PSA: Baby Sunscreen 101 - REALLY LONG but HELPFUL Guide to it ALL

wootownlady · May 2013

Hi ladies ? gearing up for the summer at the pool with two little ones, so I am using this sun protection guide I got online, and thought others with new babies and little ones would also benefit. I will be using sunblock on my baby this summer when I have to, (sparingly) and this is a great list/explanation of what to avoid and why. Hope it helps!

Lucie's List Guide to Summer Fun Part 1: Sunscreens and Such
With so many conflicting recommendations out there about SUN and babies and sunscreen, it's hard to know what to do. Thus: The Official Lucie's List guide to Summer Fun. Holllerrr! A huge thanks to Carol Collins, Ph.D., for compiling this research! Protecting Little Skins Since unprotected sun exposure is the most preventable risk factor for skin cancer, it's something to take very seriously. Heck, I wish someone had given me the memo about this when I was a young'un; maybe I would have reconsidered daily tanning (burning?) contests with my sister. As someone who grew up in the South, LIVING at the pool every day... I am now well on my way to becoming a leathery old hag. It's not just skin, in fact, "Children under 10 are at a high risk for... eye damage from UV rays. 'And until about age 10, the lens of a child's eye is clear, allowing greater solar penetration and thus greater UVR-induced ocular changes,' explains Adelaide A. Hebert, MD, professor and vice chair of dermatology, University of Houston." [SkinCancer.org] Fab, I'm gonna be blind and all macular degenerate and sht too. Sweet! So I think we can all agree that protecting our baby's [and toddler's] skin is important so they don't grow up looking like Magda in "There's Something about Mary". Babies 0 - 6 Months old "I've read I can't use sunscreen until 6 months and I've got a family beach vacation coming up, what should I do?"* It's true that the AAD (American Academy of Dermatology) recommends keeping babies < 6 months out of the sun and using minimal amounts of sunscreen, but don't cancel your beach vacation [oh no]... just bring along an umbrella or a sun tent and use hats, protective clothing and small amounts of sunscreen when you must. Last summer on our beach trip, baby Alice spent many an afternoon chilling in our beach tent and wiggling around in the sand. I recommend the Schylling Infant UV Play Shade . Baby Sunscreen 101 Sunscreen vs. Sunblock Technically speaking, sunSCREENS use chemicals to absorb UV rays; SunBLOCKS uses minerals, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide to physically deflect rays from the skin. These terms are often used interchangeably by drugstores and such, so it's a little confusing. Sunblocks are generally recommended for babies and children (over sunscreens) by pediatricians, advocacy groups, environmentalists, etc, for various reasons [read more below in "sunscreen controversies"]. The general sentiment is something like this: "A natural mineral (aka physical) sunblock is, by far, the safest option to get your SPF. The minerals zinc and titanium sit on the skin's surface and reflect sunrays out away from the body like tin foil. Chemical ingredients [found in sunscreens] are absorbed into the skin to deal with sunrays in a chemically reactive process in the skin cell itself, with potentially unintended and harmful consequences to the skin and body," says Kim Walls, M.S. The downside to sunblocks is that they are generally more expensive because of the cost of the mineral ingredients. Screens and blocks come in lotions, sprays and sticks. I prefer to use sticks on the face, sprays for toddlers [and other squirmers] and lotion for infants. So, what's good? The Best Sunblocks for Babies and Toddlers * How did I decide? I weighed input from SkinCancer.org, EWR, Consumer Reports, SafeMama.com and Amazon.com For whatever reason, most of these products can be a bit hard to find (i.e. they are definitely not found at your local Walgreens or Piggly Wiggly. Sorry.) Lotions 1. Blue Lizard Baby Suncream SPF 30 ~ $19 * Active ingredients ~ 10% Zinc Oxide and 5% Titanium Dioxide [Non-Nano] This VERY waterproof formula protects skin for up to 4 hours of heavy activity and uses only Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide (as active ingredients), with no irritating chemical absorbers. This has been our go-to sunscreen since Lucie was born. This is my personal favorite -- because if it's not majorly waterproof, what's the point? Trust me, you don't want to be re-applying this stuff more than is necessary. 2. Thinkbaby Sunscreen SPF 50+ ~ $17 ~ Can also be found at Whole Foods * Active ingredients Zinc Oxide 20% [Non-nano] SPF 50+, water resistant, you can actually read and understand every ingredient on this list, yay! 3. Adorable Baby SPF 30+ Sunscreen ~ $25 * Active ingredients ~ Zinc Oxide [Non-Nano] - 24.7% SafeMama.com Award Winner 2012 - Best Overall This is an all-natural, high-performance sunscreen that blends clear and is waterproof for 1-2 hours, although [as a practical matter] some complain the bottle is extremely hard to squeeze and the formula is a bit too greasy. 