For children to be children, they have to engage in many well-known outdoor activities such as fishing, camping, swimming, soccer, trampoline jumping, building sandcastles, beach racing, etc. Through all these, they are exposed to the sun, whose ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause damage the more the exposure.
Why Sun Protection Is Important
A few sunburns can prepare the ground for skin cancers later in life. For that reason, you need to apply the tips about sun protection for babies.
Again, remember that your kid can still get sunburns when right at home, so don’t focus on protecting them only when they leave home. It takes just 15 minutes for unprotected skin to be sunburned. The real damage can show 12 hours later when your kid’s skin turns pink.
Sun Protection for Babies
The following are the sun safety tips to use to protect your kids from the harmful sun effects:
Encourage Them to Play In the Shade
Encourage your kids always to play or sit in the shade, especially between 10 am and 4 pm when the UV rays are powerful. You should also install playthings like trampolines under the trees or in the garden.
If you are taking them to the beach, take with you a large umbrella. During the summer, take them mainly to the well-shaded parks to minimize sun exposure.
Sun Protection Clothing
It would help if you preferred long-sleeved tops over short-sleeved ones to cover your kids’ arms. Long skirts and pants are also better than short ones in leg protection from the sun. When choosing to clothe for your kids, purchase those made from dark, tightly woven fabric because they are helpful in sun protection for babies.
Keep the clothes dry because wet clothes are less effective in providing sun protection to the skin.
Sun Safety Tips
Provide Them with Sunglasses
Sunglasses are cool to wear, but there is more to them than meets the eye. They are called sunglasses for a reason: they protect your eyes from the harmful sun rays. It would be best if you chose sun protection glass models that wrap around your kids’ eyes to block many UVA and UVB rays.
Provide Them with Hats
Some kids do not like hats even after explaining why they always need to wear one when going out. Start getting them used to hats when they are toddlers. Sun protection for babies starts when they are toddlers; mark you that.
It would help if you went for the long-brimmed hats that comfortably cover the ears, face, neck, and scalp for maximum protection. Some kids love baseball caps, but then these models’ shadows never cover the neck and ears.
Sun Safety Tips
Apply Sun Protection Lotion
What is sun protection lotion? It is better known as sunscreen and is used to shield the sun from its harmful effects. Sunscreen with at least an SPF of 30 is highly recommended for UVA and UVB protection whenever your kids are going out. You should apply sunscreen about 30 minutes before leaving because it takes some time to become effective. Apply it generously to their noses, noses, lips, and over the feet.
If they are out swimming, racing, or doing any exercise that causes them to sweat a lot, you need to be applying sunscreen every two hours. A Gym Expert should advise on the kind of exercises that require frequent sun protection cream application.
In short, you need to keep sunscreen with you all the time. It should always be somewhere in the car, backpack, hotel room, house, etc.
If your kid’s skin is allergic to a particular sunscreen, try another and consult a doctor on the proper sun protection for babies. Again, applying sunscreen should not mean that your kids now have a license to always be in the sun.
Sun Safety Tips For Kids
When the day is cool and cloudy, do not assume your kids have a field day to go about without sun protection. They still need to be shielded from the UV rays, whose intensity is not altered by the temperature. The clouds can only block a fraction of the UV rays if ever the clouds have that power.
As you practice these tips, as mentioned above, please make it a habit of performing a full-body inspection at home twice a month to ascertain that your kids are safe from the sun’s UV rays. Any sign of tanning, wrinkling, or leathery skin is an indication that prolonged sun exposure is taking its toll.
How seriously do you take the matters about sun protection for babies? Or, which area do you think you need to improve to keep them safer?
