Which SPF sunscreen do I use for my baby?

[SylvanianAddict]

Hi all,

I'm not sure which SPF sunscreen to use for my baby who is half English.

I'm Middle Eastern and never had to wear it as a child and only wear it on holiday while sunbathing or on very hot days in July/August during a heatwave and wear SPF 30.

I am worried that my baby has quite fair skin and I don't know when to use it, how often to apply it and which SPF to use. Does anyone have any advice?

Also, are there any brands in particular that are gentle but still effective from your experience?

Is it okay to let a baby (12 month old) soak in a bit of sun in the Spring and then start using sunscreen properly in the summer?

By the way, this is my baby's skin tone:

This maybe helpful

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/sun-uv-and-cancer/the-uv-index-and-sunburn-risk

We have a very fair middle eastern child too!

We use the MooGoo Natual Sunscreen SPF 30 most of the year in the Gulf and we are sensible with exposure - morning and late afternoons.

May-Sept we stay out the sun mostly and use a zinc sun block.

SPF 30 and above and high stars applied properly. When applied you should initially be able to see the cream if applied thick enough. Reapply regularly and after they have been in water. Water proof means there is half the start protection after half an hour in water and drip dried afterwards. If towelled dried it's less.

I'm a red head with very pale skin and prone to burning. Light layers a hat and avoiding sun at the peak of the heat and I rarely burn if I have forgotten or not realised it was going to be as sunny as it was. I would also get into good habits of hats and light layers to protect the skin not just suncream but definitely the most important thing is learning how to apply it properly to get the marketed protection

You can use a make up blushed brush to apply it

Sounds great, thanks for the suggestion!

Do you use SPF 30 for the year and then a higher SPF for the hotter months?

My children are also half middle Eastern. Not from my side though which probably makes me the cautious one. I use garnier kids spf50+ on them in sunny weather.

They are both dark haired and very slightly darker skinned than yours but comparable. Just make sure they're getting vit d in their vitamins (as all kids should be in uk).

We use a thick zinc sun block when it's really hot, the sort that you slather on and looks white. So they do look pretty silly but it's very effective and not chemical laden. But really in the high, high summer we're only spending time outside at the pool before 9am and after 4pm.

We use the Shade brand that you can get on Amazon or get Fierce Nature from the UK.

I was considering the MooGoo Natural sunscreen but they only go up to SPF 40 so I have ordered Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection SPF 50 - I like that it won't sting baby's eyes :)

How spfs work is they are a multiplier for how long you can spend in the sun before burning or having skin damage from the sun.
So if you could manage 10 minutes without burning (purely figurative) SPF 40 gives you 400 minutes (6h40m) and spf 50 gives you 500 minutes (8h20m). If you are applying it properly you will get this protection. If you apply it too thinly. If you reapply properly every 4-6h there isn't a lot of difference between the factor 40 and 50.
The star rating refers to the other form of UV light (I can never remember which way around they are). It's 5 stars and they tell you how much of the SPF you get. If it's SPF 40 and 5 stars you get SPF 40 for both uva and uvb. If it is 4 stars you get 80% of the SPF 40 (SPF 32) This means that from this perspective SPF 50 with 4stars (80% of 50 is 40) is equivalent to 5stars and SPF 40.

I would probably always go higher on the face but SPF 40 applied and then reapplied properly is likely to be more than fit your needs.