When Your Child Is Burned by Something Hot

Reviewed by EM-I-CLEAR

About this English edition — This resource is for residents of Korea from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. If you need this material in another language, please contact us at [email protected] — we provide reviewed translations on request.

This resource is intended to guide caregivers, based on a review of the medical literature, on what first aid steps to take in an emergency, when it’s a good idea to go to the hospital, which symptoms are urgent, and what to watch for afterward. We hope this resource is helpful to caregivers.

• This document summarizes domestic and international literature on the initial first aid management of burns in children, prepared as an educational resource for the general public and caregivers
• This content was prepared as of August 2026
• This resource does not replace a doctor’s care. Diagnosis and treatment of your child’s condition should be provided by a medical professional
• If you notice any errors or omissions, please let us know at [email protected] so we can include them in a future revision

Introduction

Most burns in children happen at home. The most common causes are hot soup on the table, water that has just been boiled, or a hot drink in a cup, and children 3–4 years old and younger are hurt most often. Hot water and hot food are the most common causes, but burns can also come from hot objects such as an iron, from electricity, or from chemicals. Below is guidance on what to do.

First aid at home

1. First, move your child away from the source of heat. If the heat source stays in contact with the skin, the burn goes deeper, so moving your child to a safe place comes first. If your child’s clothing has caught fire, hold your child so they cannot run, then put out the fire by covering them with a blanket or having them roll on the ground.

2. Run clean tap water over the burn right away, even through clothing. Turn the tap to cold water. If your child is still wearing clothing, run the water directly over the clothing where it covers the burn. Taking clothing off first takes time, and removing it can tear the skin along with it. Leave any clothing that is stuck to the wound in place, and remove items such as rings or bracelets before the area swells.

3. Cool the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes. Cooling the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes can lessen how deep the burn becomes, which can reduce the risk of needing surgical treatment such as a skin graft. A 2020 Australian study of 2,495 children with burns found that children who were cooled with running water for 20 minutes needed fewer skin grafts and fewer hospital admissions. Many international first aid guidelines also recommend cooling for 20 minutes.

It’s fine if you can’t cool the burn for a full 20 minutes in one go. If your child cries or struggles and you have to stop partway through, you can cool the burn in shorter stretches and add up the total time. The 2020 Australian study also included children who were cooled in separate stretches that added up to 20 minutes, and still found a benefit. Twenty minutes is longer than it feels, so using a clock or timer can help.

In the same study, about nine out of ten caregivers cooled the burn with water, but only about seven out of ten cooled it for the full 20 minutes. Many caregivers already know to cool a burn with water, but it is often hard to keep going for the full time — so we recommend cooling for the full 20 minutes.

4. Wet only the burned area. Keep the water only on the burned area. If your child feels cold, cover the rest of the body — the parts not being cooled — with a blanket or towel.

5. After cooling, cover the wound. Loosely cover the wound with a clean piece of gauze or cloth moistened with tap water. Loosely covering it with plastic kitchen wrap (cling film) is also fine, but this must not be used on the face.

It is best to start first aid right after the injury, but don’t worry if some time has passed. Starting to cool the burn with water within 3 hours of the injury is still helpful.

When to call 119 or go to the emergency department right away

If your child seems to have trouble breathing, or their voice changes, this can be a sign of airway injury that isn’t visible from the outside, and there is no time to lose. A child’s airway is much narrower than an adult’s, so even a small amount of swelling can narrow it significantly, and in severe cases it can become completely blocked. So even if the burn itself looks small, call 119 (Korea’s emergency number) or go to the emergency department without delay if any of the following apply.

• Your child seems to have trouble breathing, or makes an unusual sound while breathing
• Your child’s voice is hoarse, they are drooling, or they seem to have trouble speaking or swallowing
• The burn is on the face, around the nose or mouth, or inside the mouth
• Your child responds weakly when called, or is limp and hard to wake
• Your child breathed in a large amount of smoke
• The burn covers a large area of the body

Burns caused by electricity or chemicals also require a visit to the emergency department.

