, such as steam, open flames, fires, a hot beverage, boiling water, a stove, a hot pan, a heater, an iron, or another hot surface or object.
  • Electrical burns. Electrical burns can happen when a child puts a finger, tongue, or another body part into an electrical outlet or comes into contact with a broken electrical cord.
  • Radiation burns. Daycare kids should play outside often. However, the sun over Texas can be extremely powerful and cause severe sunburn if daycare staff do not keep the children in the shade or apply and reapply sunscreen. Babies, toddlers, and preschool children are too young to know to seek shade or to apply their own sunscreen. They just want to play on the playground.
  • Chemical burns. Strong acids, including bleach, other cleaners, and battery fluid, can cause chemical burns. Daycares have a responsibility to keep their items away from children to prevent chemical burn injuries.

If your infant, toddler, or preschool-age child comes home with any symptoms of a burn injury, then you should seek immediate medical attention for your child.

How Bad Is the Burn?

Burns are classified by degrees. A doctor will classify your child’s burn as one of the following:

  • First-degree burn. Symptoms of first-degree burns include redness and pain. They are the mildest form of burns and only affect the top layer of skin.
  • Second-degree burn. Second-degree burns affect the top layer of skin and at least part of the layer below that. Symptoms include redness, blistering, swelling, and pain. The skin may open.
  • Third- and fourth-degree burns. These most serious types of burns can affect all layers of the skin and the nerves. Instead of appearing red, the skin may appear white, brown, or charred. These burns can be fatal.

Treatment options will depend on the severity, size, and location of the burn. Some babies and young children may require hospitalization, skin graft surgeries, antibiotics, and pain medication. Even with treatment, burns can result in permanent disfigurement and infections or cause a child’s death.

What to Do if You Notice a Burn on Your Baby, Toddler, or Preschool Child

Burns can be medical emergencies. Therefore, the first thing that you should do is get your child to a doctor or the hospital. 

After that, you need to find out how your child got burned. With the help of a Texas daycare injury law firm, you can find out if:

If your child was hurt by daycare abuse or negligence, our daycare injury lawyers will fight to make sure that your family recovers fair damages. This includes, but is not limited to: 

  • Your child’s medical bills 
  • Your child’s physical pain
  • Your child’s emotional suffering
  • Your child’s temporary or permanent disfigurement
  • Your lost income while you were caring for your child
  • Any out of pocket expenses

Burns are just one type of serious daycare injury. If your child has suffered a burn caused by daycare abuse or negligence, please contact us right away for an initial legal consultation. You can call us any time, or fill out our online contact form to have us contact you.

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Russell Button
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Dallas, Houston, and Midland Texas trial and personal injury lawyer dedicated to securing justice for clients.