To not use sun cream on my toddler?

[InterOuta]

Toddler has brown Asian skin and doesn't tan or brown easily. Also has vitamin D deficiency.

AIBU to not use sun cream on him?

It depends on whether you mean you will never use it on him even if it was really hot and you were out in the sun all day, or if you just mean you wouldn't us it every day even if it wasn't that sunny.

My girls are half Turkish so they are dark skinned. I always use sun cream if they are going to be out in the sun a lot but I don't use it all the time. They do need sun on their skin sometimes to get vitamin D and I don't,like the thought of covering them in chemicals all day every day.

Vit D deficiency can be serious. I'd ask your doctor and would be most concerned about that right now.

YANBU

Anyone that screams otherwise to you is not aware on vitamin D deficiency and the risk of TB that can come with that.

Best thing to do would be to watch how long he is out in the sun for, and not let him burn etc but I absolutely agree that covering him top to toe in sun block is not a good idea.

I don't put it on my 3yo unless she's out all day over midday sun or it's ridiculously hot and sunny and exposed. Nursery have requested I send in suncream - they go outside twice a day at 10am and 2pm for 45 minutes each and there is plenty of shade in their play garden! So I'm not sending any in. She needs vitamin D.

I live in the Caribbean and I don't put suncream on my kids all the time. Only if they're oiut for prolonged periods, but I don't bother if it's before 10am or after 3pm, or if they are in a particularly shady environment like the park.

Even the paediatrician here doesn't advocate overuse of creams. We need vitamin D - I only use factor 50 on my face most days but don't tend to worry about the rest of my body unless I'm actually sunbathing.

How long is he in the sun though? 10-15 minutes in the UK, not a problem. All day, then ywbu.

Skin colour has nowt to do with it. I live in Brazil, everyone wears sunscreen and hides under a uv sunbrella. You're considered crazy if you don't.

DD2 used to got sunburnt in 10 minutes when she was 4 and that was in the U K.

But presumably she is very pale? Mine are half Brazilian they have never burnt, even after 10 minutes in 35 degree heat, while we're getting in the car at midday. A darker child that has vit d deficiency could get 10-15 of sun, especially in the UK.

an australian here. you just need to avoid sunburn not sun so fine before 11 and after 3 in UK without sunscreen. if you are in direct midday sun, put on hat and sunscreen on exposed areas if its a sunny/hot summers day (dont forget tops of ears back of neck

• almost all australian men get cancers there due to short hair. and get proper hat that covers the neck and ears.

Lol @ 'Bob Marley didn't live in Surrey'!

Bob Marley nerd alert: His skin cancer started under his toenail, not a usual site for sunburn.

It was probably a secondary tumour and therefore not caused by sun exposure at all. It's not very helpful to the OP to claim it was.

Plus the important fact pointed out that Bob lived in Kingston not Surbiton .

YANBU OP as long as you stick to PPs' sensible advice about avoiding the midday sun.

It depends on lots of things. We need more details. Place, length of exposure, time of year etc.

YANBU. My five year old has always been slathered in the stuff and has just been diagnosed as seriously low in Vitamin D so have been told she needs to be out in the sunshine as much as possible - obvs without actually getting burnt.

Have a mixed race (west African and white) child she always wears factor 15-30 when out in summer for more than about 10 mins, she gets noticeably 'crispy' if not
Also she moans that it's stingy

I'm sorry, I know this is a serious matter but I just have to say that "Bob Marley didn't live in Surrey" has to be the best response I've ever read on here .

It's April and you're in the UK, of course YANBU. Some of the idiotic answers on this thread explain why they are now finding rickets cases in Asian origin kids in Glasgow ffs. Presumably core areas will be covered up anyway, so getting sun on arms/legs/face can only help with the vitamin D deficiency. Good luck with that, btw- my youngest had it, and I've been considerably less concerned with sun cream since.

The point of mentioning Bob Marley was to highlight that non Caucasians do die of skin cancer.

Chances are less. But it still happens. UV levels in the UK (yes, even Surrey) have increased since the 70s

"Increases in UV radiation relative to levels in the 1970s are estimated to be as much as 7% at Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes during the winter and spring, 4% at Northern Hemisphere mid-latidudes in summer and autumn, and 6% at Southern Hemisphere mid-latidudes on a year-round basis."

But there is the need for sunlight to make vitamin D and non Caucasian people are at higher risk - especially if they cover up.

Skin cancer is not a nice way to die. Non Caucasian people get it as well.

Assuming you're in the UK or a similar climate:

For day-to-day activities (including popping in and out the garden, a walk around town or a little play in the park), I wouldn't bother with sun cream. He's unlikely to burn and needs the vitamin D.
If you are going to be on the beach all day then yes, use sun cream.

I don't understand people saying skin colour has nothing to do with it. Of course it does. I thought it was a well known fact fairer skins burn more easily and have less natural protection from the sun. That is why the endemic populations of hotter places ahve developed darker skins while people from colder places are faier in order to allow them to absorb more uv in order for their bodies to make vitamin D. Hence why darker skinned people living in cold places are the most likely to suffer Vit D deficiency.

Buffalo soldier, in the heart of Su-urbiton.

(Sorry)

LilQueenie

I have been known to burn through long sleeves.

OP

The fastest growing (not the largest numbers but the numbers rising fastest) group of people getting skin cancer are black Britons with Caribbean parents/grandparents.

Black skin can and does burn. If you live in a sunny place you build up a 'tan' regardless of skin colour, so if you have dark skin to start with then get a tan you are quite well protected.

In Britain we rarely have time to build up that secondary protection.

That is why the endemic populations of hotter places ahve developed darker skins while people from colder places are faier in order to allow them to absorb more uv in order for their bodies to make vitamin D. Hence why darker skinned people living in cold places are the most likely to suffer Vit D deficiency.

Explain Eskimos then.

I remember someone saying the weather forecast was racist because the presenter would advise people to wear sunscreen as it was going to be sunny and they could burn.

Yes that means those of you with darker skin too.

You need to find a balance between vit D and protection from the sun. 20 minutes in the sun without and then hat, glasses and sunscreen on. And as someone said above, we don't use enough of it, so you still need to be careful about how long you/your toddler stays in the sun. Personally I'd do 10 minutes and bring them indoors but I've never been a sun worshipper. My mum used to make me lie in it for 30 minutes on a sunny day as she said I looked unhealthy! How times have changed, thank goodness. But most of us probably do have a vit D deficiency, in the winter at least.

I wear SPF moisturiser as a matter of course. I wonder how many men do - my dh doesn't - so will men become more likely to get skin cancer because they don't wear protective make-up.

I rarely put it on my boys, I developed vit D deficiency despite never wearing suncream but I do always cover up so I assume I just didn't have enough skin exposed.
I don't let them play out in the midday sun, they play out after school in the garden in shorts and T-shirt and we walk to and from school each day.
If we going for a day out at a country park or something on a sunny day I put sun cream and hats on them. For just normal school runs and evenings in the garden I don't.

Even if you don't care about skin can see you should still care about his skin.

Do you want him to be all wrinkly and covered in those dark sun spot things by the time he's 40?