The summer season often brings with it overwhelming heat. Nurse Mark returns to The Lab to give us a few tips on how to help kids avoid heat related injuries. Learn the differences between heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. We'll also tell you at what point you should take your child to the hospital. Learn which beverages and sports drinks help prevent dehydration in children, and how to recognize if you kid is dehydrated. A very useful resource for parents. DadLabs ep. 40 The Lab.

Daddy Clay: It’s summertime here in Austin, Texas and that means it’s gonna be 95 degrees plus outside today and the kids are outside playing in that heat. Sometimes that can cause some problems so we’ve brought in Nurse Mark here into the studio to talk to us a little about heat-related illnesses. Nurse Mark, thanks for coming in.

Nurse Mark: My pleasure Clay.

Daddy Clay: So, what do we need to be on the lookout for with kids out in the heat? What are the danger signs when we know that kids are getting into trouble out there in the warm weather?

Nurse Mark: Well, one of the first things that might happen out in the playground or out in the athletic fields or simply in the backyard are heat cramps. So that’s when you have muscle cramps often in the calves, sometimes in the larger muscle groups. And that’s a sign of dehydration. You’ve got to take care of that.

Daddy Clay: Okay. And things go up the scale from there? That’s the first stage, what’s more advanced troubles?

Nurse Mark: The second stage would be what we would call actual heat exhaustion. And realize that all this is due to dehydration and our body is very good at regulating its own temperature through perspiration, through sweating. And when that mechanism isn’t working properly kids get in a little trouble and heat exhaustion is going to be the really hot, lethargic, sweating profusely, they might feel a little nauseous. They just don’t want to interact, they don’t want to involve and that’s a sign that they’re dehydrated and having some heat problems.

Daddy Clay: Okay. Is that the point at which you want to take the kids to the hospital or what’s the point, when do things get really serious?

Nurse Mark: So the worst thing that can happen to a kid out there is what we call heat stroke. And that’s when our body’s mechanism to cool itself down is no longer working. So when the body temperature gets up to over 104 degrees the sweating mechanism will stop and so when the child stops sweating that’s a very, very bad sign. Or if they start feeling delirious or they have seizures you’ve got to call 911 or get them immediately to the hospital.

Daddy Clay: So clearly that’s the point that you’re headed to the hospital. How about – my grandmother used to call it heat frustration. Do you know what heat frustration is? So, does that just make you cranky because there’s not a parking spot and it’s hot.

Nurse Mark: I don’t know if that’s related to dehydration or estrogen.

Daddy Clay: Oh, dude. Okay, so you’ve got these kids suffering from this dehydration. What are the best ways to treat heat related illness?

Nurse Mark: Well, two things to do. One is to rehydrate and the other is to get out of the heat.

Daddy Clay: Okay.

Nurse Mark: So get the child into the shade, a cool area inside if there’s air conditioning, fan them down, just cool them off. Use one of those misters, you can even drip water on them, cold washcloths and rehydrate.

Daddy Clay: So what’s the best way? Just straight water or?? We’ve got to get these kids rehydrated clearly so maybe that’s the best way?

Nurse Mark: Well, when you are sweating you are getting rid of more than just water. You’re also getting rid of what we call electrolytes. That means salts. Things like sodium and potassium, chlorine and magnesium. So we need to drink water but we also need to drink some type of electrolyte beverage. That’s a fancy way to say one of those sports drinks that you commonly see advertised by professional athletes.

Daddy Clay: So that’s okay. Gatorade is okay for small kids?

Nurse Mark: Gatorade is perfect. What we actually do is we recommend that the Gatorade be cut in half with water. So if you take just one bottle of Gatorade and turn it into two bottles just by diluting it with water, would be great. One of my colleagues that I work with in the emergency room actually is a marathoner. And he uses a solution called Pedialite and most people out there know that Pedialite is used for babies who are vomiting or are dehydrated for some reasons, but it’s actually great for young athletes. It’s a perfect electrolyte that does not need to be diluted with water.

Daddy Clay: And they also sell Pedialite pops that you can get. You put them in the freezer and its frozen Pedialite, kids love them, and maybe it’s a good way to hydrate them as well.