4. Episencial Babytime! Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35 ~ $12 * Active ingredients ~ 10% Titanium Dioxide; 4%, Zinc Oxide [Non-nano] This highly-rated sunblock is non-greasy and spreads well; water-resistant for up to 80 mins. Sprrrrray All Terrain KidSport Sunscreen Spray ~ $12 * Active ingredients ~ 19% Zinc Oxide [Non-nano] One of the few decent sprays on the market, this one is easy to apply and spreads well; waterproof for 80 minutes; it's non-whitening and non-greasy; we love it! Stick Aveeno Baby Natural Protection MineralBlock Face Stick, SPF 50+ ~ $10 * Active ingredients ~ 8.1% Titanium Dioxide; Non-nano 6.8% Zinc Oxide Water-proof, non-greasy, recommended by dermatologists; works well! Can be a little pasty. FYI -- There are lots of good sunblocks out there, but many of them are only available through specialty websites [which I tried to avoid]. Other products that deserve honorable mention are: Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby Sunblock Lotion, Aveeno Baby Natural Protection, Honest Sunscreen by the Honest Company (ding'd for frequently being out of stock and waterproof for only 40 mins), Badger All Natural Baby Sunscreen SPF 30 (ding'd for being too thick and hard to spread), and California Baby (ding'd for being REALLLY expensive AND because they won't state whether they use nanoparticles or not). Remember: sunscreen is just part of the equation that also includes protective clothing [coming next week], hats and eye protection, and staying out of sun when the rays are strongest, between 10am and 2pm. Sunscreen Controversies (gasp!) The 3 main controversies (of late) of sunscreens (particularly for children) look something like this: 1. The Nanoparticle debate Over the past few years, there's been a lot of talk about the safety of "nanoparticles". You see, in the past, mineral sunblocks have consisted of large enough particles so that they always remained white and chalky on the skin. More recently, many products have been formulated to reduce the size of the mineral particles, called nanoparticles, making them less visible on the skin. No more ghosty white-face -- yay, right? However, there are concerns that nanoparticles may possibly pass THROUGH the skin (especially in pre-term babies and very young babies) and may be photo-reactive, forming free radicals that can cause cell damage. Those espousing this position recommend using only mineral sun blocks that contain "micronized" rather than nanoparticles. [Technically, a nano particle is any particle less than 100 nanometers in diameter, but a particle must actually be less than 50 nanometers to enter skin cells; less than 70 nanometers to enter the lungs, etc] Got it? Ok good. Essentially, the jury is still out on this, folks. The American Academy of Dermatology [AAD] says "Considerable research on the use of nanoparticles on healthy, undamaged skin has shown that the stratum corneum - the outermost layer of the skin - is an effective barrier to preventing the entry of nanoparticles into the deeper layers of the skin." [AAD 2012]; still, others suggest otherwise. Basically, nobody knows for sure. All the products I recommend [above] are NON-nano (in case you were wondering what the heck that meant). No she-NANO-gans here, mama ;-) 2. Oxybenzone* The good news is that oxybenzone is one of few FDA-approved ingredients that provides effective broad-spectrum protection (see #3) from UV radiation. The bad news is that oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor, which can affect the nervous system, has been linked to cancer in some laboratory studies, and creates free-radicals when exposed to the sun. Woohoo! The jury is out on this one as well: According to the AAD, "Available peer-reviewed scientific literature and regulatory assessments from national and international bodies do not support a link between oxybenzone in sunscreen and hormonal alterations, or other significant health issues in humans," Dr. Siegel. [AAD 2012] However, many pediatricians warn parents to avoid oxybenzone. So... yeah. All of the products I recommend [above] are free of oxybenzone. Just in case. 3. Many sunscreens only protect from UVB rays,* giving people a false sense of security about spending time in the sun. UVA radiation doesn't cause sunburning per se, but can increase the rate of melanoma and AGEING of the skin (ack!), so many people using sunscreens may be exposed to high UVA levels without realizing it. So... look for sunscreens with broad-spectrum (UVA/UVB) protection (for adults too)! Natural sunscreen ingredients, including zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, protect from both UVA and UVB overexposure. Do I have your back or what? Pssshh.