I know I’m being a little optimistic, but summer will soon be here, and I’m sure the sun will shine at some point!
Do you use sun lotion?
If so, what can you recommend?
Personally, I hate the stuff - I hate the feeling of it on my skin, and I don’t entirely like putting all those chemicals on our skin. And actually, I have this theory it will be implicated in the next cancer scare!
The kids are supposed to wear it to school, but I hate putting it on them!
Any recommendations/ alternatives gratefully received
This has been here many times before so if you did a quick search you could probably find lots of threads
Saying that - neither me or my family wear sunscreen, we are all fair with redish hair too. I would absolutely not block our skin to the potential vitamin d from the sun when most of the UK’s population anre deficient and the implications for deficiency are massive - auto immune conditions being my primary concern. We don’t burn, we use hats, long sleeves wisely. That is it. I like us to get lots of sun and we use vitamin d supplements the rest of the year.
If my child were being forced to use a sunscreen at school i would fill a jar with virgin coconut oil and make a label saying it was sunscreen. It is not a lie, either as it does provide some protection.
Having a great diet with minimum processed foods, good fats, no polyunsaturates and lots of whole foods helps protect skin even further.
I agree with mamauk. We have very few chances to get a decent amount of vit d before winter sets in again. There is no way I would allow a school to tell me that my child has to wear sunscreen
We don’t use sunscreen, never have. Same as MamaUK, avoid intense sun, long sleeves, sunhats, glasses etc. Build up exposure by being in the sunshine as much as possible as the weather warms up (hmmm….). Eight children over 23 years and only one case of sunburn, and that was when DD1 as a 12 year old decided she knew best…...
We don’t use sunscreen as a matter of course (and both my children were born in southern spain), as I totally agree about vit D deficiency and feel children if they have the opportunity tend to be in and out of the sun or like to play in dappled shade (as is the way at our house in Spain) - however if we are going for a prolonged trip to somewhere totally exposed on a sunny day (i.e. the beach) then I would use the Green Babies spf25 or something. Lavera also make a lotion which is a much lighter consistency.
Likewise if school requested sunscreen then I would give the same to them - they are not “the enemy” even if we perhaps do have different perspectives on things at times and I would feel that I would be putting them in a difficult position regarding their h&s policies which is not fair. Then I would make it my responsibility to see that my children got enough time out in the sun without sunscreen to ensure adequate vit D - I seem to remember reading somewhere it’s only 15 mins a day bare face and arms - which makes you wonder what kind of lifestyle people are leading that they cannot accomplish that and become vit D deficient.
Exactly—15 minutes of sunshine a day and your body can make all the Vitamin D it needs, so we do use sunscreen if we’re going to be in direct sunlight for an hour or more. Actually, I don’t use it on myself very often as I’m dark-skinned and my risk for skin cancer is pretty low, but I am careful about DD and DH, who are both very fair-skinned. We use big floppy hats and the Lavera spray for kids .
Thanks for the replies. Will definitely check out the reccommendations - I love Lavera, don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.
I’m very lucky that I have skin that doesn’t burn easily (or maybe I just know when I’ve had enough??), and both my children have inherited the same skin type, so we don’t tend to use proytection at all really. As you say, common sense in children means they often play in shade and know when they’ve had enough sun!
I guess schools ask us to provide to cover their own backs. Unfortunately, its all too easy to imagine a parent sueing school for ‘allowing’ their child to get sunburnt in this day and age. :(
I guess schools ask us to provide to cover their own backs. Unfortunately, its all too easy to imagine a parent sueing school for ‘allowing’ their child to get sunburnt in this day and age. :(
Exactly and in this day and age it’d probably get heard in court and there would be a pay out. I was getting a bit upset about my MWs coming over all paranoid and “back-covering” the other day and then one of them explained that they really felt the need to ensure they were seen to be spelling out any risks as last year a woman in Powys got a 7 million pound pay out when her fifth child developed brain damage after she refused the Vit K injection - despite this being the 5th child she had made that decision for. I.E she had made her informed choice and was confident in it, but when it backfired she didn’t take responsibility for it. And rather than a judge telling her to get to feck she took £7m out of our PCT. It made me see things in a rather different light.
