Keeping infants and toddlers safe is an exhausting full-time job, and every parent knows just how important it is to get it right. You&#;ve childproofed your home, purchased the safest stroller and stocked up on healthy baby food &#; but have you thought about sun protection? Protecting young children from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation is important not only for avoiding immediate consequences like painful sunburns, but also for minimizing skin cancer risk later in life. Here&#;s what you need to know about keeping the baby in your life sun safe.
For more custom mini sunscreen bottlesinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
In their first few months, babies are much more sensitive to sun exposure than adults and older children. Their skin contains little melanin, the pigment that gives color to skin, hair and eyes and provides some sun protection. You may be tempted to reach for the sunscreen, but The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends waiting until the baby is 6 months old before introducing sunscreen. The best ways to keep infants sun safe are with shade and clothing.
Clothing is the first line of defense against skin cancer, and dressing babies in lightweight clothing that covers their arms and legs is a great first sun protection step. Then add on a wide-brimmed hat that covers the baby&#;s face, neck and ears &#; putting a child in a hat during their first few months will help them get used to having one on. (Bonus: they&#;ll look super cute!) When you&#;re on the move, use a stroller with a sun-protective cover and do your best to schedule walks before 10 AM and after 4 PM, avoiding strong midday sun. While traveling in the car, try a removable mesh window shield to block sunlight from reaching your little one. Yes, some damaging rays penetrate glass.
No matter what, never allow a baby to get a sunburn. In infants, sunburns can be a medical emergency, with the potential to cause fever, dehydration, blisters and chills.
Once your baby is 6 months old, it&#;s time to introduce sunscreen. This doesn&#;t mean it&#;s OK to forget all the other sun protection methods you&#;ve been using with your baby &#; covering up with clothing and seeking shade are still important. But as your baby gets older and you spend more time outdoors, sunscreen will help protect exposed skin, like the hands and face. Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen (meaning it protects against UVA and UVB rays) with an SPF of 30 or higher. Look for sunscreens with zinc oxide and titanium oxide. These ingredients don&#;t need to be absorbed into the skin to work, so they&#;re less likely to cause a reaction on sensitive skin. Just in case, though, it&#;s best to test a new sunscreen before applying thoroughly. Apply a little sunscreen on the inside of your baby&#;s wrist and watch for signs of irritation, which may take as long as several days to develop.
Once children begin crawling and walking, they can be difficult to catch, let alone held onto long enough to apply sunscreen. Getting a little creative with the formulation of the sunscreen you use can help, so try out lotions, sticks and sprays to see what works for your child. Stick sunscreens earn points because toddlers are less likely to rub the product in their eyes, and sprays can be convenient for quick application &#; just be sure to apply in a ventilated space, and don&#;t spray the product directly onto a child&#;s face.
Though preventing painful sunburns is the most immediate benefit of keeping kids sun safe, instilling habits like sunscreen application and wearing hats will have benefits that long outlast a child&#;s early years. When kids grow up practicing a sun protection routine, they&#;ll be more likely to continue those behaviors into adulthood, lowering their risk of every type of skin cancer and premature skin aging. So next time you consider your infant&#;s health needs, don&#;t forget about a sun protection plan!
Beach and park days with your baby&#;what could be better? She gets to crawl and explore, and you both get some fresh air. The only potential downside is too much sun; babies&#; delicate skin requires extra care to avoid burns. In addition to staying in the shade and wearing sun-blocking clothing and accessories, it&#;s essential to use one of the best sunscreens for babies. After testing 12 versions from best-selling brands, I chose La Roche-Posay&#;s Anthelios Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 as the best sunscreen for babies overall because it is completely unscented, water-resistant for up to 80 minutes, easy to apply evenly and feels softer and less sticky than any other option I tested.
The best baby sunscreens apply easily without feeling slippery or sticky, are free of potential ... [+] irritants and come in a container that won&#;t spill in your bag.
ILLUSTRATION: FORBES / PHOTO: RETAILERSThe Blue Lizard Baby Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50+ is my top value pick because it has a similar untacky finish and doesn&#;t feel at all greasy or oily the way other inexpensive formulas can. Hello Bello&#;s Baby Sun Stick SPF 50 is my favorite sunscreen stick because it&#;s easy to see and apply evenly and has a nice, soft finish. The following is a list of all the winners from my testing.
