Tanned baby

[redredbrine]

My son is under the age of 1 and is currently sporting a tan. He is mixed race (1/4 black, 3/4 white) and was covered in factor 30 on a day when it was 21 degrees Celsius. I chose factor 30 as the UV index was low and wanted to avoid factor 50 due to the chemicals - would only use if it was going to be very hot.

One of my friends went off on a rant at me. Apparently I'm increasing my son's risk of skin cancer, should've used factor 50 and it's awful for a child to have a tan.

AIBU to think that it's fine that he tanned because he has sun cream on and he just went a tiny bit darker? It wasn't intentional or like I was shoving him out in the sun on purpose for this reason...

Apparently, with normal application, factor 50 gives the protection of factor 30, because it's generally not applied perfectly or reapplied regularly enough. Go for 50.

I wonder if some skin tones are more prone to this despite using sun cream?

Yes, they are. Surprised her dad if he's black/Asian didn't know that?

The only reason I chose factor 30 over 50 is because there's not much evidence to suggest they are much different and:

The concentrations of chemicals involved in high protection factors have also been found to be potentially harmful to the user

This may or may not be correct but if the path I've chosen to follow. NHS website says use SPF 15 or above.

It was only 40 mins and he had suncream on and a hat when it wasn't being pulled off. It was mainly his hands that tanned. Maybe I should have put gloves on him too.

I hate this “oh look at that lovely healthy tan” A tan it not healthy on Adults, let alone on young skin. It is the skins way of reacting to damage.

Its the human body's way, over millions of years of evolution, of naturally protecting itself from the sun. And it has been very effective. Why do you think that people from very hot countries generally tend to have dark skin? It's not coincidence you know!

Your friend is nuts. I take it your friend is white? People from Asian and African backgrounds tend to tan at the drop of a hat. I can sit in proximity of direct sunlight (not actually in it) on a winters day and stillsport a mild tan. If his skin tone is darker (notassumingthat itis but if) then it’s really important that he is exposed to sunlight to avoid vitamin d deficiency.

Yes, they are. Surprised her dad if he's black/Asian didn't know that?

I was wondering that, not her dad! We just mentioned in passing yesterday that we'd noticed she had caught the sun. I'm only pondering this since reading this thread.

I'm one of those people who tans really easily and it looks like DD will be the same, she still tans with factor 50!

The concentrations of chemicals involved in high protection factors have also been found to be potentially harmful to the user

That's interesting. Where'd you find that quote?

It's fine!
I think it would be pretty darn close to impossible to keep your child out of the sun every moment of the day during Spring/Summer months. Plus, as humans, we actually need some sun on our skin for vitamin D.

I'd be interested to know what parents who live in hotter climes do. Not Spain/Italy type places, where the skin tone is slightly darker anyway, but what if you're of Northern European origin, living in Florida? Or Texas? Both those places get extremely hot in Summer.

FWIW, I was recently watching some old family videos of me as a baby/toddler, playing in the garden in the summer, with an obvious tan (and I generally take forever to tan). I asked my mum about it, and she just sort of shrugged, and went "sun cream wasn't really a thing back then." This was in the mid 1980s. "We just didn't keep you out there too long."
I'm sure the same was true of my contemporaries and earlier generations. Parents just used some common sense.

I understand baby wise, but do none of the adults here let their teens sunbathe because any colouration is skin damage?

I think it's fine OP. A very slight tan is boosting his natural protection and sounds like his skin type will tan whatever you do. I think parents that smother factor 50 on and keep their kids covered up and indoors risk Vit D deficiency! I purposefully give my kid 5 mins in the sun to boost vitD production before I put suncream on him, we have a lot of Vit D deficiency in this country and I'd prefer he synthesises it naturally than giving him supplements.

I didn't realise that so many people were against tanning these days. I thought it was just burning that we need to avoid?

I think a light tan through sunscreen is absolutely nothing to worry about OP.

I understand baby wise, but do none of the adults here let their teens sunbathe because any colouration is skin damage?

You really shouldn't sunbathe or encourage your dc to. Being outside with adequate protection is good but purposefully lying in the sun in order to get a tan is really silly and old fashioned actually.

