To not smother my DCs in suncream?

[CantankerousCamel]

I know there is a lot of information suggesting ‘there’s is no such thing as a healthy tan’ but AIBU to think it’s gone too far the other way?

I am very lax about suncream personally (choice partly and research mostly) but everywhere I look, people seem to be smothering children in factor 50 every second of the day!

This cannot be healthy surely? Some sort of happy medium is necessary? Obviously some skin needs heavy sun cream and some needs none (I have Spanish skin and my husband is South African, neither of us or the kids have burned when being careful with staying in the shade in midday sun and popping a thin layer on/hat if needed

Why the factor 50 in May?

AIBU to think NICE should be adjusting guidelines to ward off such thick use of creams on young children? It is important for skin to experience sunlight, especially in the Northern Hemisphere and especially this time of year when moderate exposure is easier, safer and will prevent burning later on in the summer.

It’s not to do with how hot the air temperature is, it’s the strength of the sun. You are not going to burn after 4pm in the afternoon, the sun is not strong enough in terms of UV levels. You will burn between 11am and 3pm if you are continually out in the sun for a long period of time whether it is 15 degrees or 35.

I don’t sun cream my children for school unless it’s really sunny in June/July because they are simply not outside for long enough, and are in and out of shade anyway. They wear hats (I hope) and have never been burned or even tanned really. It’s importance to build up a bit of sun tolerance without burning.

As a family we hardly ever put sun cream on in this country, only when on the beach or when we know we are going to be out in the sun (with no shade at all) for an extended period e.g. walking round a summer fete. We have never been burned.

Many sun creams are carcinogenic

Evidence please? I'd like to know more about this claim. Could you point me in the direction of the peer reviewed studies and meta analyses that have identified this?

Do you have any evidence for this? Or that sun cream reduces rates of cancers at all?

Have you read the NICE guidance? All public health directives have to be based in good scientific evidence. They don't pull the recommendations around sunscreen out of their arse.

I can and have burnt at 10am in May. I have burnt in late September on a cold but very clear day. My son has my colouring, he gets sunscreen if he is going to be out for more than 20 mins.

Not everyone is the same. My son and I need a good amount of protection. If I can get away with not putting cream on him I will - because it is a right pain the arse putting it on him. But as he is never going to get a tan in his long, pasty, Celtic life, he just has to get used to knowing he needs suncream AND a hat AND to stay out of the direct sun. Soz kid.

Oh and his Vitamin D levels have been checked and are just dandy. Us redheads produce our own Vitamin D.

So many people are just posting their own anecdotal experiences as though they are evidence that we don't need sun cream. The research on this subject is vast and well documented. It's really dangerous to just say, "i dont do it and its never harmed me." With all due respect how can you possibly know whether you/they will have skin cancer in the future. Listen to the evidence. We can't guarantee our children won't be burnt at school unless we apply sun cream and make them wear a hat. A school that doesn't accommodate this is, in my opinion, failing in a basic duty and is neglectful.

I haven used any suncream on my 2 yet this year. They are half Greek anyway and regardless of cream my eldest goes olive brown at the mere hint of the sun and has never been burned. I thought my 5 year olds face burned really easily but have since discovered the redness was actually a reaction to suncream and this year so far with no cream not even the hint of pink. We do spend long periods in the summer abroad though so they have a tolerance and also NEED a certain tolerance when they suddenly go from 15c to 40 (obviously I use cream religiously then) I am also conscious that with their darker skin tone they are more at risk of vit D deficiency than a paler child. (That and the fact we live in Scotland) so yes I definitely agree YANBU

I have learnt through bitter experience to coat myself in factor 50 at the first sign of direct sunlight.

I have the red hair,pale and freckly Celtic complexion and have never got the slightest tan in my life. I have two settings - blue and burnt. I have burnt at 10am in May, I have burnt on a cloudy day in October. I think people who can tan can't really fathom how different it is to have this skin type.

The fact you go out without suncream for 30mins on a reasonably warm day makes me both cringe and jealous.

Depends on the skin type... I am very fair and burn very quickly even on slightly sunny days and so Factor 50 is needed for me... what is the problem with that. Equally some children have fair skins and need high factor... again so what

You have different skin and don't need it great well done

bored now with the number of people who are not reading the thread and are still talking about air temperature and getting base tans.

GAMER

It seems to me the issue for POC in the us might well be explained by the lack of medical care avaliable to many POC in America.

PP said I was ‘pushing’ my views on people. I’m certainly pushing nothing on anyone. I simply believe that children require some time in sunlight without being coated in creams and that the late afternoon and early morning are the best times to do this.

Squashpocket - those colour settings were me as a kid and now my eldest!

My skin has changed as i got older...i now have some colour - but until my early 20's i didnt and was never a colour other than blue or burnt!

Im a bit lax with suncream....youngest takes after DH side and has a lovley colour after playing out for an hour. I use it for me & youngest in the uk if its a really bright day and we are gonna be out doors all day or on hol.

Eldest just goes bright pink. He needs cream on all the time - poor thing. Infact hes looking a bit too pink today after i failed to apply cream over the weekend cose it was cloudy!

I am ginger with milky white skin, I got sunburn in March, I was outside from 9.30 - 10.30, it wasn't even particularly sunny. My parents felt sun cream was an unnecessary expense and I spent most of my childhood summers with sunburn, I have not built up any tolerance what so ever.

Identical DSis however has never ever burned, even as a child, despite never using any sun cream, I strongly suspect I get her share of burning there is probably witchcraft involved She occasionally even tans enough that if we put our arms next to each other you can see a difference.

Point is your DC might be fine without sun cream, others won't be, it depends on their skin.

