I want to dress DS like he's from the Med

[addler]

Toddler DS has just been diagnosed with polymorphic light eruption. He's got a horrible angry rash all over his body on the bits exposed to sunlight. The dr said he needs to have skin covered and shitloads of sunscreen.

As it's a heatwave and our house is a furnace I can't really keep him inside all summer, but I also don't want him to overheat with covered arms and legs!

Does anyone have suggestions for loose, cool clothes for him? I found a linen shirt in H&M but not in his size, he's either 18-24m or 2-3.

Any other tips from fellow sufferers/parents of sufferers would be greatly appreciated too!

Be care with linen. If the weave is too loose the sun with go through it and he could react anyway.

Ah wasn't aware of that, thank you!

I bought some hooded linen tops from Zara for my grandsons a few days ago. They were loose fitting and had long sleeves as well.

What about rash vest type fabric?
It has an spf rating, usually, and I used to get in a slightly bigger size so it was loose.

Nike do swim clothes (long sleeved and long legged) and they are so light, much lighter than swimwear and lighter than gymwear. I don't know if all pieces have uv protection so you may need to put sun cream underneath. You can wear them both in and out of water, they aren't just for swimming. They dry in minutes

In Australia + New Zealand It’s common to see spf ratings on summer t shirts.

You'd be better off with pure cotton - even bamboo type cotton as mentioned above linen can let sunlight through.

The spf clothing/ rash tops is also a good suggestion.

However I'm surprised they've given a diagnosis so quickly.

My ds always had a rash the first few times of any sun exposure and lots of sun creams made him rash up.

We used a sunscreen that wasn't water based (so first ingredient wasn't aqua) as all that does is trap in the heat and cause the rash.

He grew out of it eventually.

My son suffers from Actinic Prurigo (extreme reactions to UV) as well as Polymorphic light eruption. He has to have as much of his skin covered as possible, at all times. Look for clothing with UPF 50+, clothing with a tight weave (as mentioned earlier, linen has a wide weave and lets the sun through).

My son wears a lots of sports base layers under normal clothing but this time of year finds it far too hot, so currently wears a lot of UV protection arm sleeves (available quite cheap on Amazon and in kids sizes) with a normal T-Shirt and neck snood.
Outdoor shops (Go outdoors, Trespass, Mountain Warehouse etc) are good to find T-shirts and trousers with UPF 50+.

We also use this for washing his school uniform in www.uv-fashions.co.uk/uvwash-detergent-additive-42016
Stingray is a great brand for full body protective swimwear.

He wears a baseball cap at all times, to protect his head and face. There are great ones for little kids with the added neck protection.
In the summer we set up a paddling pool with a gazebo over it and he wears his Stingray full body swimsuit and spends hours keeping cool.

We also have UV reflective window film on all our windows, which helps keep them cooler by reflecting the sun.

We're under the care of Great Ormond Street and Guy's Hospital and they recommended these website to me:
www.sunsibility.co.uk/
www.uv-fashions.co.uk/
sun-togs.co.uk/

Sorry for the long post but hope it helps :)

All very helpful, thanks very much