Some people ran ridiculous easily. I have a tan, a proper one with white marks where my clothes are. I work indoors and haven't spent any large amount of time in the sun. I drive to and from work and the weather hasn't been too great in Yorkshire recently 🤷‍♀️. Dd is exactly the same, she was out last week with nursery for half an hour in the morning sun and has tan lines.

Oh - and I use a 5 star factor 30 too.

This annoys me too. My son tans in a day, he's older and running around etc, outside at school and we're active as a family, but even I've had comments. It really makes me conscious and I feel it's incredibly unfair.

My dd is mixed white/Asian and changes colour pretty quickly. Because she looks pretty pale most of the year I assume I'm getting judged left right and centre, but literally just an hour outside at 4pm on a moderately sunny day and she ends up with lines. That's with spf 30 or 50.

I cover her up on very hot days and we avoid going out in the middle of the day, but it still happens. Having said that, she's 4 now, but when she was a baby I did always keep her in the shade.

Black and Indian babies are usually lighter skinned until they are over 2 because parents are really careful about sun damage.

In India I would say that being careful about skin damage is more due to not wanting your child to look lower caste/poor. There is an attitude that paler skin is a sign of wealth, peasants who labour out in the fields are the brown ones, much as it used to be in England. Dh's family are Brahmin, and all keep themselves pale.

Also, most people who live in exceptionally hot countries don't spend any more time out in the heat than they have to, especially not lying around trying to turn brown. They tend to think that the Caucasian obsession with tanning is slightly ridiculous. Mad Dogs and Englishmen and all that.

I did have a weird dream last night that this has reminded me of! I dreamt that DS had come in from playing with dark melasma over one side of his face! I have melasma all over my forehead but it doesn't bother me. Very weird. I was upset for DS in the dream!

You really shouldn't sunbathe or encourage your dc to. Being outside with adequate protection is good but purposefully lying in the sun in order to get a tan is really silly and old fashioned actually.

A lot girls a few years ago when I was at school would roll their skirts up and sunbathe on school lunch break. As for old-fashioned, I see loads of people doing it in London parks every day it's hot, it's hardly rare is it. More rare are the people saying they don't like to tan at all imo.

My brother would tan no matter what you did with him. You'd have to keep him in Factor 50 and in the shade all day! have to hibernate he has a slight olive complection that becomes very apparent with the slightest bit of sun, had so many people asking if he has Mediterranean in him but he doesn't.

Some people are so extreme here...
Some people tan more easily, even with sun protection. More so if your baby is 1/4 black, I don't see how he is not going to tan at all (unless you keep him indoors the whole summer!). I put 50+ on myself and my DD and I still tan a bit. Same for her.
Not everyone is extremely white.

Black and Indian babies are usually lighter skinned until they are over 2 because parents are really careful about sun damage. Factor 50, not taking kids out during the hottest part of the day, covering them up is really important because unlike white babies darker babies are much more likely to suffer permanent skin colour and texture changes due to sun damage.

As someone who comes from a large family of black peoples I have never heard this before.

I came on here to say the same thing. I've never had sunburn in my life and can count on one hand the number of times I've worn Sun cream in my life. That said, it's true that west African people tend to keep out of the sun during the hottest part of the day and don't sit outside unclothed purposely to tan... But that's just common sense.

I think what you're doing is fine. I have light olive skin and my son darker (mediterranean genes) he gets slightly tanned very easily. I was very careful when he was a baby but he would still get a light tan, he was never sunburnt as a baby/young child and that's what I see as important.

He's a teenager now so never goes outside , I'm hoping vitamin D can be stored (lighthearted)

@Rach182 yes but the temperature in west Africa is a bit different to England? You can't really sensibly compare the two.

This thread is bonkers! As others have said, babies who live in hotter and sunnier climates than ours are more tanned, it is the body's defence mechanism.

I use factor 50 on my dd (18months) but she has a slight tan on her legs.

Kids are out playing in the sun, all you can do is put sun cream, and keep bringing them back to shade at various points