There are two key differences between sunscreen guidelines for adults and babies. Adults can safely choose a mineral, chemical or hybrid formula, but dermatologists and pediatricians alike recommend mineral sunscreens for babies. They also suggest using one that&#;s water-resistant. For caregivers, ease of use is also crucial. After all, sunscreen is effective only if you can apply (and reapply it) evenly. I found that the best baby sunscreens cover squirmy arms and legs quickly and easily without feeling slippery or sticky, are free of fragrances and other potential irritants, and come in a container that won&#;t spill in your bag. (Read my in-depth review of the La Roche-Posay and Blue Lizard sunscreens here.)
Amazon
Type: Mineral | Price per fluid ounce: $8 | Active ingredients: Titanium dioxide 5%, zinc oxide 15% | Water resistance: 80 minutes | Scent: None
Best for:
Skip if:
I&#;ll be stealing this elegant mineral sunscreen from my daughter every time we&#;re out. La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Sunscreen passed all of my tests with aplomb: 5 out of 5 in every category.
It didn&#;t run or drip when I squeezed a dollop out of the tube onto my arm and flipped it upside down, nor did it leak in my diaper bag. For a cream, that&#;s about as un-messy as it gets. Other lotion contenders separated in the tube or came out as a thin, runny consistency that wasn&#;t nearly as easy or pleasant to apply.
The La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Sunscreen didn&#;t run or drip when I squeezed a dollop out of ... [+] the tube onto my arm and flipped it upside down.
Elyse Moody For ForbesThis one felt like one of my favorite face lotions&#;moisturizing, gentle and soft. Most other contenders felt greasy or oily immediately upon application and stayed sticky or at least slightly tacky after even 20 minutes of drying. Not this one. Even though it&#;s thick and hydrating, it spreads evenly and dries quickly to a soft, smooth finish. It looks evenly white at first, which I liked because I could see where I had applied it (and feel confident I hadn&#;t missed a spot), then dried invisibly. It didn&#;t leave any chalky, uneven streaks the way other contenders did.
This La Roche-Posay formula is truly fragrance-free and neutral smelling, at least to my nose. Some &#;fragrance-free&#; products still have the slight natural scent of its ingredients, which can be off-putting. Many of the unscented sunscreens I tested had a slight nutty or vanilla scent that could be really nice but was definitely noticeable; others had a chemical odor I found unpleasant.
My long-term testing update:
Amazon
Type: Mineral | Price per fluid ounce: $3 | Active ingredients: Titanium dioxide 8%, zinc oxide 10% | Water resistance: 80 minutes | Scent: None
Best for:
Skip if:
Compared with our best overall pick from La Roche-Posay, this Blue Lizard formula is thinner. That could up the messiness factor, and it does make it slightly less luxurious to apply. However, it feels just as soft and residue-free once it&#;s on, which is what ultimately matters most. For the price, I found the Blue Lizard Baby sunscreen unbeatable.
Because it&#;s thinner, it didn&#;t do as well as many other, thicker contenders on my drip test. It did, however, score perfect 5s for its feel and finish. I found that it had a similar lightweight feel and quick-drying, soft finish to the La Roche-Posay sunscreen for less than half the price per fluid ounce.
The Blue Lizard Baby sunscreen had a lightweight feel and quick-drying, soft finish.
Elyse Moody For ForbesIt won out when compared with similarly priced contenders from Aveeno and Pipette. I found Blue Lizard Baby sunscreen to feel similarly pleasant in texture to Pipette, with the added bonus of water resistance up to 80 minutes (Pipette is not water-resistant). And I like that the Blue Lizard Baby is truly unscented unlike Aveeno, which also felt slightly greasier at first to me, although it set nicely.
Finally, I love the bottle, which turns pink in UV light, alerting you when it&#;s time to reapply. (My husband thought this was the most genius thing he&#;d ever heard.) This makes the Blue Lizard sunscreen especially great to take along with you to the pool or beach.
My long-term testing update:
For more information, please visit Lotion Bottle.
Amazon
Type: Mineral | Price per ounce: $11 | Active ingredients: Zinc oxide 20% | Water resistance: 80 minutes | Scent: None
Best for:
Skip if:
I was skeptical when I smelled this Hello Bello sunscreen, since I really wanted a fragrance-free option. I am also just skeptical of any celebrity-fronted product. (The brand is owned by Kristen Bell and Dax Shepherd.) However, I have come to love Hello Bello diapers despite my initial reservations, and the company&#;s baby sunscreen really impressed me too.
