In some ways, having a winter baby is lucky. Sure, you’re a bit trapped indoors for those first few months if you live in most of Canada, but by the time spring is ready to enjoy, baby is just that little bit older and little bit easier to protect from the sun.
Still, many sources, including our RPN at baby’s regular check-ins reminded us to keep baby out of the sun, and not to use sunscreen before 6 months. I’m a firm believer that the outdoors and fresh air do a ton of good for both baby and mama’s well-being, so what the heck was I to do if we wanted to enjoy the beautiful spring and summer weather while baby was still under 6 months old?
Ultimately, we decided to follow doctor’s orders and keep baby out of direct sunlight whenever possible, but there were times when he was in his stroller where we couldn’t keep him 100% shaded, despite our UPPAbaby Vista’s massive canopy. We couldn’t really cover the canopy with a muslin blanket to provide extra shade, because plenty of our summer is above 30°C, so we would have risked overheating baby in his stroller.
What were we to do about the parts of baby (sometimes his feet and legs) that were exposed to the sun for small amounts of time? I did as I always do and took to Dr. Google to figure out the reasons behind why sunscreen “wasn’t allowed” for infants under 6 months. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the American Academy of Pediatrics actually says that you can apply a minimal amount of sunscreen of at least 15 SPF to areas of skin that aren’t covered by clothing.
So, although I went to pretty extreme measures to keep baby completely out of the sun, I didn’t feel guilty if he got a little exposure because I felt comfortable putting sunscreen on him from about 4 months on.
Of course, keeping baby safe from the sun requires a certain amount gear, so I thought I’d share with you what we had for baby during his first summer. As always, I over-researched everything online before making my purchases, so I’m confident that I’ve done what I can to protect baby from the sun!
Sunscreen: Since I was spreading this stuff on my baby’s soft infant skin, I wanted to make sure I was using sunscreen that was as safe as possible. I landed on ThinkBaby sunscreen. You can read the down-low on sunscreen types, SPF, water-resistance, and more on ThinkBaby’s website, and between this and other sources, I decided that a mineral sunscreen like ThinkBaby’s was the way to go. So for the last 16 months we’ve been using their SPF50+ sunscreen lotion on baby’s body, and their SPF30sunsreen stick on baby’s face, and love it. No, it’s not cheap, but neither are the other comparable sunscreens that are safe for baby. We have bottles and sticks of this at home, in our diaper bag, and at baby’s daycare, and it has traveled with us to Costa Rica, and baby has yet to show signs of sun exposure after using ThinkBaby.
Sidenote: I did try Aveeno Baby SPF50 sunscreen, because we needed some for by the pool at my in-law’s house, and although it does the job, I don’t like it as much. It doesn’t blend into the skin nearly as well as ThinkBaby, and I don’t love the smell of it compared to the ThinkBaby either. We also have the Aveeno Baby face stick and it rubs in even less well than the lotion. However, if you’re looking for a mineral based sunscreen that’s a bit more affordable, there’s nothing wrong with the Aveeno products in general, and you can often find coupons online to print for even bigger savings.
Sunglasses: Sunglasses are great, if you can get baby to wear them! Last summer when baby was four months and older, he loved wearing sunglasses and looked absolutely adorable in them. So much so that I bought two pairs for him! This summer, at 16 months, he’s much more aware of them and rips them off immediately. I’m confident that he’ll wear them again in due time, as my friend’s baby who is a few months older has now started sporting them again because they’re so fun to wear!
This is another area where I decided to suck it up and spend the money– it’s important to protect baby’s eyes from the sun, so I didn’t want to just get a cheap pair of glasses because there was a risk he’d break them when ripping them off or playing with them. I found these cute sunglasses by Hipsterkid for $19.99 at Indigo. Why was I ok with paying $20 vs the $8 ones I’d seen at Carter’s or Old Navy? Because Hipsterkid glasses came with a 100% replacement guarantee. I’ve heard that they’ve discontinued the replacement program in Canada (why do we always get ripped off?), but nonetheless, I’d still buy the glasses because they’re cute and colourful! I liked them so much I got baby a pair in black and yellow.
There are tons of swimsuits for baby on the market, so I don’t have a specific recommendation, but I wanted to give baby more coverage than just his swim diaper when we had him swimming in the outdoor pool. I had a lot of success at Once Upon a Child and found a few different solutions, including a one piece zip-up rash guard with shorts and short sleeves, so we only had to worry about his knees down and elbows down. I also found a Baby Gap long-sleeved rash guard that went well with tiny swim trunks to keep his top half really protected. Although the rash guards keep baby’s skin out of the sun, I’m not a huge fan of them because they also keep the water close to baby’s body and I find that he gets cold way faster with one on than if he’s just in a swim diaper.
As you can see, it’s not a huge list of supplies to keep baby relatively well protected from the sun. And as I said, we did our best but didn’t go nuts trying to keep him out of the sun 100% of the time. When possible, we tried to keep him in the shade of a tree or umbrella when swimming, or just swim after hours. We also got this large Summer Infant Pop n’ Play from Costco on sale, which comes with a shade that provides extra sun protection. We often set it up in the yard under a tree when we were doing work and could feel confident that he wasn’t getting too much sun! The pop n’ play definitely helped me not feel trapped indoors all the time when the sun was out.
I’m always open to trying other products– what are your favourite sunscreen brands for baby? Did you start using sunscreen on baby before 6 months?
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