Sunscreen and children

[RedRobyn24]

I’m in a couple of online parent groups on WhatsApp and Facebook pages, I’m noticing in all there’s a real obsession (and I would use that word yes) with sun screen and not letting children be in the sun at all without it on. Obviously it’s been quite hot recently, but there’s been days this year where I am in recent months where it’s been sunny but certainly not boiling

I know you obviously have to be careful and I thought I was, but I do feel like I might be missing something

For context, both my children are fair skinned (like me) and my oldest is 4 and has never ever been burnt (the other hasn’t been burnt either) but if it’s been good weather for a while she might have caught the sun slightly and be slightly brown

i mean.. is that ok?? I always thought it was and it was good, like most of the U.K. are vitamin D deficient so surely a bit of sun is good?

If I’m out walking the dog with my baby I will put her in light long sleeve clothing and a floppy hat (she’s in a carrier as we’re rural, walking in farm land) she’s too young for sun screen.. like surely that’s fine?

Feel a bit stupid for asking, but some parents seem terrified if it’s like 13 degrees with a cool wind but the sun is out and it feels like I’m missing something

I don't tend to put sunscreen at these time of year, no

It has to be 20 degrees+, full sun and outside all day for me to put it on

They do need some Vitamin D, let's face it!

The advice from dermatologists is sunscreen every day on exposed skin from April-September in the northern hemisphere.

My DCs are of mixed heritage, and their skin is much more like their Asian dad’s than my Morticia Addams. When we were still in the U.K., I usually didn’t start with sunscreen on their faces/arms etc until end mid-may, but from then until the weather turns a bit crap in early September, they’d wear it every day.
We now live in an extremely hot part of the US, so they wear sunscreen 365 days a year.

Without knowing any of the context of the posts or what the weather is like in your area, wouldn't it make more sense to ask on the relevant groups if you're missing something rather than post here? If there's been a local weather warning or similar, they're probably best placed to let you know!

Dh took our young dc to the seaside last week without putting on sun cream and their little faces got burnt so I think it's very important to put it on. Dcs nursery puts it on every sunny day from March onwards.

We don't use sunscreen unless I know we're going to be out in it all day - like at the pool or beach or a whole afternoon at the park.

If they're in the garden it's a mixture of light and shade and in and out, same if we're walking. They need that exposure to get vitamin d and build up some tolerance.

The danger happens when you go from no sun, to full sun and then you burn.

Just don’t let them
burn op.

'Catching the sun' is sun damage, so no it's not ok.

Is it not? Can you point me in the direction of a source that says this? Because I’ve looked and I can’t see anything that says that

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=dermatologist+sun+tan+is+sun+damage

I'm the same unless it’s a particularly hot day (like today or yesterday) and then I will put it on. She has never ever burnt her skin and we are outside every day rain or shine and she has fair skin like I said in my post

Surely there is some balance here, vitamin d is necessary and we all know that vitamins taken in a pill are not absorbed as well, which is why the U.K. has a problem with low vitamin d

@ICantPretendok so you don’t have source, that’s just your opinion right 👍

Errr no, plenty of sources if you look. Depends whether you're interested in information from experts eg dermatologists on that link, or just want random people on the internet to reinforce your existing view. 😀

Excess sun and actually allowing children to burn is not good but otherwise getting sun is good for children and everyone else!
It’s vital for vitamin D production and we all feel that sense of well-being being in the open gives us. There’s actually been an up tick in Ricketts in recently years.
What is not good, particularly in England where it’s unnecessary most of the time, is slathering your body with horrible chemicals.

@ICantPretendthats not what I want. I want to protect her from sun damage but I also don’t want to apply excessive chemicals to her skin every day

Do you put sun screen on every single day?

Not sure what your weird point about vitamin D is, the whole point about suncream is to be in the sun safely.
Your point about the temperature is also incorrect, UV rays can be just as high at lower temperatures.

Seems like a pretty weird thing to get worked up about, why does it bother you that other parents put suncream on their children?

I think official advice for children is put it on if 17 degrees plus

If mine are outside for 15 minutes or it’s 8am or 4pm, no I don’t necessarily tend to worry about it too much. Anything else, yes, they have SPF 50 on.

