How Should Babies and Children’s Skin Be Prepared for the Summer Sun?
As the weather warmed up and the sun started to show its face slowly, the time spent in the gardens and parks began to increase. Babies and children need to spend time outdoors, get fresh air and benefit from some sun. However, with some precautions to be taken, especially the subject of sun exposure, it allows to prevent many problems that may be experienced in the future.
The sun’s rays consist of two parts called UV A and UVB. While UVA comes to earth all day long, UVB is only present in daylight from 11-14 pm. Since there is no seasonal separation here, the arrival of UV rays is like this every day of the year, even if the weather is cloudy and rainy. If there is an excess of sun rays necessary for our body, it damages the skin and prepares the ground for many skin cancers, especially Melanoma in adulthood. For this reason, it is possible to benefit from the sun as a friend from a very young age, but by avoiding its burning and scorching effects and its accumulative damage. If a sweet transition is made to prepare for the summer sun in the spring season, the skin structure of your babies and children will not deteriorate. The risk of disease does not increase.
Here are the things to consider in this regard:
• The skin of babies under 6 months is very vulnerable. It can be sun-roasted in minutes. It is not right for skin health to expose a baby under 6 months of age without clothes and naked under direct sun. It must be dressed in clothes, a hat on its head, and if possible, it should be in the shade and in a green environment.
• It would be more appropriate to protect a baby under 6 months with clothing rather than using sunscreen.
• The baby is not left in the sun, especially between 10-14 hours when UVA and UVB are intense together.
• It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the upper protective awning of the strollers is UV protected. Covering the protective awning protects the baby from direct sunburn.
• The baby is taken out before 10 in the morning and after 14 in the afternoon, if possible, in wooded and green areas where the sun does not come directly. For babies older than 6 months, when going out to the park even if the weather is cloudy, the hands and face should be protected 15 minutes before going out with a sun protection cream prepared for babies. The hat to be worn on the head must also protect the ears. The balding crown and ears are the most forgotten areas in sun protection and are the areas that are frequently seen in adulthood.
Our preference for the protection of children and babies in the spring months is to be protected from the sun by dressing as much as possible and by paying attention to the time. Since the benefits of sun rays for health and bone development are also important for dermatologists, it will be sufficient to pay attention to these issues in order to be protected from skin cancer and burns. The sunscreen product to be chosen for baby and child and how to use it will be discussed in the next article. If available, tightly woven, light-colored and UV protective clothing will be beneficial for protecting skin health. If the nose, ears, hands and shoes are not worn, the bottom and top of the feet are protected with sunscreen cream.
The most important point to be considered and often forgotten in this regard is that the caregiver or elders who care for our child should also pay attention and care to this situation. It should not be forgotten that sunburn on the skin of babies and children, even worse, blistering with blistering and peeling will cause the risk of skin cancer, which will cause bad results in the future.
