An older child will say they are too hot. A baby will not, which is exactly why extreme heat needs a different kind of watching in a house with an infant.
The official sheet on the specific warning signs of heat-related illness, and when a fan stops being enough.
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A baby who seems off — unusually quiet, unusually fussy, not feeding the way they normally do — is worth paying attention to in extreme heat, even before you reach for a thermometer. Babies cannot tell you they are too hot, so a change in how they are acting is often the first thing a parent notices.
A damp cloth on the back of the neck, light layers rather than none at all, and moving to the coolest, most shaded room in the house are ordinary comfort measures worth trying. None of this replaces the official warning signs below — read them once, calmly, before you need them.
The official sheet linked below covers the specific warning signs of heat-related illness and when to get medical help. That is the part we are not going to guess at ourselves — read it in advance, not for the first time while you are worried about your own baby.
A fan moves air but does not cool it, and above a certain temperature it can do less than you would expect. The official sheet linked below has the specifics on when a fan stops helping.
A brief check is reasonable if you are worried, but if you are genuinely concerned about symptoms, contact a doctor rather than relying on guidance from any website, ours included.
Part of our guide to Emergency prep for families with kids.