This Hello Bello stick sunscreen is not the least bit sticky, greasy or even slightly tacky. It rubs ... [+] in evenly with zero effort, and that white cast that disappears quickly.
Elyse Moody For ForbesThe thing I came to love most about this sunscreen is the texture&#;that&#;s what gave it the edge over the other baby sunscreen stick I really liked and honestly would prefer to wear myself (Supergoop&#;s Sunnyscreen stick). This Hello Bello formula goes on with a slight white cast that shows you where it is, and it feels dry immediately. In my notes, I described it as &#;soft and powdery right away.&#; It&#;s not the least bit sticky, greasy or even slightly tacky. It rubs in evenly with zero effort, and that white cast that disappears quickly. By comparison, Sunnyscreen goes on smoother and clearer (which I liked for myself but not for my baby) and felt a little more slippery for longer.
Next: that scent. I tested three baby sunscreen sticks, and they all had a scent&#;even the one that described itself as unscented. I detected no irritation to my skin from this one, and I actually found its sweet, candy-like scent fun and pretty addictive. What kid doesn&#;t want to smell like candy? It could be a real-life pro, not a con.
My long-term testing update:
I tested nine other baby sunscreens that didn&#;t make the cut. Here&#;s why:
Mustela Mineral Baby Sunscreen Lotion: I liked this thick cream but noted that it felt a bit greasy (not sticky, though) and had a faint chemical smell. Its price appealed to me ($5/fluid ounce compared with La Roche-Posay&#;s $8), but ultimately I preferred the feel and finish of the $3/fluid ounce Blue Lizard.
Supergoop Sunnyscreen 100% Mineral Stick: I was torn between this sunscreen stick and the Hello Bello one; I loved them both. This one has a delicious light vanilla scent. I loved how smoothly it went onto my skin. I tested the two many times to decide between them, and ultimately decided on the Hello Bello version because it feels slightly less sticky both immediately and after it sets. Supergoop glides on a little more smoothly, though.
Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection Mineral Sunscreen: I liked how this drugstore option felt on my skin, but I liked Blue Lizard sunscreen a little more. It has a slight floral scent.
Babo Botanicals Mineral Sunscreen: I loved how this sunscreen felt after it dried, but I thought it felt really sticky at first.
Pipette Mineral Sunscreen: I loved how this truly scentless sunscreen felt, but I eliminated it because it&#;s not water-resistant, something our experts recommended. It&#;s also worth noting that it had separated in the bottle and required serious shaking to reincorporate the oils.
Sun Bum Baby Bum Mineral Sunscreen: This thick lotion felt a little oily and made my skin sting for the first 10 minutes or so. I noticed blotchiness after that. It also had a faint chemical smell I found off-putting.
Sun Bum Baby Bum Sunscreen Stick: I found the stick version of this sunscreen to be even more irritating than the lotion. It also took more work to rub in and left an uneven white cast.
Badger Baby Sunscreen Cream: I liked its light, naturally derived herbal/floral scent, but I didn&#;t like its consistency at all. This one had totally separated, so a messy stream of oil and a Tootsie Roll&#;like log of sunscreen came out on my arm. I massaged the tube and rubbed the cream onto my skin, but it was still the oiliest one I tried. My baby would feel like a greased piglet in this.
Bare Republic Baby Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen : This was the second oiliest baby sunscreen I tried, right behind Badger. It also made my skin feel a little itchy.
I interviewed experts on the topic and conducted deep research to narrow in on 12 top contenders to ... [+] test over the course of several weeks.
Elyse Moody For ForbesI started by searching online for the gentlest formulas at Whole Foods and Amazon (poring over praise and criticism in the reviews), took recommendations from my local parents&#; Facebook group and asked friends and Forbes Vetted editors who are parents which baby sunscreens they like.
After choosing 12 best-selling, well-reviewed baby sunscreens to test, I evaluated their scent, feel, finish, ease of use and messiness. I sniffed each tube and stick. I tried flicking the container open with one hand, something I&#;m sure I&#;ll be doing plenty this summer with my baby in my other arm, to be sure it was easy to do. (All our liquid contenders passed; you need two hands for a stick sunscreen, but it&#;s convenient in other ways.)
I evaluated baby sunscreens for their scent, feel, finish, ease of use and potential messiness.
