13 Month Old Allergic to Sunscreen?

I think my daughter could be allergic to sunscreen and was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem. Recently since the weather has been nice her daycare has been taking them outside to play and putting sunscreen on her face and arms. Then I noticed a red bumpy rash on her arms and face. I gave them the water babies sunscreen to use and figured that would be formulated for sensitive baby skin. The past few days the weather has been cool and they haven't gone out and the rash has cleared up. Does anyone know anything about this and if so is there another brand of sunscreen to use for sensitive skinned babies?

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C.T. answers from Fayetteville on April 09, 2009

Tons of kids have this kind of reaction to paba in sunscreens, most sunscreens now are paba free, especially if they are for children. Find out what the day care is using on her, just to be sure. (sometimes for convenience sake they will use the same stuff on all the kids unless they KNOW for sure of an allergy situation-I worked at a pre-school, this happens.) My daughter has very sensitive skin, I used Hawiian Tropics Baby Faces and Tender Places, it has less chemicals in it-but honestly feels like you're putting elmer's glue on your kids-lol.

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L. answers from Mobile on April 09, 2009

Hi J.,

My guess would be that it's heat rash, not an allergy. We had a similar problem when using the sunscreen sticks--it was like her skin couldn't breathe, and she got what seemed to be heat rash. Maybe try something that isn't waterproof or a physical barrier-type sunscreen with zinc oxide or something. We were fine just ditching the stick, but keep in mind that best thing might not be a baby product--sometimes they are the worst about excessive fragrance and such!

Good luck.

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L.B. answers from Fayetteville on April 09, 2009

Here, you can find all kinds of sunscreens and their safety ratings at

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/wordsearch.php?query=sun...

Sunscreens are in general pretty toxic, but as you can see, there are lots of "green" (safe) ones to choose from. This database rates safest first. If you click on any one, the following page will show you where you can buy it. It's on the right side.

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J.T. answers from Oklahoma City on April 09, 2009

First make sure they're actually using what you gave them. Some day cares buy in bulk and may be using that.

Maybe not allergic rash, but just sensitive? Try something different, maybe an oil free sunscreen.

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M.K. answers from Monroe on April 09, 2009

My dd and I are both allergic to any sunscreen containing anything other than titanium or zinc oxide/dioxide. The following were recommended by our dermatologist yesterday: Nutragena sensitive skin (come in 30 and 45), burt bees (I know comes in a 15) and Blue Lizzard (I know comes in a 30)...all of these can be found over the counter at walmart, target, cvs, walgreens, and probably rite aid...the others that contain only the titanium and zinc you would have to order from online and can be quite expensive.