Another sunscreen question

I live in sunny So Cal. and we are outside at the park every day for about an hour. We usually go mid-day when it is sunny and warm. I put sunscreen on them last summer even when we just went out for a quick walk. Since then, I have not used sunscreen because the sun's rays don't seem that intense. We have had no sunburns yet. I think Vitamin D (which we get form the sun) is very important and most Americans are deficient in it. However, I know the sun's rays will get more intense as we approach summer. My Pedi thinks they need to wear sunscreen year round, even for short walks.

My concern is that I think sunscreen may be more dangerous than the sun. Most sunscreen has questionable chemicals in it. The Water Babies brand I used last summer has aluminum in it, which concerns me. I know there is the California Baby brand, which is probably safer and more natural, but it is VERY expensive. My philosophy as far is what we put into our bodies is to be very minimalistic and as natural as possible.


So, my questions ...

1) Do your kids regularly wear sunscreen (year round and in the summer)? What kind do you use?

2) How do you determine if sunscreen or the sun is more dangerous to kids' skin?

 

my kids don't wear sunscreen year round but then we live in Canada. they definitely don't need it in the winter.

as for when i do use it, if it's between 11:00am - 4:00pm that we'll be outside for anything longer than a walk to the car and back, they wear sunscreen. if they're in the water, i put it on. basically any time i feel that they're at risk for a genuine burn. i have very fair skin & burn very easily so i'm pretty careful with them. on the other hand, i also have concerns about Vit D deficiency so i try to keep that in the balance as well.

 

Hi There,
We lived at Lake Tahoe when my oldest son was very young. At that high elevation the sun's rays were very intense year round - so I always put sunscreen on him. I used the California Babies/Kids and other Mineral sunscreen. There are many brands available that say "mineral sunscreen". These do not use a chemical sunblock and I think are much safer. Although they are expensive - you will find they go far because they are quite thick. Once my son was a little tan on his arms and legs I would only use the sunscreen when we were out in midday (11 am to 3 pm or so). I always put it on his face/ears/neck.
Happy sunshine!
Sheri

 

I live in Northern Ca (born and raised) and have VERY fair skin. I always wear a moisturizer with an spf of 25 on my face. So I make sure that my littles ones wear a lot of hats or else I put some Aveeno sunscrean on them. I also have the swimsuits that are UV protectors and will put sunscreen on their arms and legs when out in the sun between 11am-4 or when we're near the water.
I am a firm believer that sun does great things but it can horribly damage the skin and cause cancer if burns aren't prevented.

 

We live in Michigan, and don't get outside a lot in the winter, so we definitely don't need to use sunblock all year long! Skin cancer runs in my family, so I'm very careful with myself and my boys. I do let them outside without sunblock if we are making a quick trip, or if they're in mostly shade, or a short time in the mornings/evenings. But during the middle of the day, we slather them up.

Since the risk of skin cancer is higher for me, I would rather err on the side of using sunblock even with all of the chemicals in it. We usually use a physical blocker, not a chemical blocker; these are said to be more effective and don't have as much of the "weird stuff" in them. HERE is a link to the ingredient list for Blue Lizard Baby Sunscreen which we use and came highly recommended.

 

We use a kind that has a physical blocker (titanium dioxide, I think) rather than a chemical one. Target actually makes one ("Up and Up," their store brand) that is no more expensive than the normal chemical ones. (Our ped recommended some kind of "all natural" one that was like $8 for a 4-oz bottle -- no way am I buying that when they have to be covered in it every single day for daycare.)

We don't use it at any time of year that they're wearing long sleeves & pants, the exception being when we go skiing. That means we're just about to get back to sunscreen season, which I dread because it is SUCH a pain, but I also don't want them getting burned. DH and I are both very fair, and he has tons of sunspots from spending summers at the beach with no sunscreen whatsoever. For my part, I've already had several suspicious moles removed, though fortunately none has turned out to be cancerous.

I see the point about Vitamin D, but I think they probably get enough of that from being outside at random times, for a few minutes each time. Also, I know the teachers don't sunscreen them as thoroughly in the afternoon as we do in the morning. You don't need that much Vitamin D from the sun -- especially at our altitude, the ped said 15-20 minutes a day is plenty.

 

I put sunscreen on my girls' faces any time they're going to be outside for more than 20 minutes, year round. During the summer when they wear shorts and tshirts I put sunscreen on all exposed skin in the morning. We live at a high altitude (7500 feet) and in New Mexico, so the sun is intense here even when it's freezing cold. I hate sunscreen with a passion, so slathering it on my kids is a real chore. I do spend the money for California Baby or another natural brand. California Baby spreads better than most, so the money spent seems to be worth it because I can use less and cover more skin.