in thinking that an 8month old shouldn't have a suntan

[NarabugHitWindscreen]

I was out with some friends today at the park (making the most of the wonderful weather), some mums there I didn't know. We were sitting in the shade of a tree with the little ones exploring (most of the crawlers including my 1yr old DD were in and out of the sun, but she was smothered in factor 50 and had a ridiculously wide brimmed sun hat on).

There was one mum (friend of a friend) who had her 8month old DD (not a crawler) sitting out in the sun, wearing a short sleeveless dress and small hat. I was sitting near to the mum and decided to strike up a conversation, I'd recently been thrilled to find some more baby sun cream on offer and used this as an icebreaker. The mum says "oh I don't buy that, I use this on DD" (shows bottle of factor 8). I offer her some of mine and she declines, saying "I want her to get some colour on her, I dont want her looking pasty all summer". She then calls over to DD and says "you want a tan dont you so you can look pretty like mummy?". She then went on to complain that she couldn't find any fake tan for babies, and it took ages to get a tan in the sun.

The mum was a bit bronzed, but the daughter was fair skinned (not olive skinned or anything). I was a bit worried as I've been told that babies should be well covered in the sun. I asked the mum if she'd heard this (in a 'oh, I heard that.....' kinda way, not a bossy interfering way!). The mum says that its ok, as "babies can't catch skin cancer". Subject was changed.

I know its none of my business but I can't help but worry that the baby was going to burn to a crisp, it was brutally hot this morning. Later the baby had gone to sleep and the mum had laid her down on a blanket with her head in the shade and her body in the sun, and was saying "look! She's sunbathing!" to her friends.

WIBU? Or was I being a nosy cow? I'm socially rubbish for the record, but spent the morning fighting the urge to cover the poor mite up!

What about sun/heat stroke. Poor child!

I hope she gave her some water to drink!

When DD1 was a baby a woman I knew had a daughter the same age. They went to Greece on holiday when the baby was about 8 months old. We were discussing sun cream and she said "I'm got this one for her - my friend used it on her baby when they went abroad and he came back a lovely colour". ! I remember at the time being completely bemused.

I use sun creams on hot days.

Nursery asked all parents yesterday to ensure kids have sun cream applied before attending as they are spending the majority of the session outside.... they make the most of the nice days - the scottish highlands arent known for sunshine!!

DD2 is white as a sheet with auburn hair. She burns at the drop of a hat.

DD1 on the other hand is olive skinned (takes after her dad!) and doesnt burn.... I still apply sun cream on the hottest of days.

DS is very like DD2 and I will ensure he gets covered as well.

The mother in the OP is reckless and needs educated on the risks.

Agree with Bellepink. If I didn't put suncream on my ds2 he would be burnt in minutes, in even weak summer sun. He has skin like mine, I recently got quite a bad sunburn on a cloudy day. In March. In Ireland.

Hats, loose long sleeves etc all very well, but he needs high factor on his hands,face, feet etc, and I'd rather risk some possible problem with the cream than the certain agony and long term implications of sun burn.

I agree with you Shine. 3 out of my 4 have inherited my husband's easy tan complexion. I put sun tan lotion on my pale English rose, but most often just covered her up in very strong sun. Would much rather not slather my children in aluminium and crap. Also have taken note of the fact we have been living under the sun for millions of years and have not disappeared yet as a species. This apparently, may be due to the protective effect of vitamin D. Generated by exposure to the sun. Also note the rise in MS among people who have low prenatal and early childhood levels of vit D. My money's on Mr Evolution- if you live at your ancestral latitude, chances are the sun's the right strength for you. Obviously if you are a Scot living in the Antipodes you are at a higher risk of skin cancer than if you are still in Aberdeen.

DD has her Dad's -what we call- "gypsy skin", a deep dusty brown in the summertime. She simply thrives in the sun. I use suncream when I feel is necessary (rarely in the UK) and feel it is really healthy to expose children's skin to a bit of sun.

HOWEVER

that Woman does sound bonkers and I feel for her baby!

my SIL puts sun cream on her DD's.........they black.........and exH burned on several occasions (here in the UK! ....and once in Australia)...

And skin cancer is in the increase in those countries (mainly admittedly) due to the prevalence of HIV

As with many diseases and illnesses that we have these days..........or should I say we are aware of these day there is no real way of knowing how many in people in history died of those illnesses.

is becoming more common

Cancer Researches information on the subject.

Is this true?

