Sunblock on Newborns??

I have a 2 month old also. I found a mineral sunblock that comes in powder form that I use only when sun cannot be avoided. The minerals are pure, no chemicals on her delicate skin. It's called colorescience sunforgettable dispensing brush SPF 30 sun protection. I know the SPF should be higher, but it's better than nothing. I have a 3 y.o. also and I can't stop everything just because of the baby. And I think it's cruel to put long sleeves on when it's 90!

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We used sunscreen on our daughter last summer (born 6/21) but carefully researched the type of sunscreen we put on her. I decided it was simply unavoidable because I like to be outside, and the harm of not using sunscreen was greater than the harm of using it.

You can check them with the database that the Environmental Working Group keeps, which rates all cosmetics for the presence of harmful or potentially harmful ingredients. As a rule of thumb, you want to pick a sunscreen that uses a mineral such as zinc oxide or titanium oxide as the sunblock agent, verses oxybenzone or something like that. I found that Whole Foods had the best selection of highly rated ones (California Baby always rates well but is $$), but the Blue Lizard ones generally rated well too. The database is located here:
http://www.ewg.org/cosmetics/report/sunscreen09/findyours...

I generally go for anything they rate a 3 or lower.

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My 2 year old daughter was born July 1, and what we did during the hot summer months after her birth was take our long walks in the early morning and afternoon. We kept her out of bright sun from 10:00am to about 2 or 3 depending how the day felt. If we HAD to be out during the burning hours, we used the shade umbrella on her stroller. I also carried her in tucked in a sling which kept the sun off. She never burned.

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I used to put a blanket over the canopy of the stroller and even over the car seat (when it was really hot and I had to go out) from the parking lot to the store. Get creative and use what you have to keep her shaded and protected. If your pediatrician says not to use sunblock then don't. Regardless of what you read. Your doctor is the expert not some site that is trying to sell their product. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter!!

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I used to put a receiving blanket over the shade of the stroller when we would go for walks to provide a little protection. When sitting outside either in the yard or at the park we stayed in the shade. Of course that is not always possible so I kept an umbrella in the stroller basket. And a hat is essential whether you are in the shade or not. Baby's head is tender still.

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There is a sunscreen that I read about in Cookie magazine. It is SPF 30 and called "babysilk". It says in the blurb that it is even good for young infants, and invented by mothers in the medical field. I have yet to research it though. You can find it at mdmoms.com

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Of course it sounds horrible to put your child in long sleeves in this weather! However...my daughter was also very young during the summer. I just kept her very well shaded at all times when we were out. Most strollers have a canopy & you can also use a light blanket to shade her by putting it over the unshaded parts of the stroller. Meshy lightweight type materials to drape over the strollers are good too because it provides some shade & they can feel the fresh air as well as see their surroundings.

I would definitely stay away from using any sunscreens though at such an early age. Most, even some "baby" ones have pretty harsh chemicals. Check out this website that I use : cosmeticdatabase.com
It tells you the hazardous ratings on lots of products including baby products. You always want to try looking for the products with the lowest toxicity levels which are the safest.

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My son is 2 months old too and I thought the same thing. We are going to Florida to visit my in-laws this week, so the sun is almost unavoidable. I bought an extra sun shade for our umbrella stroller and purchased California Baby sunblock from diapers.com It is much cheaper online than at whole foods. I would rather have his skin get a bit irritated than him get sunburned. My sister did the same thing with my nephew, and he is perfectly fine.

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Just keep her as shaded as possible. One warning... when my oldest was about 2 months old we were at an outside function, I had her in complete shade and she got sunburn on her face from the reflection of the sun on a nearby parked car. Watch for any light that can reflect back on her. Took a few days and lots of baby lotion for it to go away.

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I think it depends on your pediatrician. Mine said that as soon as my daughter turned 3 months, sunblock was okay (6 months was the rule of thumb for bug spray). My daughter was born March 2008, and we spent almost every day at the pool. I did go late afternoon to avoid the strongest sun, and kept her covered with SPF 50 baby sunscreen. It worked great for us. No burns, no bad reactions, and she loved the water and being outside! I would double check with your pediatrician and let him know that your child will be outside some, and ask for a brand of sunscreen that he would recommend. Good luck and enjoy the summer!

you can buy something called a sun dome at baby's r us. It is a tent type thing and you can zip the cover or leave it open. As baby gets bigger, you can even put the bumbo seat in the dome and baby can sit in the bumbo. We loved this for going to the beach. It totally collapses.

Hi since she is to young for sunblock, just put a light receiving blanket over her if you are worried about her getting to hot. this way if she gets to hot you can just take the blanket off . I take it she'll be in a stroller with a hood on it to keep the sun out.

Just didn't go outside much......put baby in the stroller with the shade down, put hats on their head. Just don't stay out in the sun for very long...less than 20 min. Be in the shade as much as possible.

You can also purchase an additional weather protector for your stroller. They have netting for insects and uv sun shades to extend from your stroller. Look at target.com or babiesrus.com.

R.,

I would recommend also that you don't put on sunblock, for a couple of reason, one is she sucks on her arms or hands yet she will be ingesting it. Second, it can cause a rash for such delicate skin. I was a professional nanny and had several babies and took them out in the summer and just covered them with a light receiving blanket. Now aways they have SPF clothes and shades for little ones. One Step Ahead has great products for this, which you might be able to buy some used on Ebay. Sun Smarties Infant Cabana would be great being outisde for a long period of time to play or just to be outside and something you can use for a couple of summers. The stroller shade by Squidoo is good too, but if you have her in a baby stroller a light blanket and the stoller canopy should be fine. If you are worried that she might be getting too hot, Amazon sells the Dreambaby stroller fan, that will clip onto your stroller. What I really like about it the blades are foam and you won't have to worry about it hurting the baby. Just remember if you do put on suncreen, which I would not advise, wash it off as soon as you get home. It is not good for a baby to wear suncreen when they are not outside.

Good luck.

K.

We used sunscreen on our son before 6 months, but 2 months is very, very early. I would definitely go to whole foods and buy sunblock for children there. It's very gentle compared to all the "baby" brands you can buy elsewhere. (My baby had a CRAZY allergic reaction to the new Aveeno baby sunblock... FYI... it looked like she had a major skin disease. LOL). But also we just try to avoid direct sunlight. Use sun hats. Our stroller (Bob) has an awesome shade which blocks most all sun from hitting her... And we tried to get out early in the morning and then wait until late afternoon/early evening to go out again. These things seemed to work for both our kids...

Drape a blanket over the stroller -- not touching her, of course.

I also recently read that the consequences of sunbirn are worse than anything that can happen becuz of sunscreen. There is a great baby one made by I think Neutrogena that is pretty natural, and it's spf 60.

I was advised the same by my Pediatrician and followed it. If I wanted to let my older daughter play outside, I put my newborn son in the lightest weight long-sleeved t-shirts and pants I could find and also put him in a hat...and then sat with him in the shade. If it was too hot for that, I just stayed indoors. I didn't want to risk using the chemicals on a newborn, nor did I want to risk any sun exposure. When it comes to their health, it's worth the wait! :)

There are also age restrictions for using bug repellent, so you will want to check with your Pediatrician on that too. I can't remember if it was 6 months or later.