I am a red-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned woman. My arms and face are covered with freckles.  I have been sunburned more times than I can count.  After college, I started avoiding the sun which was made easier since I was no longer surrounded by all of the college pool parties and lake weekends. As I have gotten older, I have hidden from the sun more and more.  I’m pretty sure I went 3-4 years in a row without visiting a pool, lake or beach.  I purposefully pick out foundations that have sunscreen in them to help add an additional layer of protection.  Every year I go to the dermatologist to have her check me over for spots that could indicate skin cancer.  I think it is fair to say that I had become paranoid about sun damage to my skin.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2017.  I had just given birth to my first child, a beautiful little boy when I noticed a spot on my back that wouldn’t heal.  I couldn’t really remember when it had showed up but I knew that it had been there too long for comfort.  I scheduled an appointment with my dermatologist, where I was diagnosed with a Basal Cell Carcinoma.

There are far worse varieties of skin cancer out there.  Generally speaking, Basal Cell Carcinomas are non malignant cancers (they don’t spread elsewhere in the body) that appear as red or pink open wounds or scars.  It is the most commonly diagnosed skin cancer, with 4 million cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year.  Hearing all of that did not change the immediate panic that I felt hearing that I (wtf, bad things do not happen to me!!!) had skin cancer.  The good news is that my doctor was able to remove the entire lesion on my back and prescribed me a lifelong schedule of being checked every 6 months.

How has my experience affected my decisions as a mother?  A lot. I consider it my mission to protect my son’s skin from any and all unavoidable sun damage.  This does not mean that he lives indoors or in a bubble but it does mean that we make a conscious effort to avoid direct sunlight.  Here are the things that we do:

1. Hats

   My son wears a hat anytime that he is outside.  Sometimes he is less cooperative but for the most

   

   part, he knows that the hat means that it is playtime and is therefore more than willing to let me put it on him.   Our favorite hat is this one that we found on Amazon.  Large brim, neck coverage, comes in a ton of color options and it snaps under his chin so he is less likely to remove the hat.  It also folds up nicely so it can fit right into my diaper bag so we are never without it!

2. Sunscreen

   Anytime we go outside, any exposed sun gets slathered in sunscreen.  Our favorite is Blue Lizard SPF 30+ sunscreen for babies.  He is a daycare baby 4 days a week, so we also have a bottle at daycare for any and all recess times.

3. Pants

   We live in the South but that doesn’t stop us from wearing long pants throughout most of the year.  Clothing provides more sun protection than sunscreen ever will.  He doesn’t tolerate long sleeves as well, which is why we go with the pants instead.  If it is a REALLY hot day and we are going to be outside for a longer duration, then yes, he wears shorts (I’m not completely mad!).

4. Full coverage swim wear

   

   

   There are a ton of long-sleeved rash guards on the market, but fewer swimwear options with long pants.  Sunscreen washes off pretty quickly when submerged in water and other than our backyard pool, most pools are in direct sunlight. Whether we are at a lake, public pool or an inflatable pool in the backyard, we go with full coverage swimwear and swim shoes to cover every inch of his skin.   Plus, I think he looks freaking adorable in his swim get-up! Swimsuit can be found here, and swim shoes here.

5. We play in the shade

   We have been very mindful in where we play in our backyard.  We built the swing set in the shade.  We have the sandbox in the shade.  Our backyard is surrounded by trees so that area is shady for most of the day.  During the small part of the day that it isn’t shady, we don’t go outside.  I had to adjust the brightness of his pool photo in this post dramatically to make his face slightly visible in the photo.

You might think that I am ridiculous or you might completely agree with me.  Once your skin is damaged by the sun, you can’t reverse that damage.  As my son grows up, he will reach a point that I don’t get to make every decision for him. He will likely make choices that don’t always keep him protected from sun damage.  That’s why I am so over the top with avoiding any unnecessary sun damage now, while protecting him from sun damage is completely in my control. These habits we are making now, may even turn into lifelong choices for him (fingers crossed). Nothing that we are doing to protect him from the sun have affected how much he plays during the day or have decreased his happiness levels but they have set him up for a lifetime of healthier skin.

 

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