It’s that time of year again where you’ll need to start lathering up the kids and avoid those nasty sunburns and ward off cancer risk years into the future.  The problem is, you may not be getting what you paid for – and you may actually be harming your children in the process.  While I don’t subscribe to every naturo-whack news article on how everything man-made is a scheme or evil, but based on multiple studies I’ve seen from legitimate sources, there are in fact many sunscreens on the market that should be avoided.

The most prominent recent report comes from the Environmental Working Group in their 2010 sunscreen report.

Some notable sunscreen findings:

• While many sunscreens prevent sunburns, that may be little help in warding off dangerous rays or even harming you due to presence of other chemicals.
• The FDA can’t even back up the claims of manufacturers: “FDA is not aware of data demonstrating that sunscreen use alone helps prevent skin cancer”…sunscreens should not be the first choice for skin cancer prevention and should not be used as the sole agent for protection against the sun” (IARC 2001a).
• Overuse of sunscreen can actually impeded your body’s ability to produce vitamin D – the law of unintended consequences.
• The vitamin A that many brands have in their formulations has recently been found to be harmful in animal studies and may actually increase your risk of cancer (source)

The Best Sunscreens:

Aside from actual clothing and hats which are your best bet, when going full monty, the report suggests the following as top picks for combination of effectiveness with safety in mind as well:

All Terrain
Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30
TerraSport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30
KidSport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30

Badger
Sunscreen for Face and Body, Unscented, SPF 30
Sunscreen for Face and Body, SPF 30 Lightly Scented
Sunscreen for Face and Body, SPF 15 Lightly Scented

Beyond Coastal
Lip and Face Screen, SPF 30

California Baby
Sunblock Stick No Fragrance, SPF 30+
Sunscreen Lotion No Fragrance, SPF 30+
Sunscreen Lotion Everyday/Year-Round, SPF 30+
Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30+, Citronella
Sunblock Stick Everyday/Year-Round, SPF 30+

Caribbean Solutions
Natural/Biodegradable SolGuard, SPF 25
Sol Kid Kare Natural Sunscreen, SPF 25

Desert Essence
Age Reversal SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen

Episencial
Sunny Sunscreen, SPF 35

Estion
Sunscreen with Zinc, SPF 38

Jason Natural Cosmetics
Sunbrellas: Mineral Based Physical Sunblock, SPF 30+
Sunbrellas: Chemical Free Sunblock, SPF 30+
Earth’s Best: Sunblock Mineral Based, SPF 30+

Kabana Skin Care
Green Screen Organic Sunscreen Fragrance Free, SPF 20
Green Screen Organic Sunscreen, SPF 22, Skin Tone Tinted

L’uvalla Certified Organic
SPF 20 Sunscreen Face/Body

La Roche-Posay
Anthelios 40 Sunscreen Cream

Little Forest
Sunscreen Lotion For Babies and Kids, SPF 30+

Loving Naturals
Sunscreen, SPF 30+

Miessence
Reflect Outdoor Balm, SPF 15

Purple Prairie Botanicals
SunStuff, SPF 30
Sun Stick, SPF 30
SunStuff, SPF 15

Soleo Organics
All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+
Soleo Organics/Wyland Organics All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+
Soleo Organics/Atlantis Resort All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+

thinkbaby and thinksport
Sunscreen, SPF 30+

Trukid
Sunny Days Face and Body Stick, SPF 30+

UV Natural
Baby Sunscreen, SPF 30+
Sunscreen Sport, SPF 30+
Sunscreen, SPF 30+

Vanicream
Sunscreen Sport, SPF 35

There are other criteria; the list above looked at the popular sport category.  I was surprised to see that major brand names didn’t make the list, but in looking at major brands like Coppertone, many of them got an intermediate ranking, so at least they weren’t on the worst-list.  But forward this around, it’s a good independent resource to protect your kids from the dangers of both the sun and chemical exposure.

I’ll be the first to admit that neither I or my children have perfect diets.  We practice “everything in moderation” as opposed to the extreme rigidity of some of our friends where everything has to be 100% organic, absolutely no processed foods, nothing in a box, no additives, no fun stuff like ice cream, etc.  However, at the other end of the spectrum is a growing majority in America.  If you look around, there are a lot of overweight kids – a much higher proportion than I recall seeing when I grew up.  And once you put on the weight it’s extremely difficult to take it off.
So, we do worry about our kids, especially one of our sons who started off with some pretty severe gastro issues stemming from a premature birth.  He still hasn’t come around and is a very picky eater.  Unfortunately, he tends to favor snacks like crackers, cookies and sweets over fresh fruits and vegetables if given the choice.  So, we’ve come up with some general guidelines and tricks in an effort to ensure he has the best shot at a healthy stature as he matures, which has lifelong implications:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup – We cut this out everywhere we can.  Virtually all boxed foods, even if they’re not known as “sweets”, have high fructose corn syrup.  This stuff’s just plain nasty.  Not only does your body not metabolize it the same as natural sugars, but it actually has a different response in the brain while eating.  Ever notice when you’re eating that bag of snacks you could just go on forever and keep digging in?  When you’re ingesting high fructose corn syrup, it tricks your body into not sending/processing the same signal that signifies that you’re getting full and you just keep eating it.  It’s nasty, it’s tricky, and it’s likely one of the primary factors in the current obesity epidemic in America.
• Fresh Fruits and Vegetables – We try and have fresh food in the fridge at all times to ensure we don’t have to resort to the packaged stuff if the kids are hungry or something happens with the timing of dinner or we take a road trip or whatever.  Even if it’s the same thing (my one son will eat apples all day), it’s way better than a bag of snackfood.
• Tricking Your Kids – Since our picky eater only eats apples, we trick him into eating other stuff with none other than…the freezer!  For instance, he won’t eat blueberries.  We wanted to get a little diversity in his diet, so my wife tried freezing them.  Now, these frozen blueberries for some reason were some sort of dessert or snack to him.  Even though it’s the same food, he was much more receptive to it.
• Making Our Own Baby Food – As I’d highlighted in this article on homemade baby food it’s both healthy and a huge money saver for the first year or so of our daughter’s life.  And it’s easy!
• Avoid the Juice Drinks! – While many juice drinks say “all natural” on the label, it’s often not actually “natural ingredients” by any rational person’s definition.  When you read the label, you see all the added ingredients, not to mention that juice is SUGAR! While eating an apple or strawberry is eating a natural sugar, if your kid’s sipping on juices all day instead of water, they’re ingesting way more sugar than they need.  Not to mention, it’s also bad for their teeth.  We have a few friends whose kids have already had multiple cavities and EVEN A ROOT CANAL for a 3 year old.  Their kids drink juice in a sippy cup around the clock.

