‘My daughter had a weirdly, rapidly progressing sunburn. We couldn’t figure out why, until we realized it wasn’t a sunburn.’: Mom shares PSA on harmful sunscreens 

“I’ve debated sharing this for over a week, but I feel like it’s important because it’s something I wish I had known.

Two Saturdays ago, I thought C had a weirdly, rapidly progressing sunburn.

That day, we applied and reapplied sunscreen as instructed and made her take breaks in the shade. We couldn’t figure out why she was so much worse than the rest of us…until we found out it wasn’t a sunburn—it was a chemical reaction to the sunscreen. Her burn is considered lucky in comparison.

I’m not here to call brands out.

I’m not here to tell you to run to your cabinets and throw away all the sunscreen you currently have.

I’m definitely not here to tell you not to protect your skin.

I’m just here to say, please, do your research.

Not all sunscreens marketed for babies and children are actually safe, and the most popular brands typically rank worst when you start looking into it.

I didn’t take pictures of the blisters because I was, honestly, so embarrassed I had let this happen to my baby (even though I know, in reality, I didn’t do anything wrong). Instead, this photo was taken 4 days after.

Now that I’ve done quite a bit of research, it’s obvious these companies know this is happening (I mean, they’re being sued, you guys) and are unwilling to change the chemicals they use because it would be expensive and doesn’t happen to the majority.

Let me say that again:

This won’t happen to the majority of kids…but just because they don’t have a severe reaction doesn’t mean it’s okay for them to use, especially long-term. That’s like saying just because you didn’t have a wreck today, you don’t need to buckle your kids in anymore.

For every item on the market, there’s a person out there who’s had a reaction of some kind.

I’m not oblivious to that fact.

Mixing chemicals into a popular product doesn’t make them safe. We would never go pick these chemicals up from the store and rub them directly on our kids.

We can’t protect them from everything, but I feel like this is something that needs to be common knowledge.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Megan Doss. You can follow her journey on Instagram. Submit your own story here and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

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