Elyse Moody For ForbesI applied a dollop to my inner arm near the crook of my elbow, where my skin is most sensitive; this is where dermatologists always recommend testing new products to ensure you don&#;t experience inflammatory symptoms like redness or itchiness. I have really sensitive, reactive skin (I recently went in for a facial and reacted to even the gentlest products), so I felt pretty confident I would be a decent stand-in for a baby. I turned my arm upside down to see if the dollop would drip, since a cream that doesn&#;t run is easier to apply evenly so long as it doesn&#;t take a lot of effort to rub in.
Although they didn't all make the final cut, all of our sunscreen contenders passed my diaper bag ... [+] shake test.
Elyse Moody For ForbesAs I smoothed the sunscreen onto my skin, I rated how it felt on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (amazing). Low-scoring products were oily, greasy, sticky, slippery and even gooey; great ones made my skin feel softer and smoother but were otherwise unnoticeable, like a regular lotion. After a few minutes, I also rated the finish on the same scale, noting if any white cast or streaks were visible. I found that I liked an initial white cast that showed me that I&#;d covered my skin evenly, which is especially important when protecting babies&#; delicate skin; the best sunscreens dried from there to an invisible finish. Finally, I threw the sunscreen in a zip-top bag, tossed it in my diaper backpack along with my other supplies and shook it to see if it&#;d spill&#;kudos to all our contenders, none of them did.
You already have lots of baby-related decisions to make. Don&#;t let the hundreds (thousands?) of sunscreen options overcomplicate things. Picking a good one is simple. Look for the following five criteria&#;our winners are sure bets.
First the basics, per the Skin Cancer Foundation&#;s Wang. You want a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which means it protects skin from both UVA and UVB radiation. UVA rays penetrate skin more deeply and cause damage that can lead to melanoma and photoaging; UVB rays don&#;t go as deep but result in burns. (Fun fact: Sunscreens used to protect you from UVB rays only, but today most sunscreens are broad-spectrum and ward off both types of rays. It&#;s more common for cosmetic products like tinted moisturizer or foundation to block only UVBs.) The baby sunscreen you choose should be SPF 30 or higher.
He also recommends choosing a baby sunscreen with zinc oxide and/or titanium oxide&#;aka a mineral sunscreen. &#;Since these ingredients don&#;t need to be absorbed into the skin to work, they&#;re less likely to cause any reaction on babies&#; sensitive skin,&#; he says.
In our best face sunscreens report, we noted that adults can safely wear chemical, mineral or hybrid sunscreens. However, because babies have a much higher ratio of skin surface area to body weight when compared with adults, their skin absorbs more of the chemicals, and experts tend to recommend avoiding them. &#;Whenever you&#;re putting anything on the skin, there is going to be more of it getting absorbed into the body than it would with you or me, or even in an older kid,&#; says Rosenblatt. No matter how you feel about chemicals and absorption, the increased likelihood of an allergic reaction on babies&#; sensitive skin is a solid reason to stick with mineral sunscreens for them. Mineral sunscreens are also less likely than chemical sunscreens to burn or sting the eyes.
Rosenblatt emphasizes looking for a mineral sunscreen for sensitive skin&#;not just the word &#;baby&#; on the label. &#;I always warn patients of mine who have eczema that &#;baby&#; doesn&#;t mean that it&#;s for sensitive skin because a lot of those products are still fragranced,&#; she says.
Speaking of fragrance, it&#;s best to avoid scent altogether because it&#;s such a common cause of allergic reactions. Some people react immediately, but that doesn&#;t always happen; some fragrances can cause a sneaky, late reaction when your child goes in the sun. That&#;s called a &#;photoallergic&#; reaction. As Wang says, &#;Certain fragrances may induce allergic and photoallergic (allergy occurs when it has UV exposure) reactions, particularly in individuals, including babies, with sensitive skin.&#;
Naturally derived scents aren&#;t necessarily better than synthetic ones, either. &#;A lot of the fragranced natural organic products are botanical-based, but that&#;s not always good when it comes to the skin and it can be very irritating,&#; says Rosenblatt. She puts it to her patients&#; families like this: &#;Poison ivy is very natural, but you wouldn't rub that all over your skin.&#;
Wang recommends choosing a water-resistant sunscreen for babies. Formulas are typically water-resistant for 40 or 80 minutes. My winners are water-resistant for up to 80 minutes. I eliminated any non-water-resistant formulas&#;even if I really liked them.