Nurse Mark: And that’s a great point. You know kids often don’t want to just drink water so cold popsicles or frozen juices, those types of things are an excellent way to get water back into them.

Daddy Clay: How about there’s some sports drinks out there that don’t have the same calories, they’re sort of, Propel, some of these sports waters. My kids love those. Are those okay?

Nurse Mark: They are okay but one of the things that you want to do is look at the label and make sure that they do have electrolytes, sodium, potassium, calcium especially.

Daddy Clay: And it’s also possible isn’t it – I’ve heard of kids being over hydrated. Can you get sick from drinking too much – now I realize that’s not as big a risk. But is it possible that you can drink too much stuff.

Nurse Mark: It sure is possible. So I guess the question is, how do you know? How do you know if your child is properly hydrated, and in the emergency room we have all sophisticated tests to be able to figure those types of things out. But one of the greatest ways to tell if your child is dehydrated is by looking at their ura.

Daddy Clay: Hmmm. So you just like say – son, hope you don’t mind if I just go in there with you?

Nurse Mark: Actually Clay, that’s exactly what you have to do. Often, if the children are young you can’t really ask them what their urine looks like. But, if you’ve got urine that is dark in color like this, this is really symptomatic of dehydration.

Daddy Clay: Okay, who peed in the baby bottle?? I mean, that’s not cool. You can’t do that.

Nurse Mark: So this is not good urine.

Daddy Clay: Well, yeah, because it’s in a baby bottle. There’s never good urine in a baby bottle.

Nurse Mark: So this is obviously lighter in color and this would be symptomatic of most normal kids who really aren’t properly hydrated but aren’t in any trouble.

Daddy Clay: This is one is not normal? I mean it’s not fully hydrated?

Nurse Mark: No. This is normal but it’s not fully hydrated. So if you are out there and its 95 degrees and you’re really worried about heat, your urine should actually be clear. And you know, in the business we talk about urine being clear and copious. You know that your child is properly hydrated when they’re going to the bathroom a lot. If they’re peeing a lot that is symptomatic that they’ve got enough water in their system and they’re going to be good to go.

Daddy Clay: So, if it doesn’t look like this, you’re in trouble. Hey Nurse Mark, you’re in the studio.

Nurse Mark: Okay. Actually Clay there are a couple…

Daddy Clay: You’re insane.

Nurse Mark: There are a couple of other ways we can test and see if you are fully hydrated.

Daddy Clay: You don’t like my urine jokes?

Nurse Mark: One is checking what we call skin turter. Can you guys see this??

Daddy Clay: Wow, careful of the pelt there. Don’t mess with the pelt.

Nurse Mark: If I do a little pinch here notice that the skin goes right back down, there’s no tenting there. That’s symptomatic that there’s very good – you’re hydrated.

Daddy Clay: I’m often complimented on both my hydration and my turter.

Nurse Mark: So if you pinch and it doesn’t go down immediately and it forms a little tent, that’s tenting, and that’s a sign of dehydration. Another thing you can do Clay is actually just press on the eyeball, and the eyeball should have the consistency of a ripe grape. And if your child is dehydrated it’s going to feel a little bit mushy and soft.

Daddy Clay: That’s what my two year old is doing. He’s just checking his sister’s hydration. I thought he was trying to be like Moe but it turns out he’s just concerned for her health.

Nurse Mark: I promise you, I did not teach him that.

Daddy Clay: Okay. So these are different ways we can find out. Clear urine is an important test. And we can also test for turter and can mush their eyeballs. And make sure those kids are healthy and hydrated and having a great summer. Nurse Mark, thank you so much. It’s been very informative, we really appreciate you coming in.

Nurse Mark: Oh, it’s my pleasure.

Daddy Clay: Hey - Happy Anniversary by the way.

Nurse Mark: Oh, thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

Daddy Clay: What - it’s 20, 23 years?

Nurse Mark: Twenty three years, absolutely.

Daddy Clay: Congratulation, buddy, that’s really impressive. Twenty three years of marriage and he’s a male nurse, so that can work.