OP, your first post says that some people don't need any cream at all, that the NICE guidelines should be updated and questioned the need for factor 50 in May. All of this is just wrong. I am very confident that the combined knowledge of the people writing the NICE guidelines know infinitely more than you will ever know on the subject, no matter how many articles you have googled.
Yes it can be beneficial to have some sun exposure early or late in the day, but for most people, it's not practical to do that before school or before spending the morning outside playing. And some people DO burn at 9am or 4pm.

My OP says none of that.

It says that ‘a healthy medium is needed’ and that NICE guidelines should reflect that in light of the amount of issues surfacing due to the heavy use of high factor suncreams

I can even burn when sitting in the shade!
UV reflects off many surfaces

OP, your first post says that some people don't need any cream at all, that the NICE guidelines should be updated and questioned the need for factor 50 in May
My OP says none of that.
"Obviously some skin needs heavy sun cream and some needs none"
"Why the factor 50 in May?"
"AIBU to think NICE should be adjusting guidelines to ward off such thick use of creams on young children?"

Your OP said all of those things

Mmmm I inclined to agree with what your saying. It would be unusual for me to put sunscreen on my kids in this country. I don't think it happened once last year as we had no summer but this past 3 days it's been 23-26c, therefore I would feel it neglectful to not put sunscreen on them.

notmypropername

The temperature is not relevant. Plenty of posters have explained this. You can look up uv index on met office website.

Having been burnt many a time as a child (and adult...) including before 10am and after 4pm, and having had several moles removed so far with several more being monitored, I will use factor 50 on me and my child thank you.
Neither of us have vit d deficiency, we are very outdoorsy people but I take a lot of care - hats, sleeves, sunglasses and yes the dreaded sun cream. If you are lucky enough not to burn in 20 minutes at 5pm then well done you. We're not all like that.
I do brown, just not overnight like some of my friends - and I'd rather be paler than have more moles removed.

Of course it's important to get some sun but I'd say it's swinging back the other way - people have forgotten to respect it as we've had excellent protection from sun creams for many years. Almost feels like antivax conversations.

It's very simple, get out, enjoy the weather (rainy or sunny) but take sensible precautions and that includes sunscreen to suit you. I hate factor 50 as its so thick but I hate sun burn a lot more. And I'll protect my child in the same way, he's never been burnt and I will keep it that way as long as I can.

Oooo burnt ears were the worst - or being burnt on the scalp through the hair. Every inch of me has been burnt at some time, it bloody hurts!

After a prolonged time where I had been continuously ill, lacking energy and just feeling rubbish all the time, I was diagnosed with a severe lack of Vitamin D. They couldn’t find any in my blood samples. I have softening of my bones and painful bones from this.
I do wear sun lotion even though I am half SE Asian in origin, however I make sure my daughter and myself have time without sun lotion in the sun so we do get Vitamin D as my daughter has my skin colouring.

VOICE

Taking every other sentence out of context in my OP is pointless.

My only point (which I’ve reiterated at least 30 times now) is that skin needs some exposure to sunlight without heavy creams and the current trend of slapping heavy creams on first thing in the morning and continuing to reapply throughout the day is not necessary for 99% of skin tones and causes more harm than good.

You can accept that is what I mean, or not, but I’m not going to reiterate it again because people are choosing to take it the wrong way.

Let skin have a few minutes in the early morning or late afternoon to just be skin. It does the world of good. This isn’t dangerous or extreme advice, regardless of how many people choose to take it as so.

I DO believe guidelines should reflect this advice. I am not FORCING anyone to accept my advice, simply stating what I do for my DC’s and what I reccomend others try and get into the habit of doing. No force or coercion or scare tactics. Just honestly what I believe is best for skin.

The reason people are getting annoyed is because you are recommending a course of action that will put some people at risk of skin cancer. I don't see why vitamin D supplements won't do the same job. You are lucky to have a certain type of skin but the idea that only 1% of us have skin that will burn is ludicrous. My DH has middle eastern heritage and dark skin and his neck was starting to go red yesterday from ten mins mowing the lawn. You have started a thread on something that could potentially enncourage people tk have unsafe practices

Why not just protect your skin and take vitamin D supplements?

Sun cream is good for the skin and prevents skin cancer. On the other hand it prevents the formation of vitamin D and in the long term because of lack of vitamin D one gets osteoporosis.
We cannot win!
I do not smother the kids in high factor sun cream. The best is to not sun bathe, use a little cream and a little shade.

I was explaining this to DD the other day when looking at the weather. She saw that the temperature was going to be 17, and said that wasn’t too hot and we wouldn’t need sunscreen.

So I showed her the UV which was showing as high, and we would need it.

Generally we just avoid exposure. Kids never go topless, always wear hats etc, we have the gazebo up for shade. Factor 50 has been used lately as it’s just too hot.

I never had sunscreen as a child, my parents didn’t believe in it. I have tonnes of moles, so I do worry about that.

I have no pigment in my skin im very pale. A dermatologist i went to told me i need to wear factor 50 all year long due to my skin. I hadn't even gone with sun related damage or moles she just advised due to my colouring. Of course i dont bother in winter but in summer i try and use factor 50. Darker skin cooe better in sun and need more sun exposure for vitamin D levela than pale skin. Vitamin D deficiency can be controlled with tablets. Skin cancer can be nasty.
My point is although i agree with you op that we should get some sunlight (less than half an hour in a row because people like me burn very badly, and i have burned a lot as a child). But how can you impliment that when people will interpret it as they like. The stay safe in the sun campagn has been going for years and still children are admitted to hospital wirh sunburn.