We tested mostly sunscreen lotions and creams because our experts find that they give the best protection. &#;You&#;re just getting fuller coverage with a lotion,&#; says Rosenblatt. &#;It's really unpredictable, especially with the sprays, to know if you're actually covering the full surface, and how much you're getting.&#; She recommends using a cream for the first application at least&#;after that if a stick or spray is what you prefer to carry around for reapplying, it&#;s better than nothing.
To apply sunscreen properly, put it on your child 30 minutes before you head outside, says Wang. Dress them in sun-protective clothing as much as possible, then apply a liberal layer of sunscreen to all the skin that&#;s still exposed. The general guideline is to use 2 milligrams of sunscreen per square centimeter of skin. (That&#;s about 0.25 teaspoon for an area the size of your face.) Wang&#;s rule of thumb is: &#;Apply liberally, more than you think should be sufficient.&#; Be sure to hit frequently missed spots like the backs of hands, ears, eye area and scalp if they don&#;t have much hair. Add a UPF hat to protect that sensitive skin.
You might think you don&#;t want to see a white cast on your child&#;s skin after applying sunscreen, because you wouldn&#;t want to see it on your own skin, but it can be reassuring to see a solid layer on your baby and know you&#;ve covered everything. Many sunscreens become less visible after the first few minutes.
&#;When I see a baby and can see the sunscreen on their skin, that makes me happy because I know that the parents have done a really good job of protecting them,&#; says Rosenblatt. Reapply every 2 hours or more frequently when swimming or sweating, advises Wang.
Many baby sunscreens feel greasy or oily even a half hour after you apply them. This can encourage babies to rub it off or worse, rub it into their eyes where it can be really irritating (and ruin an afternoon). A soft, dry feel and finish feels much more comfortable for baby and you, since you&#;ll be the one picking them up or dealing with the aftermath.
Wong gave us this genius tip: For the eye area, apply a sunscreen stick, which is thicker and waxier in consistency and therefore less likely to travel, and then use cream or lotion on the rest of the face. The stick is more solid and less likely to smear, so it&#;ll help keep the rest out.
I&#;ve been a reporter and editor with a special expertise in health, wellness and skincare for more than 10 years, covering skin cancer and other crucial topics for O, The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Allure and other major publications. Over the past few years, since becoming a parent I&#;ve focused on prenatal, postpartum and children&#;s health. I obsess over my shopping decisions and love putting my research to use.
To write this story, I interviewed experts in skincare, chemistry and children&#;s health: dermatologist Dr. Steven Q. Wang, chair of the Skin Cancer Foundation photobiology committee and director of dermatologic oncology at the Hoag Family Cancer Institute, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, in Newport Beach, California; Michelle Wong, PhD, founder of Lab Muffin Beauty Science, a cosmetic chemist based in Sydney, Australia; and Dr. Adeena Rosenblatt, MD, PhD, a pediatric dermatologist at UChicago&#;s Comer Children&#;s Hospital.
This tested evaluation of baby sunscreens was edited and produced by deputy editor Jane Sung who has over 15 years of experience covering every beauty topic under the sun (pun intended). She has also overseen in-depth testing and reviews of the best mineral sunscreens, top face sunscreens and many more articles on SPF for various skin types.
Their skin is still so sensitive. &#;It&#;s best to wait until babies are 6 months old to see how their skin tolerates sunscreen,&#; says Wang. &#;It&#;s ideal to keep newborns out of the sun for the first 6 months.&#; If you have to take your child out in the sun for more than a few minutes before she&#;s 6 months old, avoid the peak sun hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., try to stay in the shade and dress your child in loose and dark-colored or (even better) UV protective clothing and a hat.
A broad-spectrum water-resistant mineral sunscreen (containing the active ingredients titanium dioxide or zinc oxide) with an SPF 30 or higher is the safest choice for babies over 6 months old.
Some baby sunscreens make a big deal out of containing zinc oxide only. I asked our experts why some parents might want to avoid the other active ingredient in most mineral sunscreens, titanium dioxide. Wang said that the Skin Cancer Foundation isn&#;t aware of any &#;significant hesitation&#; regarding it and noted that the FDA declared titanium dioxide generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) as a sunscreen ingredient in .
Wong, however, pointed to a recent EU ban on titanium dioxide in food owing to carcinogenic concerns. &#;The scientific validity of this ban has been controversial with many experts disagreeing with the ban,&#; she says. &#;Eating something is very different from applying it on your skin, but I&#;m guessing the concern is because babies eat everything.&#; Right now, there&#;s no guidance against titanium dioxide in baby sunscreen.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Lotion Plastic Bottle. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.