5 Ways to Protect Children from Sun UVs
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Children's skin is still in development. Therefore, it is more sensitive than the adult skin. This is especially true for the harmful UV rays. There is only one solution: Sunscreen.
Treatments - Sunscreen as early as possible
Sun protection for children primarily means to educate them about the damage that the sun can cause. A German study with small children has shown that the following educational work leads to 500% better sun protection measures:
Tips for Sun Protection
- Children should avoid staying in the sun between 12 and 16 o'clock. Instead, you can encourage them to play in the shade.
- Children should wear wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses with lenses that filter out UV rays, and dark clothing (a black T-shirt protects better than a white one).
- Apply new sunscreen regularly on all skin areas not covered by clothes (at least two shifts every two hours, and after each stay in water). Do not forget chest, neck, ears and feet!
- Choose a cream that is especially suitable for children's skin and has protective factor, SPF 50. It has to be waterproof and sand resistant.
- Children should drink water regularly when under sun.
For sure, as smart parents, you can get the sunscreen that does the protection to you and also you children.
Why sunscreen is particularly important to children?
Adults know that the sun's rays can be dangerous. But they are not always aware of how fatal these rays are on children's skin. The skin is still developing in children, it is immature and therefore very susceptible to the harmful rays:
Kid skin is thinner and therefore more susceptible to deep cell damage.
The pigment system is not yet sufficiently developed and does not provide UV protection (as with adult skin). Therefore, children must be fully protected from the sun, and to a greater extent than adults.
50% of our solar capital is used up when we are 20 years old. One in 55 people born in 2008 will one day have melanoma. Why? Children are excessively exposed to UV rays. On holiday, a third of all children spend an average of 15 hours a week in swimming trunks and bikinis: this is far too much, especially considering that water and sand reflect 30% of the UV rays. In addition, children can not assess the danger. This means that you do not communicate their malaise until the damage has already been caused. Sunburn and aggressions in the deeper skin cells cause irreparable damage and weaken the skin in the long term (early skin aging, increased skin cancer risk as adults).
These dangers include the risks of dehydration and heat stroke.
IMPORTANT! All doctors advise against exposing children under the age of three to the sun.