Rhiannon Ingle
A mum has issued an alarming warning to other parents over a 'freaky' kitchen hazard that burned her toddler’s skin.
Earlier this week on Wednesday (26 June), 16-month-old Romain Woolhouse was having his nappy changed at his gran's house when he wriggled free and made a dash to the kitchen to race into the garden.
However, little Romain couldn't get out as the patio door was closed so he stood in the sun-drenched spot for a few seconds.
The tot suddenly let out a scream, prompting his gran to race into the kitchen and scoop him up only to discover a huge blister bubble up on the sole and one of his toes.
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After running the burn under the cold water tap she raced to hospital with him - ringing Romain's mum, Melanie Kay, 39, to let her know what had happened.
Recalling the terrifying moment, Melanie, who hails from Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire, said: "My mother-in-law was looking after him for the day, she's absolutely devastated about it
"I would never have thought about indoor floor tiles. It's so freaky, you couldn't predict it.
"He'd been playing in the garden with his shoes and socks on as she's aware of the outdoor flooring being very hot.
"Then she brought him into the house and she changed his nappy in the living room."
She continued: "He's so wriggly and managed to escape from her, ran down the hallway and run barefoot into the kitchen.
"There's a little area where the sun glares into the kitchen onto the black tiles and as soon as he's got to that spot where they're really hot he's screamed straight away.
"It was super, super hot. Children and animals don't have the reflexes to jump off. In the sun, flooring can get up to 80-degree Celsius.
"She scooped him up straight away and the blister was instant, it's a two-inch by two-inch blister and a toe blister as well."
Romain was driven to Hull Royal Infirmary in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where doctors checked him over, opting to pop and scrape the two-inch long blister before dressing it with an antiseptic pad and bandaging it up.
"They popped and they had to scrape the blister off, which was awful, due to the location," the mum carried on. "They then put a little pad on with antiseptic and wrapped it in a bandage.
"The staff said there's been a rise in this happening because people are getting more on-trend kitchens flooring, which is slate and high-gloss.
"[They also mentioned] bi-folding doors [and that] they're seeing a lot more of this happening with adults as well because you open the door out and the sun glares into the room. They were really, really understanding."
Melanie is now urging fellow parents to be mindful of the potential hazard.
"It's astounding," she said. "You wouldn't think of something like this happening because you have a false sense of security in your own home."
"Lots of other people were quite shocked by it as well, they said they would never think about something inside the home being such a hazard. It's quite freaky isn't it?"
She resolved: "My message to parents is just to be really careful of hazards in the hot weather not just outdoors but indoors and to take some steps like covering windows with curtains or blinds."