A common pushchair mistake made by many parents could be putting children at risk.
While everyone knows that you should never leave your child in a hot car, even if just for a few minutes, there's far less advice about pushchairs, strollers and prams.
Swedish researchers have found that covering a stroller with a blanket to shield your baby from the sun — even if it’s with a very thin cloth — can actually have a furnace-like effect, KentLive reports.
Svante Norgren, a paediatrician at a children's hospital in Stockholm, told Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet: "It gets extremely hot down in the pram, something like a thermos.
"There is also bad circulation of the air and it is hard to see the baby with a cover over the pram."
Young children, who are more likely to use prams, are more sensitive to heat than their older siblings or parents as their body temperature can rise as much as five times faster.
By way of testing the theory, the newspaper did their own little experiment.
Without a cover, the temperature inside a pram left out in the heat was 22 degrees.
When a thin cover was put over it for half an hour, the temperature shot up to 34 degrees, finally reaching 37 degrees after an hour.
That's far hotter than most days in the UK during the British summer, although we're expected to hit 39C in some parts of London on Thursday (July 25).
Heat stroke in babies
A warning on Facebook page Perfect Baby Massage has gone viral this week, alerting parents to the dangers of heat stroke in babies.
Originally posted in 2013, the warning reads: "Heat exhaustion and heat stroke don’t just appear out of the blue. There are signs of heat stress, which, if left untreated, can lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
"The initial signs of heat stress include heat rash that doesn’t go away when the skin is cooled, called “prickly heat”. This rash looks like a red cluster of pimples or small blisters on or around the neck, upper chest, groin and elbow creases.
"Heat cramps happen as muscles and bodily systems deplete their supply of electrolytes, particularly salt and water, and as a reaction to lower blood volumes. These cramps usually occur in the abdomen, legs and arms and are accompanied by moodiness and fussiness.
"If a baby, toddler or young child starts showing signs of crankiness or fussiness this can be an early indication of heat stress."
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The post added: "Watch for unusual erratic and repetitive behaviors, such as repeatedly standing and sitting.
"If the above symptoms worsen and start to include intense thirst, dizziness or fainting, pale skin, rapid but weak heart rate, headache, nausea and vomiting or concentrated pee & decreased output (yellow/orange) then your child is becoming dehydrated and likely has heat exhaustion."
Find NHS advice on what to do if you or your child are suffering from heat stroke here.