• Electric shock — Any electric shock requires calling 119 or going to the emergency department. With burns from electric shock, what you can see on the skin is not the only concern. The electrical current can also affect the heart, which relies on the body’s own electrical signals, and can damage muscle, so these also need to be checked. However, before touching your child, make sure the power source has been switched off first — you could be shocked too.
• Chemical burns — Rinse the area with running water immediately while calling 119 or asking people nearby for help. If the chemical got into the eye, rinse the eye with water and call 119 right away.

When it’s a good idea to visit the hospital

Even if it doesn’t look urgent right now, it’s a good idea to visit the hospital in the following situations.

• A burn on the hand, foot, or around the genitals
• The burned area has turned white or brown
• Your child says the burned area doesn’t hurt, or doesn’t seem to feel it when touched

Burns on the hands, feet, or around the genitals need medical care even if they look small. A burn turning white or brown, or your child not feeling pain in the area, can mean the burn has gone deep enough to reach the layer of skin that contains the pain nerves — so this can actually be a more urgent sign. If even one of these applies, please visit the hospital.

What to watch for at home — reassess over time

A burn’s condition can change over time. Even if it looks mild now, it can become deeper or become infected later, so it needs to be reassessed after some time has passed. Watch for the following changes.

• New blisters forming
• The wound turning white or brown compared to before
• Your child saying the area doesn’t hurt, or that they can’t feel it
• Fever, or the area around the wound becoming swollen, red, and oozing

These changes can be a sign that the burn is going deeper or that an infection is starting. If you notice even one of these, please have your child seen at a hospital.

This is true even if your child was already seen at a hospital. A burn can progress fast enough that new blisters appear the very next day. Have your child seen again within 24 hours to recheck how deep the burn has become. If your child already received initial treatment at an emergency department, this follow-up check can be done at a nearby surgical or plastic-surgery clinic (의원) — this is common practice in Korea.

Things not to do

• Cooling with ice or ice water — Extreme cold can actually cause tissue damage. Cool running tap water is enough.
• Applying anything to the wound — toothpaste, aloe, butter, ointment, or anything else — Don’t put anything other than water on the wound. Cooling with water and covering it cleanly is as far as first aid at home should go.
• Soaking in a basin or bowl of standing water — The method with confirmed benefit is running water.
• Wetting your child’s whole body, or cooling with a shower — This can lower body temperature and put your child at risk instead of helping.
• Rubbing the wound — This can injure it further.
• Deliberately popping blisters — There are reports that this can cause infection.
• Pulling off clothing stuck to the wound — This can tear the skin off with it and cause further injury.

Preventing this from happening again

Prevention is the best treatment.

• Before bathing your child, test the water temperature with your own hand first.
• Don’t warm formula or breast milk in the microwave. It heats unevenly, so a hot spot can form without you noticing, and feeding it to your child can burn the inside of their mouth.
• Keep hot food and drinks toward the center of the table, out of reach, since children can pull on a tablecloth or a dish and spill it on themselves.

References

1. Griffin BR, et al. Cool running water first aid decreases skin grafting requirements in pediatric burns: a cohort study of two thousand four hundred ninety-five children. Ann Emerg Med. 2020. PMID 31474480
2. McLure M, et al. A rapid review of burns first aid guidelines: is there consistency across international guidelines? Cureus. 2021. PMID 34295589
3. Djärv T, et al. Duration of cooling with water for thermal burns as a first aid intervention: a systematic review. Burns. 2022. PMID 34916091
4. Bennett CV, et al. First aid for children's burns in the US and UK: an urgent call to establish and promote international standards. Burns. 2019. PMID 30266196
5. Nurmatov UB, et al. The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of first aid interventions for burns given to caregivers of children: a systematic review. Burns. 2018. PMID 28784346
6. Varley A, et al. Evidence-based first aid advice for paediatric burns in the United Kingdom. Burns. 2016. PMID 26655279

This educational content is provided under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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