A family in east London is living in constant fear for their baby's safety due to the unbearable heat in their flat. Jackson Bylett and his partner are among the thousands of parents struggling to keep their homes cool during heatwaves, despite the risks to their child's health.
The temperature in their eighth-floor flat has topped 31C, far exceeding the recommended 16-20C for external sleeping. As leaseholders, they are unable to make any external changes to the building, leaving them with no choice but to rely on makeshift solutions such as cooking meals in advance and avoiding hot appliances.
The National Housing Federation (NHF) has warned that more must be done to adapt homes to extreme heat and to better protect babies and young children. New analysis of government data suggests that over 70,000 babies in England are living in homes that get uncomfortably hot, with 1.59 million children overall affected.
Alistair Smythe, director of policy and research at the NHF, said that extreme heat is having a serious impact on family life, with health risks for children under five, particularly babies, who are less able to regulate their body temperature and manage dehydration.
Separate polling of 1,592 parents commissioned by the NHF found that seven in 10 said an overheated home disrupted their children's sleep, while almost half (49%) said it affected their children's ability to concentrate.
Experts are calling for a more strategic approach to adapting homes to extreme heat, including collecting better data, targeted retrofitting of existing homes and learning from hotter countries through measures such as external shutters and reflective exterior paint.