Kids' Wellness Matters Podcast Ep. 13: Keeping Kids Safe in the Sun

Keeping kids safe while enjoying the summer sun means stocking up on SPF, but the sunscreen aisle can be overwhelming, especially to new parents trying to prevent sunburns on young children. Kids’ Wellness Matters hosts Nina and Rob share their tips on SPF and other sun safety tips in this summer bonus episode of the show.   

Show Notes

• Mineral and chemical sunscreens are the two common types of sunscreen you will encounter while shopping. Mineral sunscreens which contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide act as a barrier on the skin and are often recommended for younger children. But, Dr. Alfieri says any sunscreen is better than none and explains the importance of reapplying sunscreen every two hours, especially after swimming or sweating.
• According to Dr. Sanchez you should select a sunscreen with an SPF 15 to 30. He says it is not known if higher SPFs provide significantly more protection. 
• Both doctors are parents of infants and recommend keeping babies under six months out of direct sunlight and suggest using shade like stroller sun shade canopy, protective clothing and fans to keep babies cool and safe from both sunburn and heat stroke.
• Sunscreen isn’t the only way to prevent burning. Wearing a hat and long-sleeve shirts made with tight fabric weaves or “rash guards” are also good ways to protect  young children from sun exposure.
• You should seek medical care if your baby has a sunburn. For older children, seek medical care if they are experiencing significant blistering, pain, or fever.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Nina, it's summertime in Chicago. Are you excited?

[00:00:04] Dr. Nina Alfieri: I could not be more excited. It's the best time of the year in the city.

[00:00:08] Dr. Rob Sanchez: I'm so pumped to take the boys to the beach. As you know, I have a two and a half year old and a six month old. Get out to the lake, get some sunshine, but we have to make sure that we keep them safe. too. It ends up that even one severe sunburn increases a child's risk for skin cancer later on in life.

[00:00:23] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Absolutely. I'm excited to dive in and talk a little bit about how we can protect our kids this summer. Let's start with sunscreen. so there's two types of sunscreen. There's mineral sunscreen, which is a barrier on the skin that blocks the sun. And then there's chemical type sunscreens, which are more traditionally absorbed into the skin and there's a bit of a chemical reaction and that blocks the sun out. Any sunscreen is better than none. We don't want kids outside with their skin exposed to the sun, especially in the peak hours. But mineral sunscreen is more often recommended. So for the parents out there, you can look for sunscreens that contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Fun fact, same ones that we see in diaper cream. but these are well known ingredients that are generally recognized as safe and effective by the FDA. Rob, what do you recommend for families in terms of the SPF level? I know I get that question a lot in clinic. 

[00:01:15] Dr. Rob Sanchez: I usually go by the standard recommendation, which is an SPF of 15 or 30 should be fine for most people. More research studies are needed to see if anything like higher than SPF 50 is worth it, like for any extra protection.

[00:01:28] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Instead of focusing on the SPF level so much, focusing on reapplication. So when we're outside, we are often playing with water tables or sweating or, you know, we have watermelon juice all over us. For various reasons, the sunscreen doesn't work after, couple hours on your skin. So we really want to recommend that people reapply sunscreen about every two hours and of course more frequently if you're swimming and sweating and drying off with towels. we see a lot of sunburns happen not because of the SPF level being too low but really from the sunscreen effect wearing off. 

[00:02:01] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Doing it ahead of time too. So Remember that you want to apply that 15 to 30 minutes before you go outdoors, just cause it needs some time to absorb into the skin. So just being mindful of those time things and making sure you're applying early and reapplying often. But also, it's important to remember that even on cloudy days you still want to make sure that you're protecting yourself and your children against sunburn because up to 80 percent of the sun's UV rays can still get through the clouds. I have a little bit of a darker pigment. A common thought that maybe folks with darker skin might not sunburn as easily. But, you know, the reality is that Everyone needs protection from these UV rays. Everyone's kind of susceptible and you really want to protect your skin, regardless, of, your skin tone. 

[00:02:40] Dr. Nina Alfieri: I get this question in clinic a lot. We both have young babies this summer. We have summer babies. 

[00:02:46] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Summer babes. 

[00:02:46] Dr. Nina Alfieri: We got five and six month olds. There's some stuff online about not being able to use sunscreen in young babies and should we myth bust a little bit? Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:02:55] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Definitely. 

[00:02:55] Dr. Nina Alfieri: All right, so what's the deal with young babies? The deal is basically that you really want to keep young babies out of the sun as much as possible. Their skin is so different than an older baby or an adult. and We really, really want to take care of their fragile skin. The other thing is babies are not quite as good at regulating their temperature. So they don't sweat like older kids and adults. So babies are at much higher risk of heat stroke and becoming too hot being outside. So you really want to make sure that wherever you're going, you're finding a shady place. You're bringing a fan for your baby. if your baby is under six months, really try to keep them out of direct sunlight. You know, that could be a tree, an umbrella, a stroller, canopy, whatever works for you. There's no reason necessarily why sunscreen is dangerous for babies that young, it's more that we really want to make sure that we're using other means to protect the sun from, from hitting their skin. So what are some other ways that you recommend protecting skin other than sunscreen? 

[00:03:50] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Hats, shirts, During my older one's first year of life, he actually traveled to all different types of beaches, so we had him in, you know, long sleeve swim shirt the tighter the fabric's weave is, the less sunlight that gets in directly to the skin, the better. 

[00:04:03] Dr. Nina Alfieri: When I became a parent, I had to look up what the word rash guard was like, what is this? And it's, you know, the surfers wear these long sleeves, but that is great for toddlers and for young kids. So, you know, this summer when we're out, when do families need to seek a doctor's care 

[00:04:18] Dr. Rob Sanchez: So if they're younger than one year old and they get a sunburn, Definitely contact your doctor right away. You're going to, you know, take photos if you can. You'll want to note to them and share with them just what kind of symptoms they're having and just how significant the burn is. If they're an older child, you can manage it at home if they get a sunburn. But if it's really blistering, more significant pain, or if they're developing a fever, that's when you want to call your doctor. Cause that could be a more severe sunburn that they'll want to get support for.

[00:04:45] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Okay, one more pro tip. When you go in the sunscreen aisle, it's so overwhelming. There's like millions of different kinds of applications, millions of different kinds of brands. I guess I'll just give my practical tip as a pediatrician and a parent. You don't really need to spend a lot of money on sunscreen. Make sure you're getting one that has 30 to 50 SPF, and then there's various different ways of application. the stick, which I think is really good for the face. It's a little harder to use a stick on the entire body. So I really prefer the lotion because you can quickly rub it between your hands and make sure it's getting on your child. I think in the last several years, the spray sunscreens have gained a lot of traction because they're so easy to put on. My only warning with that for kids is that there are some families and some pediatricians who are concerned about the spray and what that means in terms of chemicals for kids. I still think it's better than nothing and I totally have used that on my kid before, but, if you're going to use it, another way to use it is to spray it on your hands and then rub it into your child if you want to avoid that aerosol. Regardless, if you are using the spray sunscreens, I think my pro tip for families is to make sure that Even after you spray it onto the skin that you're really rubbing it into the skin because it doesn't necessarily evenly apply Just with the spray.

[00:05:56] Dr. Rob Sanchez: No, definitely a good pro tip there. And I think a good reminder is sunscreen care is skin care, which is why we recommend some of the ones that have zinc oxide, stuff that's used to protect the skin in other areas. And especially if your child has a little bit of sensitive skin, that might be something that's going to help out a little bit too.

[00:06:13] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Thanks for listening today. Hope you find these tips helpful. Have a safe, healthy, and fun summer.