Suncreams - what do you recommend?

[jodee]

After 2 glorious days in London I thought I'd better start thinking about getting some more suncream for my toddler. Last year in France I was using Ambre Solaire Kids factor 35 sunblock milk, but found it took ages to rub in and the sand stuck to it like glue which was a real pain to get off without dunking ds in the sea. What can you recommend?

PS, I'm sure it will be sheeting with rain and blowing a gale next week, but I'm for ever the optimist!

Maryz, I get prickly heat really badly, have you tried Piz Buin range of sun allergy sun creams, they are absolutely brilliant.

Paula1, which Piz Buin do you use, and when, and how well does it work? (Prickly heat ruins most sunny days for me.)

janh, they have a whole range of 'Skin (or sun I can't remember) Allergy' creams, I think I use the factor 15 one on my body and a special f 20 one on my face - they are absolutely brilliant, you must apply it before any sun gets on you, and again if any gets rubbed off. I'm the same, as soon as it's sunny I'm the one sitting under the tree!!

I decided to go for a Johnson's suncream called Suncare Baby factor 40 hydrating sun protection lotion, which is fairly new I think.

Going back to when suncreams should be used by, the one above has no use by date, nor did anything else I looked at on the shelves. Shampoos, shower gels, etc. don't have use by dates either and we use them indefinitely, so does it follow that the same applies to suncreams? It would be nice for these suncream manufacturers to shed some light on the subject; it seems to me that they are happy to sit on their laurels and watch us shell out on new creams every summer when the ones we already have in our cupboards are absolutely fine (or are they?)

Can anyone advise me of something I can use for Dd; she gets fairly bad excema which can just about be kept under control by Diprobase, bath emolients and hydrcortisone for the worst bits but when I put Ambre Solaire kids 'sensitive' skin cream on this year it flared up big time (sleep affected, tears etc) we'd used it last year with no obvious worsening but this time it was almost immediate.

I read about P20 so bought some (is it liquid gold ?£?) but when I got it home and read the instructions it can't be applied after her normal creams and doesn't protect against UVA either (visions of being sued by thirtysomething daughter who blames her sunscreen for wrinkles..)

Have any of you advice or other recommendations ??

Twink, my ds has severe eczema which we can't get under control and I was absolutely paranoid about putting any suncream on him for fear that it would make things even worse. I phoned the eczema society who said to use a hyposallergenic one with titanium dioxide in as this stops the ingreedients being absorbed into the skin.

I use the boots soltan baby factor 50 and it doesn't seem to have made things any worse. I've also heard that the MAWs one is good but I can't find it anywhere. Hope this helps.

Thanks CER, I'll head off to Boots asap.