babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Remember the good ol’ days, when summer sun used to be something to worship and frolic in without a second thought? When sunburns were a rite of childhood passage, and post-beach Noxema slatherings were par for the course? Our generation grew up thinking about the sun the way our parents grew up thinking about cigarettes. Now, thanks to that dumb hole in the Ozone and all that annoying information about cancer, we must be ever-vigilant about protecting our children from the potential harm of the sun’s deadly rays.
After all, just ONE BAD SUNBURN more than doubles your child’s future skin cancer risk. Got that? ONE SLIP UP and your kid has twice the chance of getting melanoma as an adult. So while you’re longing for the sun-ignorant days of yore, make sure your children are covered by double checking these seven spots that parents often forget to protect. A little extra time and attention can prevent pain, risk and a whole lot of parental guilt.
Big changes headed to sunscreen product labeling.
The FDA has issued new guidelines for sunscreen labeling that should make it easier for parents to choose which products are best for their children.
Also, for the first time ever, the labeling is allowed to claim that sunscreens protect against skin cancer and early skin aging.
The new proposals are designed “to reduce consumer confusion,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation tells the Los Angeles Times.
Here’s a look at exactly what you will see change on all sunscreen products:
It's important to wear sunscreen, but harmful if you pick the wrong kind.
This week’s Babble’s Best list is recommended sunscreens for kids. They range from inexpensive to pricey, sweat- and waterproof to formulated for delicate skin. There’s stuff for face, body, lips and head. And it comes in all forms like cream, sticks, sprays or towelettes.
I’m a moderate sunscreen enforcer at best. We live in Southern California, where it’s pretty much sunny year-round. But my sunscreen vigilance kicks in during the summertime only. I find studies on sunscreen effectiveness confusing — last year I learned that a higher SPF isn’t actually offering more protection and may do more harm than good. And lately I’ve been trying to figure out where I stand on reported dangers of the bottled skin-protection. Continue reading »
Shampoos are a lot less fun when you're worrying about toxic chemicals.
A recent study found that children are, on average, exposed to 27 harmful chemicals a day through the body products they use. But when it comes time to buy that new bottle of shampoo or sunscreen, all those studies and warnings can become a daunting jumble. It’s impossible to keep all the chemicals straight, and comparing one product to another can seem like a hopeless cause when you can’t even decipher what the label says. One thing’s for sure: you can’t trust the way a product’s marketed. Words like “natural” and “organic” are popping up everywhere, but they don’t necessarily mean a product is free of harmful ingredients.
At times like these, you need a simple cheat sheet that tells you how to scan a label for the ingredients that are most likely to be damaging, and quickly choose the safest option for your family. All of the ingredients below have been linked to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, endocrine disruption, immunotoxicity and/or organ system toxicity. They’re also scarily common in the products we use on our kids every day.
Doctors want to ban teens from tanning salons.
For the last couple of decades, pediatricians — along with other health officials — have urged parents to protect their children’s skin from too much sun exposure. In the past few years, concerns were raised over the low levels of Vitamin D found in an increasing number of children. But overall, medical professionals have advised limiting time in the sun, using sunscreens and wearing protective clothing.
But doctors and researchers missed another area where some teens are knowingly soaking up harmful ultraviolet rays and even paying to do it. Continue reading »
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle has a great post up today about the best kid smells of all time. His top four are fairly predictable choices: baby shampoo, graham crackers (which he has “considered crushing” into his kids’ hair – no doubt to get high off mixing baby shampoo and graham crackers), suntan lotion and “baby head.”
When my daughter was born, a few friends came over the day we brought her home from the hospital. One friend in particular, a hilarious and oddball native New Yorker named Jenny, could not wait to sniff my brand-new baby’s tiny bald head. I didn’t quite understand the fascination, but I figured as long as she was supporting her neck whilst getting her fix, it was harmless – just another cute quirk of hers. I couldn’t grasp the level of aromatherapy Jenny experienced kissing my daughter with her nostrils, but in Hartlaub’s words, baby head is a powerful amalgam of ”talcum powder, sunshine and Christmas morning.” Makes me wish my nose worked better. Yes, I’m one of those allergy-ridden, rehabilitated former mouth-breathers. (Charmed, I’m sure.)
But the thing that intrigues me most about Hartlaub’s musings is that he confesses to liking the combined odor of “Cheerios and pee.” He says his audacious statement sparked “one of the most bitter comments section exchanges in The Poop history,” but what do readers expect on a blog called The Poop? Don’t worry, Peter, I can relate. I love the smell of baby poop. Continue reading »
Perusing the sunscreen aisle at the local pharmacy, I study the long lists of ingredients — avobenzone, oxybenzone, octisalate, diethylexyl, triethanolamineand — and shake my head. It’s confusing trying to decide which sunscreen to buy. Do I need to get my 5 and 8-year-old daughters ”baby” sunscreen? How much SPF should it have? And are there ingredients that could be dangerous in them?
Natural sunscreens are a lot more appealing since I can actually pronounce most of the ingredients. In fact, some of them sound good enough to eat (for example, organic macadamia nut, green tea extracts). But do they work as well? Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
10