Anyone's child allergic to sunscreen?

DS is an outdoors kid and loves being outside and playing. So, obviously, we slip, slop, slap. We went away to the beach for a week in November and during that time, noticed red blotches appear on his face. My Mum said that children sometimes get a red rash when teething. I wasn't convinced, so just to be sure, I threw out the sunscreen we were using and bought a new one, which claims to be all natural (made my Natural Instincts).

We've been outside every day this week with DH being off on holidays, so DS has been wearing sunscreen. We always wash the sunsreen off in the bath after we come inside. Yesterday, DS woke up with red blotches on his cheeks and on his chin. It looks like a burn/eczema almost... I put some natural pawpaw ointment on it before he went to bed, but it hasn't made much difference.

Today, when getting him dressed, I noticed that he was red on his arms and legs too with slightly raised bumps. Everywhere the sunscreen had been. I gave him a bath and put Gaia moisturiser on him, as it looked dry and sore. That didn't really help, as now his skin is peeling off... actually, I think it made it worse.

I'm going to take him to the doctor on Monday, but for now... do you think he's allergic to sunscreen?

I'd love to hear from anyone who's had a similar experience.

TIA

its veryvery common.
i know natures cradle have a truely natural one,thet lots of people use when their bubs have issues.
HTH

Emily is. When we first put sunscreen on her at 3 months, the sunscreen literally ate at her skin. It was a mess. We ended up in hospital and they had to treat it there.
We've found natural based zinc's to be ok for her.

He could be, cos I am. The only one I am not allergic to is the cancer council one. All the others make me get sore red itchy rash.

My 3.5 year old is allergic to sunscreen, we have tried quite a few including the organic ones etc but have found he`s fine with the Avon Sunscreen, so that`s all we use now for everyone.

that`s exactly how Matthew`s symptoms were, we washed the sunscreen off straight away and when we trialled a new one we only tested it on a small part of him and if there any signs of redness it was washed straight off him, we also have phenergen on hand due to his other allergies and I think sometimes I used that to take the allergic reaction away.

But as I said Matthew`s fine with avon sunscreen, it`s just a matter of trial and error all children are different, good luck.

DD seemed to react as well, with small raised dots mainly face and arms, we are now using wotnot, not cheap but natural and organic without problems so far!! you dont need much either!! its zinc based too

DS comes up in a rash if I use anything other than skinsense zinc based sunscreen, and if I use anything with the chemical absorbers my skin breaks outinto cystic acne - so I can only use the skinsense zinc based on my face too.

wotnot is free from chemical absorbers!!! sounds like a very common problem!!

Wow... I'm shocked that so many people are allergic. Thank you so much for your replies.

The first one we used was the Cancer Coucil Toddler sunscreen. We'd used it from about 6 months and had no issue. He's now 18 months and all of a sudden started having issues.

He's got an appointment at the doctor on Wednesday. His skin has almost cleared right up, but I still want to discuss this with him. My poor little man. :(

DH thought that perhaps the sunscreen hadn't worked and that he'd just been burnt from the sun because he read on the tube after that it was to be applied 15 minutes before going in the sun. It takes us about that long to get it on him anyway, so I dismissed that idea. I truly believe that the sunscreen burnt him. And, when I put the moisturiser on, it made it worse.

Where do you buy wotnot from AJP?

i got it from my local health food shop, they sell a variety of natural ones!

Yes my DD has sensitive skin and even the toddler and baby sunscreens gave her a rash. I went to my local chemist and looked at all the ingredients in all the sunscreens they had on display and the one that had the least was Hamilton sensitive (not the toddler one. For some reason it has more ingredients). I bought it and my DD had no issues with it. This is what I continued to use. My SIL had issues with her daughters too and she bought the skin cancer council one and has had no issues with it.

Yep I'm mildly allergic too, get this burning sensation when I put the wrong sort on. Most definitely cannot use anything in with the old-style PABA ingredient.

What I can use is the ego sunsense range, plus any that are zinc-based not chemical-based.

Thanks so much for all the replies. I jumped on the Natures Cradle website (since I'm here in SA anyway) and they're revamping their sunscreen and are now selling Wotnot.

Luckily, I was able to buy it in my local health food store. It's a bit pricey ($25.99 a tube), but you can't put a price on your children's health. :) I put a couple test patches on his arms when he went to bed and he's had no reaction. So hopefully :crossfingers: we're on a winner and we won't have any more problems. I guess the real test will be his face. That seem to be where it reacts the most.

Thanks once again for all the great replies and suggestions!

its money well spent!!!!! and a little goes a long way