Paediatrician explains dangerous mistake parents make with prams during hot weather

It can be hard to keep small babies cool during the hot summer months.

Sticking to the shade is always a good idea but sometimes it's not always possible and we have to find ways of shading them ourselves. This parenting hack has been around for a long time and was probably even used to shade me at one point, but it's one of the worst things you can do for your baby. This photo shared by Spotted Portsmouth demonstrates the dangerous shading trick that parents have been using for years. While as a parent we're just trying to do our best to keep our child safe in the sun, this hack actually does the opposite. Placing a blanket over your child's pram like this can have dire consequences and may even lead to suffocation. Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, carried out research and tested the temperature inside a pram before and after the blanket is applied. They found that without a cover the temperature inside a stroller left out in the heat was 22 degrees Celsius. Although with only a thin cover put over the buggy in half an hour the temperature rose to 34 degrees Celsius, and after an hour it rose to a staggering 37 degrees Celsius! I'll be honest. I didn't know how bad this was when my son was a baby and shaded him like this a couple of times. Thanks to social media though, parents are becoming more and more aware of practices that were once thought to be safe, and the real consequences of them. While innocently done, putting a blanket over your child's pram can lead to overheating, heat stroke and even the child losing consciousness. If you currently own a buggy that can't fully shade your baby investing in a clip on parasol for your pram is a much safer option.