Four-week-old baby treated for severe sunburn in Sussex hospital

A four-week-old baby has been treated for severe sunburn, medics at a paediatric burns unit have said.

The Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead said it has seen ten babies and children with severe sunburn in the last four weeks.

Six of these needed specialist treatment, with the youngest being four weeks old and the oldest aged 14.

Doctors appealed to parents to apply sunscreen to their children and keep babies out of direct sun.

All of the children had burns which ranged from 0.5% to 4% of their body surface area.

Consultant plastic surgeon, Nora Nugent, said: "No parent or carer intends for their child to get sunburnt and accidents do happen.

"But spending just a couple of minutes applying sunscreen to a child before they go out in the sun is the difference between a summer of fun and a summer spoilt by sunburn.

"The children we've treated over the last few weeks have been referred to our unit because their burns have been so severe they have required specialist treatment."