What’s Going Around: Finding the best sunscreen for kids

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — With the summer sun smothering the DMV, parents need to be extra vigilant with their children. And we’re not talking just water breaks, children also need frequent sunscreen applications.

There are two types of sunscreens available for children, according to Dr. Yolandra Hancock, a pediatrician at Generational Health Center in Upper Marlboro, Md.

A chemical sunscreen and a physical or mineral sunscreen. The physical sunscreen is the zinc oxide or titanium oxide products, where when you put it on, it leaves a white film on your body that acts as a barrier from the sun’s harmful rays, according to Hancock.

“This is the product that we recommend for younger children. For older children and for individuals who don’t have any skin issues, like extremely dry skin or eczema, they can use a chemical sunscreen. These products are applied to the skin and actually absorb the sun’s harmful rays sort of like a sponge, if you will,” Hancock said.

She recommends, if possible, trying to avoid the spray form of chemical sunscreen because you can breathe it in and it can impact your lung health. 

Hancock also emphasized the importance of paying attention to the SPF in the sunscreens. You want to use 30 or higher.

“SPF is just an indication of how well protected your skin is using a sunscreen. For example, an SPF of 30 lets us know that you’re 30 more times protected against a sunburn than if you didn’t use sunscreen at all,” Hancock explained.

As far as reapplying sunscreen on children, Hancock said it depends on whether or not they’re going out into the water. If they go out in the water, you’ll want to reapply sunscreen the minute they come back on land. If they’ve been out for a long time, you want to pay attention to reapplication for about an hour, depending on the SPF.

“The higher the SPF, the more time you have in terms of having to reapply. Even if you’re using a SPF of around 50 to 70, you still want to reapply it every two hours or so because we are also outside sweating and a lot of that sunscreen comes off when you sweat,” Hancock said.

When it comes to sunscreen sticks, Hancock said to pay close attention to where the stick is hitting the child’s skin, as it’s easy to miss spots, especially with little ones.

“We want to get as much surface area as we can,” she said. “Pay attention to where it is hitting the skin to make sure you get full coverage.”

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents should start applying sunscreen when babies reach six months. Babies younger than six months should be kept out of direct sunlight.