Soothing summer sunburns

Too much fun in the sun often leads to sunburn. Without protection from sunscreen and clothing, the sun's ultraviolet rays can burn and damage the skin.

Doctor Joan Tamburro is a pediatric dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic. She says if your child gets severe sunburn, hydration is key.

"Anytime you have severe sunburn, you're going to be dehydrated, so you've got to keep fluids going," she said.

If you notice sunburn, you'll want to keep your child out of the sun until it has healed.

To help soothe stinging skin, Tamburro recommends relieving discomfort with an age-appropriate over the counter pain medication like, acetaminophen.
cool water can also be used to ease the pain.

Some products advertised to help sunburn may contain alcohol or other ingredients that can lead to irritation or an allergic reaction because the skin's barrier has been damaged by the burn.

Tamburro says it's best to avoid these types of creams and lotions because they may cause more harm than good.

"Buying a lot of different topicals to put on the skin and help out is not necessarily the smartest thing to do," Tamburro said. "If you feel like you need an over the counter hydrocortisone that would be helpful, but I wouldn't spend a lot of money on the aloe gels and other things that are touted to help sunburn."

You'll want to call the pediatrician if a baby younger than one year old gets sunburned or if an older child has blistering, painful sunburn, or develops a fever.  baking soda, milk or oatmeal.