Health Check
Sunscreen & Babies: What You Need to Know Now
We finally seem to be reaching a point in society where the bulk of parents believe in smearing their kids with sunblock to protect them from skin cancer. So it's time to move on to the next sunny stumbling block for moms and dads. Babies and sunscreen.
It seems the debate over skin cancer and kids has gotten so loud that the FDA is concerned parents are missing some crucial information. Namely, they're not sure exactly when the whole "sunscreen" thing is supposed to start with their kiddos. Pop quiz: would you put sunscreen on an infant?
You shouldn't be doing it!
But with the FDA putting out a major consumer warning about babies and sunscreen this month, advising moms and dads to leave the sunscreen off the skin of babies 6 months and younger, it sounds like parents are!
More from The Stir: 7 Biggest Lies About Sunscreen
The FDA says if you absolutely must take a young baby into the sun (of course the shade and covering up with lightweight clothing is optimal just like it is with bigger kids), it turns out you have to test their sensitivity to the stuff first. Really, considering all the creepy chemicals that could show up in sunscreen, are you terribly surprised that little bitty bodies could have an allergic reaction to the stuff. Me neither. But hey, I get where parents are coming from.
The skin cancer statistics are terrifying. In 2008 alone (the most recent year from which the CDC offers up stats), 59,695 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin. That makes it the most common form of cancer in the country. And no one wants their baby to join those ranks. But if you're slathering the stuff on, thinking "better safe than sorry," stop! Now!
Enjoy these six months. You have plenty of time ahead of you to smear white stuff on a wriggling, eager to go play kid. That's when the "real" fun starts.
Did you realize you weren't supposed to put sunscreen on your infant? What have you been doing with baby this summer?
Image via Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr
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howcrazy
Nicole
Elise48
My son was a May baby and we went out on the boat with him quite a bit the summer he was an infant. We were advised by his pediatrician to shade him as much as possible, put him in protective clothing, and use baby sunscreen (preferably sunscreen with physical blockers and not chemical) on the small exposed areas of his body if needed as long as he didn't show a reaction to it - which, gasp, is actually what the guidelines reference in this post say to do. Seriously, "advice" like this is never that black and white or nearly as alarmist as some people make it out to be.
AprilJune
I'm pretty sure it says right on the sunscreen bottles, even those marketed for babies, that it is not to be used on children under 6 months of age without consulting a doctor. My husband and I argue about sunscreen application almost daily- he'd put it on our 2 year old every morning, but I prefer to take her out to play without it as long as she goes in the shade at regular intervals and it's not between 11 and 4. Wide brimmed hats help too :) It's a trade off between potential damage from the sun and chemicals....you have to decide what is the bigger risk, unfortunately.
butterflyfreak
My daughter was born in August and I just kept her in the shade as much as possible those first few weeks before summer ended. By the time the following summer came around, she was well over the 6 month mark and we started using sunscreen.
Kalerae
TorranceMom
Brandi
Coral Biron Karrass
I just speeant a weekend at the beach with my kids one of which is just under 6 months old and my other daughter is 3. We used Badger sunscreen which is organic and contains no chemicals. It worked awesome on both kids. This was also compared to my friends kid who wore traditional childrens sunscreeen and still got burned. We also had umbrellas cover ups, rash gaurds and sunhats/visors for the kids.
Coral Biron Karrass
The baby sunscreens say not to used under 6 months not under 1.