Sorry to go OT, but I really think that if we choose to send our kids to school then when it comes to some things like this we have to give some ground - because it won’t do our kids any harm to have some organic sunscreen applied occasionally but it might mean that the school takes a different view on taking our kids on activities etc which would be a shame.
We used the Green people unscented baby factor 25, and the lavera factor 25 last summer. The green people one is brilliant - goes on easily and no burning, but the lavera one was rubbish (in my opinion!). It was gloopy, sticky and actually made Grace cry when I tried to apply it as she said it was pulling her skin (and it was!). Because it was so hard to apply, at the end of the day, although she wasn’t burnt, I could clearly see “tan-lines” where some ares hadn’t been covered.
Just my experience, but I chucked out half a bottle of (expensive!) lavera suncream, because it was such a trauma trying to apply it!
Having said that, and being the harbinger of doom I’m afraid, I checked the long range weather forecast the other day, and apparently we are set for a cold, wet summer with only a few odd days hitting the seasonal average. :(
The fifteen minutes in the sun is probably ok in the South of England and Europe, but the further north you go the weaker the sun the more time you need to get the vitamin d you need.
The fifteen minutes in the sun is probably ok in the South of England and Europe, but the further north you go the weaker the sun the more time you need to get the vitamin d you need.
Yeah my HV said the sun up here (a deep valley in West Yorkshire) isn’t enough to provide us with Vitamin D apart from midday in the middle of summer.
We’ve always used Green people’s 25 childrens one. T burns quite easily, so he gets it put on if he’s going to be out more than a few minutes in the middle of the day. I dont put it on if we’re out early in the morning, or later in the afternoon. I tend to guage it on the situation, and if we’re out for a day outside, like the zoo or something, I’m more likely to dress him in lightweight long shirt/trousers than have to keep reapplying.
Due to sensory issues, we’re trying Lavera’s spray one this year. Probably not as healthy as the greenpeople one, but I’ve got to guage that against the trauma of getting it on him, and the repercussions that has on the rest of our day.
Regardless of what we use, he gets a quicker shower at the end of the day to rinse it off. If he’s been outside, he usually needs it
Having just spent over a year in Australia, Thailand and malaysia and the previous 5 yrs in spain we have been using sun cream constantly. I have seen so many people with skin discolouration due to the sun and skin cancer that i would never allow my kids out in the sun without sunscreen, they do wear hats, long sleeve tops, sunglasses etc too. Australia is fantastic at letting people know the dangers of the sun, i suppose because they have to deal with so many cases of skin cancer. It’s not because people are not careful in the sun either. The general majority dress their kids in sunsuits, always wear hats etc. There was no way my kids would step foot outside the door without sunscreen whilst there. We did practically live outside and tried to be in the shade as much as possible as well. We spent a fortune on sunscreen whilst traveling on a tight budget but it was well worth it.
When you spoken to people with half their face missing because they have had to have skin cancer removed, it makes the issue of sunscreen a no brainer http://www.cancer.org.au/cancersmartlifestyle/SunSmart/Skincancerfactsandfigures.htm
http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/type/skin-cancer/about/skin-cancer-risks-and-causes for UK,
How common skin cancer is
Almost 99,000 cases of non melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year. This makes it the most common type of cancer. This type of cancer tends to be under reported. The actual number of cases could be more.
Because skin cancers are easily treated and cured, these skin cancers are often left out of national cancer statistics (for example, when we say breast cancer is the most common cancer type in the UK).
IMO it’s something that is pretty low on the agenda in the uk as the amount of sun is limited but imo why would you risk it for a few weeks a year when you can buy Green sunscreen,
Wonderwoman I agree with you regarding sunscreen at school, for me an issue like this is so important that i would happily give the school sunscreen and put it on my child before school too, I would make a big point that they needed to use the cream i provided (my little one is sensitive)
Neal’s Yard Remedies had a good one last summer which I presume they still do and this year I’ve just bought the spray one they have which is a lower SPF (15) but thinner and easier to spread and often all my kids need for a short period in exposed sun. I also avoid using cream if possible and we live in S. Spain but certainly when I know they’re going to be exposed for a while to strong sun I get them to cover up, stick as much as possible to shade and then use suncream on exposed skin.
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