My 1 year old has a farmers tan!

[Anonymous]

I just realized that my one year old has the slightest farmers tan. Nothing dramatic, although his arms and legs are a little darker than the rest of his (quite fair) skin. I try to be diligent about sunscreen, but we tend to spend lots of time outside. Am I the worst mom ever?

[Anonymous]

God, I hope not, because mine does too - quite dramatic actually. I wouldn't worry about it - as long has he's not burning, it's probably not a bad thing for him to get a little vitamin D (which you cant really absorb through sunscreen).

[Anonymous]

We slather our 18 month old with sunscreen every time she goes outside, and she has a marked farmer's tan. Like - the folds of her neck are obviously white.

[Anonymous]

Mine's sporting a full-on tan, but he's 3. My goal is to prevent any type of burn, honestly. They are horrifically painful (at least for super-fair me they were, who turned as red as a tomato with huge fluid filled blisters covering my burns) and I don't want to let that happen to my child. So I guess I'm way worse than you because I don't mind the tan. I do use sunscreen, but I've never put it on more than once or twice around here. I am better at the beach or travelling to more tropical climates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine's sporting a full-on tan, but he's 3. My goal is to prevent any type of burn, honestly. They are horrifically painful (at least for super-fair me they were, who turned as red as a tomato with huge fluid filled blisters covering my burns) and I don't want to let that happen to my child. So I guess I'm way worse than you because I don't mind the tan. I do use sunscreen, but I've never put it on more than once or twice around here. I am better at the beach or travelling to more tropical climates.

That's once or twice a day....not all summer.

[Anonymous]

My DD is like me and tans no matter what. This season I've been putting Neutragena Baby SPF 60 on her and she is still getting a nice base. When I was little, my parents slathered on SPF 30 on me and I was nice and bronze by the end of the season.

[Anonymous]

LOL, my 10 month old does to and I'm anal mom - we don't keep him in the sun, under something when out, etc...my husband mentioned it yesterday as I'm so anal and refuse to tan as I don't want to wrinkle young.

[Anonymous]

Mine does too and we are also diligent with the SPF!

[Anonymous]

you should be happy... good job keeping his vit D levels up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you should be happy... good job keeping his vit D levels up

Well, I know that I'll sound like the party pooper here, but I'm a melanoma survivor, and I go and see my dermatologist four times a year. In short, all tans are damage to the skin. No one should be getting their vitamin D from the sun. Here's a link explaining it: http://www.skincancer.org/Vitamin-D/

My children are beginning to get tan lines too this summer, and I'm the first person to admit it looks cute. But given all the overwhelmingly positive posts here about children and their cute tans, I just wanted to very very respectfully remind everyone that melanoma cases are rising in younger and younger people in the U.S. - and that it kills. Ten years ago, my dermatologist rarely had patients my age - now it's common.

I hate being the party pooper, but rash guards and protective clothing and hats make a real difference, as does keeping my kids out of the sun from 10-4. And reapplying sunblock every half hour when kids are sweating or swimming. I know this isn't practical or possible all of the time, but I don't want anyone's cute children to grow up and have disfiguring surgery (like me) - or even to die from skin cancer.

Okay, off my soapbox now. Thanks for reading.

[Anonymous]

Another party pooper here. I agree with the PP's info. Sunblock is one part of sun protection--are you keeping your baby in shade (either by staying it or having it travel with you in the form of an extra stroller shade, hat, etc.?) My sister is a derm and they're having children under 10 now with melanoma they believe is caused from sun exposure. We spent a good amount of time outdoors, especially in the summer but year round and love it but I am super careful (and sunblock isn't enough). Physical cover is important.

[Anonymous]

Melanoma survivor, thanks for your thoughts and I'm glad you are doing well. That must have been really scary.

At the same time, while you keep thoughts like those at the forefront of your mind when going out in the sun, it's overkill to even joke about being "the worst mom ever" because your baby got a tan. Tans happen. I kept my then-6-month old in a full swim outfit with long sleeves and pants last summer on the beach, to the general eye-rolling of all of DH's family, AND kept sunscreen on him AND kept him in the shade as much as possible, and he STILL got a tan on his face, hands and feet. (the 50 spf swim wear did its job though). All you can do is your best.

[Anonymous]

My DS gets a tan on his little hands - we spray him with sunscreen everywhere else, but we don't want to do the hands because he immediately sticks them in his mouth. What does everyone else do about this?

[Anonymous]

Mine does too. At least it's a farmer's tan, meaning his shoulders are protected? I try to stay away from sleeveless shirts for this reason, and always do socks/sneakers.

DS doesn't do well with sunscreen, so we just do the best we can.

[Anonymous]

My kids wear skim trunks down to the knees, short-sleeved swim shirts, hats, and at least SPF 50. I also choose seats in the shade or under umbrellas when we go to the pool. I was pretty surprised to realize that they both have farmers tans! Especially on their arms, and their feet (from their swim shoes). Not sure what else I could do besides not allowing them to go in the sun at all...