Mum Warns About Dangers of Hot Rubber Matting In Playgrounds After Her Son Burnt His Feet

A mother has warned others about the dangers of hot rubber matting in playgrounds after her 15-month-old son got second-degree burns after stepping on one.

Mum Jessica Mead, 29, from Townsville, said that it was about 11.30am and her toddler son, Jackson, had been playing with his cousins.

Jackson was running around barefoot on an oval on The Strand when he pushed a scooter over to a nearby playground. Suddenly, she heard her son scream. “Instead of moving, because after all he’s still only a little toddler, he just stood there screaming. He was just kind of stuck to the ground, like he was stuck in mud, so I’ve dropped my breakfast and run to him which felt like really slow motion to me,” she said.

Mrs Mead then described how the weather was during that time and how quickly everything happened.

“Other kids had run onto the playground as well, but Jackson must have run onto the hottest part.

“There were shade sails over the park, but there were gaps that let the sun through in some areas.

“As a new mum it was probably my realisation that things can happen in 10 seconds,” she said.

She immediately scooped up Jackson and saw that his feet had blistered, so she poured water on his feet from a water bottle and breastfed him until he calmed down. She then took him to one of the beach showers then to a lifeguard first aid station, but there were no lifeguards at the time as they were out on patrol. So she sat with Jackson under a tap.

“As a new mum, I wasn’t sure what to do and I didn’t know how bad the burn actually was at first.

“I knew water or ice would be the best thing for a burn. Rather than race straight to the emergency room with a hysterical toddler, I took him to my sister’s house, which is closer than the hospital.

“I jumped in the pool with him, which calmed him down, and called a house doctor,” she said.

The doctor said it looked like a first-degree burn at first so it was treated and bandaged, but the next day, the foot had already blistered and it was being categorised as a second-degree, superficial burn.

Mrs Mead’s husband, Brenton, thought Jackson had stood on cement, but was surprised to hear that it was the soft fall rubber matting from the playground.

Mrs Mead said that the doctor told them that Jackson was the third child she had seen that week with similar burns — one from a similar park and another from a day care where the staff may have forgotten to put away a rubber mat before the kids played outside.

In her blog, OMG I’m that Mum, she decided to post about how her son’s feet got burnt as a warning to others after first sharing the story with a local mother’s group.

She said that Jackson’s foot was healing well but she wanted to learn her first aid skills again.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said Mrs Mead did the right thing by running the toddler’s foot under water but advised against using ice on burns. “Burns should be put under tap water for at least 20 minutes, but ice and ice cold water should be avoided,” the spokeswoman said.

Ground coverings expert, Bob Hinds of A1 Ground Cover, said any type of rubber matting can heat up, especially in the northern and outback areas of Queensland. “Rubber gets quite hot and expands and contracts, so everyone should wear shoes, kids in particular,” he said.

Source: Courier Mail