New online trend to say it's better not to wear sunscreen

I don’t really get the obsession with sunscreen at the moment. When they were little my kids didn’t play out in full sun between 11-3. They all had sun tops and shorts which were spf50 or wore loose long sleeved clothing . Hats when I could get them to keep them on. Suncream if we were abroad and still sun suits in pool etc. None of them like the feel of cream on skin in any formulation even now.
They never burned and now understand that they need to look after their skin themselves. I wear SPF50 daily on my face but that’s it really.

Yes, partly skin sensitivity in our case too, it just makes the children's eczema worse

I can only assume that the “you don’t need suncream in the UK” brigade are not pale/blue skinned. I’m Irish with ginger children and we burn with spf50 on, we’d be fried without it.

Well, apparently, one higher end brand is pretty hopeless.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14828857/skin-cancer-warning-popular-sunscreen.html

Well it kind of is..... UV is low first thing, peaks at midday, and gradually lowers throughout in the afternoon. In summer that can still be high in the afternoon, in Winter it's pretty much zero.

Do they? Can you point to the evidence?

Allergies? Dd used to react dreadfully to suncream. She developed a really painful rash and swelled up. It was a nightmare. We eventually found one she could wear on her body but not on her face. Thankfully she grew out of it.

I take supplements but cannot absorb properly through bowel problems

I think there is a balance.... As in all things.

Anything you put on your skin is potentially damaging. High exposure to UV is damaging. Lack of Vit D is damaging.

Here in the Northern hemisphere we have evolved to have light skin in order to absorb sufficient vitamin d. The UK rarely has super high UV, only in mid summer. Very few people need SPF 50 all year round here in the UK. We also seem to be the only country who cover our kids head to toe in material on holiday. I therefore conclude we are a little obsessed with avoiding the sun.

So, for me, use SPF in the summer in the UK. Stay out of the sun peak times. Don't burn, but don't avoid the sun either. Your skin is evolved to tan in response to sunlight. Moderation in all things.

Finally, there is also an argument that sun screen produces a false sense of security. In that it is used to enable staying out in the sun all day when a better approach is to limit exposure in the middle of the day.

The Australian Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide campaign was so successful, you see little tots putting on their own factor 50 and well into the afternoon. When I was visiting a couple of years ago there was a lot on the news re Vitamin D deficiency and people were being actively encouraged to sit in the sun for 10 minutes every lunchtime.
I think there can be compromise with covering up and using sunscreen on the extremities. In Spain one year I saw a little girl with the most horrendously burnt feet.
Edited to add, I think in the UK our children get enough sun to avoid Vitamin D deficiency in the Spring and Autumn sunshine when the need for sunscreen is rare.

@summersun25Can a chemical supplement really replace actual sun exposure?

Perhaps, but I'm cynical.

We can measure the amount of Vit D in our blood, but I'm sure there's plenty of other things happening in our body when the skin is exposed to sun Naturally. Mood enhancement, off the top of my head. At least for me!

I take a balanced approach. Suncream if we have to be out in the brightest part of the day /out all day etc.

Try and avoid midday heat /wear long sleeves and sun hat etc.

‘Stay out of the midday sun’ advice makes me wince. I’m olive skinned and recently got burnt from being outside after 3:30pm.

Yes evening UV is lower. But 3pm isn’t a magical UV cut off time like some people think it is.

Sunscreen doesn't interfere with Vitamin D production.

Staying out of the sun in the shade (not with light reflection from surfaces)
or being indoors work better than sunscreen imho.

I've got to say, the obsession over here for sunscreen is a bit much for me (I grew up in a hot country).

Every even slightly sunny or warm day at nursery and reception it is lathered on my kids.

Fair enough , parents would read teachers the riot act if little Johnny came home burnt.

But I know plenty of people who do the same at home, as soon as the sun emerges even a little.

Their kids surely have a Vit D deficiency?

My kids are mixed race so need more exposure to the sun for their Vit D and I make sure they get some time without sun screen.

I don't wear it much in the UK, but stick to the shade, don't sunbathe, wear hats etc.
I try to get 15 mins of sunlight each day for my Vit D.

Obviously nobody wants melanoma, but I think you need some sun.

Just another batshit anti-vax/ anti-science trend.

Stupid shit like this is why measles in the US, having been all but eliminated is now back and killing people.

I don't agree with no sunscreen ever but we do have an absolute obsession with sunscreen in this country. Spf is in everything. Then we wonder why kids are vitamin d deficient. I don't put sunscreen on DD or myself the second we go in the sun. We have at least 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight before considering it.

I'm also not adverse to not using it at all if we're in the shade for the majority of the day or covered up. It does go on if we're out in the sun for prolonged periods i.e outdoor swimming, days out walking outside with little shade. DD has never been sunburnt in her life so it works for us. The parental and nursery need to put sunscreen on before children even see the sun drives me mad!

YANBU OP.
The people who are really vocal about not using sunscreen IME aren't the ones who are taking other sensible precautions like covering up. There's a whole subset of people in the online parenting groups I'm part of who live in places like Texas and Oklahoma, where the sun is blisteringly strong, and say they don't use sunscreen, but instead they avoid seed oils in their diet 🙄
I tend to put sunscreen on the kids if we're going to be out in weather like this, but otherwise I tend to do a mix of thinking the vit D will do them good, and covering up with light clothing. We also have South Asian heritage (though the kids are only 1/4) - I suppose I might be more conscientious if we were all pale redheads!

Sure
but some people have to use whatever spf they can afford so the fear over spf isn’t helpful as people will see it, think they’re causing their children skin cancer and stop using it
the amount I use I buy Aldi SPF as I go through so much of it

Then take a supplement? I’m deficient because I seek the shade as I burn so I take a supplement and now I’m not deficient

and yes some people DO need it, if I didn’t wear spf I would burn within 10 minutes

Why would it be a ‘mad health belief’ to notice the long list of chemical ingredients in sun screen and consider that might not be an ideal thing to put on a child’s skin? It makes complete sense to me. As other pps have said, I put spf swimwear and rash vests on the children when on a hot beach/pool, puts hats on them and keep them out of direct sun in the hottest parts of the day. Where this isn’t do-able, eg school sports day I’ll use the last toxic sun cream I can find. Seems common sense to me

It's not an online "trend" stop scaremongering, this isn't GB news for goodness sake!
It's the ingredients, they cross the blood brain barrier. I can't remember but I think it was titanium oxide. There are many, many safe sunscreens with safer ingredients available.

I would personally rather have vitamin D deficiency than be disfigured or dead from skin cancer. There are very few things that are not essentially "bad" for you as in they are absorbed by your skin and processed in the body, but I'd be bloody sick with myself if it was my fault I or my kids got a preventable cancer. (although covering up is also completely fine but not possible everywhere like hands and can be too hot in the summer)

Took me about 2 mins to find