A Toddler was Hospitalised After Being Rescued From a Locked Car in Melbourne

A young boy was accidentally locked in a car in Melbourne on Tuesday and was vomiting and sweating profusely when he was rescued, serving as another reminder just how quickly a child can be affected by the heat of a hot car.

The toddler had just been strapped into his car seat when the doors were accidentally locked, presumably with the keys inside the car. It is something we all fear with small children, accidentally locking our car keys inside the car with the baby. I can’t even begin to imagine how upset the boy’s carers would have been.

Help was immediately called for, with firefighters eventually breaking a window to rescue the boy. By that stage, he was showing visible signs of distress — sweating heavily and vomiting in the heat of the locked car.

Here is the thing — this incident happened at 10:30 in the morning, with temperatures outside reaching just 25 degrees, and with help being called for immediately. This didn’t happen at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in the middle of summer during a heatwave. It just goes to prove that heat stroke can happen very quickly and in moderate temperatures as well.

The little boy was removed from the car and placed into an air conditioned ambulance where the paramedics removed his clothes in an attempt to cool him down. He quickly improved and was taken to Dandenong Hospital in a stable condition.

News reports say that this little boy was one of eight children locked in cars in Victoria on Tuesday, but he was the only one that needed hospital treatment.

Children being locked in cars is obviously happening a lot, whether on purpose or by mistake.

There are things we can do to try and prevent locking our keys in our cars. Here are a few examples:

• Attach your keys to a lanyard and wear them around your neck when out and about

• Attach your keys to a wristlet and wear them around your wrist

• Keep a spare car key in your wallet or handbag

• Give a trusted neighbour a spare car key

• Hide a spare car key in your garage somewhere safe

I wore my keys around my neck on a lanyard because it was one of my biggest worries when I had small children. I found a pretty beaded one with a magnetic clasp on Etsy and popped it over my head as soon as I left the house. I could never leave them inside the car if they were always around my neck!