Anyone got any experience of Suncream Allergies?

[GillW]

My 10 month old DS seems to be allergic to most suncreams - it brings him out in red blotches, and when these fade it leaves his skin with very dry (excema like) patches.

Has anyone else had this? Did you find out what the guilty substance is? Are there any suncreams which are ok (even the sensitive skin ones seem to cause the same problem)? And did you manage to get any tests done to pinpoint the problem?

The Gp we've seen is pretty useless - just says to take dairy out of his diet (although that makes no difference at all and these flareups are definately suncream, not food intake related) and keeps prescribing more Diprobase which I won't use on him any more as it obviously makes things worse, not better (suspect it contains the same thing which is causing the problem in the first place). So at the moment I'm stuck with just keeping him out of the sun.

I'm hoping to see a different Gp to see if we can get something more positive done, but it would be useful to hear if anyone else has any similar experiences.

The chemical is methyldibromomglutaronitrile... now repeat that one again !

The article from the times is at www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-377711,00.html

(For some reason the link thing won't work with that address....)

GillW - is that the 30 factor one? I've just bought some Banana boat paba free one for kids so might be the same. Will post and let you know how DS gets on with it.

Yes it's the factor 30 one - blue bottle, and it's actually coloured when you rub it in, and blueberry scented. Fortunately whatever they use fopr colour/scent seems to be tolerated ok by DS.

Mine's a white bottle and uncoloured - so I'll let you know how we get on.

I use proderm on my daughter who has eczema. You can buy it from Boots, its a mousse rather than a cream and it seems ok on her.

Julie

I've had a problem finding sun tan lotion that my dd can use. I recently bought some of the coloured Nivea spray on for kids, and it's been ok on her arms, legs and body, but haven't tried it on her face yet. I know the problem for us tends to be when she starts rubbing her eyes, and then a few minutes later she's covered in red blotches. We've tried so many lotions I can't remember what we have and haven't tried anymore! lol! Hopefully the Nivea one will be ok

help,im goint to greece on wednesday and i suffer terribly with prickly heat.the itching i can cope with its the blisters that really get me down and end up spoiling our holiday.does anyone know how i can stop the blisters from appearing PLEASE.

my ds also reacted really badly to ambre solaire super sensitive baby etc. etc. !! I hate to say it, but my lovely clarins factor 30 for sensitive skin, which I bought last year as a treat for my face, works really well on him. I don't know what I'll do when it runs out, though!

loopylisa - try plenty of talcum powder and minimal cosmetics on the bits that get affected. You can get water-based fragrances instead of alcohol-based perfumes. Also, frequent bathing with tepid (not cold) water. If you only get the rash on bits that are exposed to the sun (rather than on hidden, sweaty bits) then it may be a sun or sunscreen allergy and for short-term treatment until you can go to the GP on your return take antihistamines before you go out in the sun. Eurax or EuraxHC are good for soothing some rashes.

Have a lovely time nonetheless!

I'd never use a suncream (on me or dd) - think they are well dodgy. How is the skin supposed to breathe through layer of god-knows-what?! I just keep dd covered with ozone suit/floppy hat and out of sun if too intense (ie midday). We live in a pretty sunny place (in UK terms, at least) and it seems to work for us. Dinny.

my daughter has ezcema and reacts badly to alot of suncreams - the worst offenders are anything made by Nivea, (even the sensitive children's stuff), Ambre Solaire and Piz Buin. Boots Soltan adult and childrens ranges are also bad for her but not as terrible as the others. Nivea and Ambre Solaire are definitely the worst.
I'm afraid I use ones which I get in the US - Coppertone Waterbabies and Hawaiian Tropic Baby Faces and Tender Places - both in pink bottles. Used to be able to get them here but I haven't seen them recently.
RoC make a range that you can get in Boots that is good - also the Simple range seems to be OK - haven't bought any but put some of a friends' on her the other day and it seemed to be fine. I'm going to get a bottle of Simple and do a more extensive test, because my US supplies are running low!
Hope that helps...

I use Dr Hauschka Sunscream for children - no crap in it whatsoever - totally natural mineral sunscream - factor SPF 22 . It is the same price as other sunscream. Can get it from Selfridges or mail order from company called Elysia

My eldest 3 all had bad reactions to Nivea children's suncream. That was about 12 years ago, but I've avoided it like the plague ever since.

we use the banana boat suncreams, cheaper than others, just as good and they dont aggrevate dd1 eczema.

My friend uses No-ad which is a US-manufactured sunscreen available from high street shops - I've seen it in Woolies and Asda. Very cheap, UVA and UVB protective and she says it doesn't irritate her son's skin.

Banana boat seems to work for ds who gets prickly heat. We took Soltan sensitive for dh and I on a recent holiday - but despite all its "sensitive" claims found that it was dreadful for blocking pores and we both ended up with lots of itchy little spots. Look for creams that are paba free as paba's seem to be one of the main causes for allergies.

Get a suncream that has zinc oxide in it as these are best for preventing allergies. Soltan children's is one of them.

My baby girls has excema and so far the worst cream for her has been simple, which is odd as I use all their other products. I now use sun sense sunsensitive, which is spf 60 and low irritant. It seems good so far. Time will tell! I bought it online from reachpharmacy.com, who are a registered pharmacy (so you know you're not getting a cheap imitation) and they delivered really quickly.