Kids’ Sunscreen: Which Brands Can You Trust?

When my son was just five months old, the heat wave came. In South Carolina, where we live, it was in the 90s that May. We desperately wanted to play in the pool outdoors. Like most moms, I dutifully made my way to the local baby store to purchase sunscreen for my little angel. Babies have very sensitive skin and I wanted to protect all of his cute little pink rolls. Did I mention he had the cutest neck rolls? I just love fat babies!

I was alarmed to discover that all the sunscreen bottles contained warnings about using with children under six months of age. I bought the most natural version I could find, thinking that had to be better than UV rays, and called the pediatrician to check.  To my surprise, he said that children's skin, especially that of a baby under six months, is very permeable and my little guy shouldn't be in a chlorinated pool or wearing sunscreen not designed for babies before six months.

That May, my son sported a long sleeved UV protective outfit for swimming and a wide brimmed hat. We were content with splashing in a tiny inflated pool in our back yard until he got a little bigger. Then, I trekked back to the store for appropriate sunscreen.

Check out any neighborhood pool this time of year and you'll hear kids complaining as moms lather pasty sunscreen onto their skin before they are allowed to go play in the water. It's what we moms do, we try to protect them the best way we know how. But what if our sunscreen isn't actually helping as much as it's hurting? What if the brand we thought we could trust isn't really that great? Which sunscreen is really the best for our kids?

Find out which ones made the cut and which ones you need to avoid on the next page.

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