Using adult sun cream on kids

[Lostinaseaofbubbles]

Lady working in boots told me it was not safe to put adult sun lotion on a young child (2), would I be being unreasonable to ignore her?

She couldn't tell me why? Anyone know why you're not meant to?

DT1 (very nearly 2) is coming out in a rash from every kids sun lotion I've tried on him (6 so far), but he ended up with some adult stuff one day when we were out with friends and caught out by unexpected sun and he didn't react to it.

Would it be unreasonable to buy him non-kids sun lotion?

DT1 is also ginger (well, blondish but his dad is ginger and I think that's where he will end up...)

Adult sunscreen can use some ingredient that is banned for use in children's products. Can't remember what but it's not approved for use on children due to being carcinogenic if I remember correctly. Same ingredient I think is banned in all products for even adults in Scandinavia but U.K. still permits it for adult products. Memory a bit hazy but I did research this properly when I had a PFB.

Oh and last yrs (might be 2 yrs ago) sunscreen that worked perfectly well caused two of my kids to break out in horrible rashes so I binned it. Assumed that's what they mean by a usebydate but don't know for sure.

If you contact sunsense through their web page or Facebook they'll send you free samples. We use it on our son and it's great. I also love La Roche Posay Anthelios but it's pricey.

Ultrasun is Swiss I thought

It is, sorry I always get sunsense and Ultrasun mixed up. I use Ultrasun on my face as it's a bit less greasy, and sunsense everywhere else / DD . What I said about all day sunscreen still stands though.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36396187

its bettr i think to use somthing than nothing at all

what did we all use growing up couldnt have been that bad

The Aldi own brand kids one was a god send for DS who has eczema. Worth a try for a few pound. The only su cream a friend can use is piz buin too. I know its expensive but maybe go to boots and use a little on his arm and wait for a reaction. Buy it another day if no reaction.

I use any suncream on my kids. We buy a lot because we live in a sunny place so I buy any factor 50 that's on offer.

Bollocks. As is the notion that sun cream expires.

That's not 'bollocks' at all, so please don't spout dangerous rubbish.

The active ingredient in sunscreen (ie, the thing that makes it more than just a moisturiser) breaks down and becomes ineffective over time.

Banana boat do some great options for kids

Sunscreen is not a McDonald's cheeseburger. Eventually it expires, as every perishable product does.

My sister gets a heat rash with a lot of sunscreen, she thinks it's whatever makes it water resistant. It's quite hard to find stuff that's not water resistant, but I think adult stuff is more likely to exclude it than children's.

I bought sun screen in B&M or Home Bargaibs last year. They had discounted P20 and Piz Buin (that was in date).

My trouble seems to not be that he's sensitive to the suncream by itself (if that was the case I'd go to a pharmacy and do a load of patch tests).

It seems to be the combination of the sun cream along with getting all hot and sticky. So if I tried anything on him yesterday he'd have been fine. It's adding the sun (and running around) that makes him go all dotty.

When I had this with his older brother I moved from heavy creams to the much lighter bananaboat aerosol and that worked, but I just haven't been able to find anything to work on DT1 and even the adult one that worked was only a SPF15, so not really ideal.

I've bought the tiny sunsense now. Will keep trying.

Good luck finding one!

I buy 30+ normally home brand stuff. Have a big tub of it. Used it on the kids from when they were little and fine.
Have heard sprays weren't that great but better than nothing

When my son had eczema I used la Roche posay sun cream as it was recommended by his dermatologist. It is gorgeous - goes on like moisturiser but is v expensive.

As a kid in the early 90's kids sunscreen didn't exist. I am fine

I use whatever is to hand. It's hot here today so DH is wearing new sunscreen on one arm and 2 year old stuff on the other to experiment to see if the sell by date is a load of crap

As a kid in the early 90's kids sunscreen didn't exist.

This is patently false.

I have a kid who needs Sunsense or similar and even then, he still breaks out in a rash. I put him in an eczema bath nightly while on beach holidays to keep it at bay.

I use adult suncream on my 19 month old as it's the only one I've found that doesn't effect her eczema.
It's an ambre solaire spray one. I read somewhere that ambre solaire don't contain lanolin like a lot of suncream and this can cause a lot of reactions!

Email the company that makes it and check whether it's safe for kids?

Reading this with interest as my 3 year old reacts to pretty much every sunscreen we've tried. Last year we had success with the Green People kids sun cream but I can't seem to get hold of any this year. I've just splashed out on some super-expensive Ultrasun which I'm hoping will be OK. It's interesting you mention lanolin, lalalemon - both me and DS are sensitive to it (recently tried Oilatum in his bath for eczema but it was getting worse and realised Oilatum contains lanolin). I always use Ambre Solaire myself as my skin is fine with it, but the kids' version was no good for DS. Perhaps I'll try a little of the adult version on him.

By the way I bought the Ultrasun in TK Maxx at half price - £20 instead of £40 for a big tube. Still pricey though, so I hope it works! They also had P20 as well if anyone is on the lookout for that.

OP, my DD has the exact same issue with the combo of suncream and heat giving her a horrendous rash. I've found child's farm sunscreen works for her. I emailed them and they sent me a trial size in the post for free before I bought a full size bottle. I got sick of paying a fortune for stuff that got used once and then put in a cupboard never to be used again!

As a kid in the early 90's kids sunscreen didn't exist.

Of course it did

Jackie - I'll try that. It's so annoying. DH (who is ginger and needs high factor suncream) and DT2 have so many different bottles of suncream to get through! DS1 can do only have the banana boat and I've yet to find something suitable for DT1.

I don't like high factor cream, I don't burn easily and I find it makes me prone to spots so I'm not volunteering to help out with the high factor stockpile!!