I have stage 3 melanoma that’s metastasised to my lymph nodes and am quite ill. All because of childhood sun damage. I’ve never been on a sun lie on the beach holiday in my life. I’ve never laid out in the garden to tan. Don’t use tanning beds. Always have used SPF 30-50 as an adult.

Only time I’ve spent significant time in the sun unprotected was as a child and that’s when the damage is done that leads to skin cancer, which is the most prevalent cancer amongst people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. As cancers go, melanoma is also a really insidious one. Mole on your back, you don’t even notice because you can’t see your back, it spreads 4cm into your liver, bam, you have stage 4 cancer and little chance of a cure.

It’s such a bad thing to have happen, but so preventable, but unlike breast and liver and lung cancers, prevention largely comes down to us as parents rather than adult lifestyle factors later on.

Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now. 😂 I don’t think you have to panic, but I do think it’s something you need to be fastidious about.

@mindutopia Great post but sorry you’ve had to deal with it all.

OP, a child getting a tan (even if you just call it ‘catching the sun’ is damage to their skin.)

“A tan on a child is healthy"
No, it's not! While skin cancer is rare in children, much of the UV damage that leads to it takes place in the early years of life.

Getting sunburnt in childhood or adolescence can increase the risk of melanoma - the most serious form of skin cancer - in later life.

Tanned skin is damaged skin. The tan a child gets may fade but the damage remains - and can lead to skin cancer later in life. In fact, people get most of their sun exposure before the age of 18.

From https://www.cancer.ie/cancer-information-and-support/cancer-types/skin-cancer/skin-cancer-myths#children

It’s going to be warm and sunny today. Both my very pale-skinned children are having sun cream applied before school and nursery, as they would if going to play out in the garden.

It’s the UV levels you need to consider rather than just the temp. It’s predicted to be 18c here today although I think it’s going to be hotter but the UV levels are high.

Yes mine have sun cream on every day when the weather is good. Its full sun and 23 degrees here today. It's easy when you've got a baby to keep them out of the sun but I've got zero control over what nursery and school do with my kids, so they're in factor 50 with extra in their bag for top ups, plus hats and sunglasses. Kids yesterday were coming out of school with obvious sun burn.

I'm in my 40s and have had three friends in the last year having moles removed that were either cancerous or pre cancerous, FIL had another one removed at Christmas. Not sure why people don't take sun safety more seriously.

God that’s really scary, I’m so sorry, thank you for sharing that

Ok, so I’m going to start check the UV index every day then. I’ve always been careful but obviously not careful enough, but I will be now. Thank you for your replies.

I’m in a hot country and you have to strike a balance between not getting skin cancer and getting vitamin D. At one point there was a ‘don’t go out in the sun without covering up and slathering sunscreen on every exposed part’. That led to widespread vitamin D deficiency because use of sunscreen inhibits it. So guidelines were revised to say something along the lines of between 10 and 4 or whatever the hottest part of the day is in your area dependant on time of year, and outside of that go out with as much skin exposed as possible for an hour or so to fix the endemic vitD deficiency. Even in our hottest months there’s always a period we can go out and get sun without being burnt (usually before 8am in high summer, but on the odd occasion you’d be looking more toward being back in before 7.30).

If there's enough sun to colour skin my daughter wears suncream. She wasn't wearing suncream earlier in the month but the last week she has.

I am fair skinned and burn easily. Over the years I have used suncream less and have used behavioural changes instead. I avoid sitting in the sun have light layers on etc. I can burn even with factor 50 on applied to snowman look and I think suncream some times gives complacency. If I can't avoid the sun safety I'm covered in suncream

I burnt a lot as a child, twice getting sunstroke. As a parent I'm horrified by the lack of care my mum had for my skin health and I absolutely hate that she has let me have an increased risk of skin cancer because she couldn't keep on top of suncream. She herself burns very easily. I'm not going to put my daughter in this position so if there's a risk her skin can be coloured by the sun she is either covered up, inside or covered in suncream.

Same here. Common sense.