Was going to reply to your thread question that YABU, DS is half-darky and gets a lovely tan just by thinking about the sun and I rarely use suncream as it's unnecessary. But having read the post YANB quite so U - but not sure this woman wasn't taking the piss... Fake tan for babies? Don't think it's BU to think they look nice with a tan if they tan easily, but definitely BU to let them fry for the sake of it.

Not much you can do though, or is there?

I do go for barrier, rather than chemical suncream

No one is saying that suncream is terrible and that we never use it.

It is the slathring DC with factor 50 all summer whether the sun is shining or not that I find weird.

Ok, there are children who burn very easily and you have to make up your own mind about how to protect your dc best.

My DC spend the entire summer outside and if they are going to be outside for an hour or so then I do use sun cream. I do not put cream on them for the 15 mins that they will spend outside at breaktime.

It is impossible to prevent my dc getting tanned, even with sun cream. We live in Switzerland and spend half the summer on the beach or in the garden.

Obviously the woman described in the OP was a loon, but the panic about sun cream in the UK is a bit OTT. Here I can tell which dc on the beach are locals and which are Brits. The Brits are the ones with smeary White faces from the SPF 50 cream.

An 8 month old should nit be out in the sun like that. Defo covering up is better than cream.

I have a relative who was left by her dad to sleep in the sun and she got veryburnt, her skin now reacts whever she is in the sun and very red and patchy.

I didn't tink it actually got hot enough in the UK to have this obsession with sunscreen lotion.

You'll find that by lathering them with factor 50 sunscreen all the time they will eventually become vitamin D deficient.

Ten minutes in the early morning sun without sunscreen or protective clothing is ecommended to avoid vitamin D deficiency.

I thought the prevalent attitude on MN was they should be playing outside all day!

Well I'm glad that this thread has shown how confused everyone is about suncream as I always thought it was just me agonizing over the suncream vs sunshine dangers for the kids

I think that the general public do need educating about it far better. I recently enrolled my two for an hour creche at a surestart centre and the seemed a bit suncream obsessed to me and a tad misinformed, they apply suncream on children immediately before taking them outside when all the bottles say to apply it 20 min before sun exposure.

AngelsOnHigh - see my link from Cancer Research above

We go the covering and the creaming the stuck out bits. I am willing to admit I am obsessed with this.

My dad died a horrible death, it was truly horrific, if I can spare my kids watching either me or DH die that death/having it themselves then I will.

We are Australian though so obviously need to take this more seriously.

well skin cancer is the most common (and becoming more common) cancer in the UK so I don't think we can be too complacent here in the UK either.

Morloth
I am not complacent about the dangers of the sun, and I do understand that having seen a relative suffer, that you are more cautious than others. I am sorry that your family had to go through that.

In UK we have come on so far from when I was a child. There still seems to be two camps. Those who take precautions (whether the spf 50 or the covering up brigade) and those who still ignore all advice and let their DC burn in the sun. Thankfully it is becoming more rare to see this.

ooooo MmeL - I just have to point out it was me that used the word complacent not Morloth

INterestingly - Cancer Research protecting children bit just says from facto 15 up - so doesn't think that high factor is absolutely nessecary - but it's making sure it's applied properly and regularly enough that's the main thing.

I suspect the skin cancers in the uk aer from sunbathing broad tocctanfudge.

FIL died of skin cancer but he was in Burma during the war. The only other person I know who has had skin cancer spent time in australia.

I think the obsession with sun cream is a bit OTT. We went to the canaries a month ago with our DDs and it was very hot and sunny. I put suncream on them first thing in the morning before we went out, then put one of those UV sunsuit things on them on the beach and a hat and they were both fine. Would reapply a bit to their arms and face occasionaly. DD1 got a slight colour on her face and arms but very slight and DD2 didn't tan at all.

I do put suncream on them here if it is sunny and hot but otherwise make sure they have a hat and are covered up.

I have to admit though I was a bit surprised on holiday to see that the majority of kids just had little pants or shorts on and no hat or t shirt and were just playing in the sun like that.

I admit i didn't know about the F50 thing and we did take F50 on holiday with us, won't be wasting the extra money on that again.

The woman't fake tan for babies comment sounds like something out of "Footballer's Wives" was she really for real?

whoops woman's!

I was just about to say by reading your title YABU as people have different skin types, I am from the Med and so is my dh so my dd 3.2 catches the sun easily, even though i put factor 50 on her and she wears a hat out, and . But ot intentionally put your baby/child at risk by not following the proper precautions is Does she not know that a sun tan is actually skin damage, and even one sun burn can increase ones risk to skin cancer. Does she want that for her daughter, she wont be saying that in 15 years time if her daughter heaven forbid is on an Onacology ward recieving chemo for skin cancer.