There are surely some other tips and tricks and I’d love to hear them.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a diet blog and our kids aren’t freako-natural, but there are some reasonable limits that parents can set and easy to implement changes to childrens’ diets that can ensure they at least have a decent shot at a healthy life in adulthood.  I’m realizing now in my thirties just how difficult it is to take off a few pounds.  Imagine starting off as a teenager 50 pounds overweight!

So, my wife recently brought our child in for a “consultation” for the doctor to take a look at his adenoids.  Long story short, he’s a mouth breather and has some speech issues, so it was advised that the doctor take a look and see if his adenoids were swollen and whether we should consider surgery to correct if so, which might improve both his breathing and his speech. 

Pretty easy to understand, right? 

Apparently, not for the staff.  Upon arrival, my wife and child were banished to the “sick” side.  Nowadays, the doctors offices have the healthy/sick sides.  I get it.  Doctors’ offices are chock full ‘o germs…coughing kids, runny noses, sneezes, right?  So, that’s why it’s especially infuriating that the receptionist mandated that my wife and child sit on the “sick” side. 

My wife said, “Well, he’s not sick.  He’s actually just here for the doctor to take a look at his adenoids.  He has no illness whatsoever.” 

The receptionist, clearly being unable to voluntarily process information on her own said, “Sorry, if he’s not here for a ‘well-visit’, then he’s sick”. 

My wife: “You’re clearly not understanding me, so I’m just going to wait here on the healthy side because he’s clearly not sick and you must be misunderstanding why we’re here”.

This went on for a while…the receptionist refused to call my wife for the appointment unless she was “on the sick side”.  Clearly, not only was the woman a bit conversationally challenged, but she also had a power trip going now.  After this charade ensued for a bit, my wife was finally escorted into one of the waiting rooms. 

Today, my wife got a call from her friend who uses the same doctor’s office.  Her child had an ear infection a few weeks ago.  After the regiment of antibiotics + 1 week, it was recommended that she bring her daughter back to see the doctor to confirm the infection cleared up.  They put her through the same ordeal.  Her friend had said her child was no longer sick, never was, really, but that the ear infection’s been gone for weeks.  The same party line: “If it wasn’t a well visit, clearly the child was sick”.

While somewhat trivial, seeing as how this was a new doctor’s office and she’d be encountering similar situations in the future, she commented to the nurse how this stance didn’t really make any sense – logically, medically, or otherwise.  Immediately going into defensive mode, the nurse quipped that “unvaccinated babies have to be protected from sick children”. 

Now, you have an actual trained medical professional who doesn’t know what the heck they’re talking about. 

Medical NewsFlash: Ear Infections are not Contagious…and there is no vaccine for them either!

If you want to split hairs, sometimes, an ear infection is accompanied by a cold, which may be transmittable (another news flash – there is no vaccine for rhinovirus ‘common cold virus’ either), but in this case, the child had been healthy for 2 weeks now and was simply in for a checkup, so clearly, there was no higher likelihood to transmit any vaccine-preventable disease than any other person. 

The best part:  My wife had switched to this doctor’s office because of the rave reviews and her own initial assessment after interviewing the doctor.

So, the question is: Is this another example of bureacratic stupidity gone wild?  Do these invisible separations between sick and healthy really accomplish much other than frustrate parents with healthy children?

Well, our 4 year old has has croup; it’s essentially a nasty cough due to swelling of the vocal chords.  What we’ve observed is that while it facilitates wakefulness at night and crying for mommy at the most inopportune time just as we fall back asleep, it has done nothing to deter wrestling, thievery of toys and other forms of intimidation toward his younger brother.  To add insult to injury, the family dog threw up all over the foyer and while running an errand tonight, I stepped in dog poo in a parking lot. It’s really been quite a day.

There is no vaccine for croup specifically, as it can be caused by any one of a number of viruses including RSV and influenza.  Unless vaccinated for one of the underlying causes, you cannot eradicate croup per se.  In our case, the doctor prescribed some steroids, but advised to only fill the prescription and take if needed due to difficulty breathing.  This is fine by me, as children (I know the 2 year old will have it soon) are ill-equipped to deal with side-effects, and while I’m not a holistic wacko, I do my best to limit exposure to any kind of pharmaceutical or OTC medication that isn’t absolutely necessary.  It only took a few decades for the FDA to finally come around and recommend against most cough medicines for toddlers and infants since it doesn’t actually benefit anyone but the parents that want to sleep a little better, while presenting significant risk to the children.