How to Make Sunscreen for Your Baby at Home

Hi, Readers!

Welcome back to our blog space. Here is an article on one of the most sought after topics by every doting mother out there. Mothers are always taking that extra step to make sure their children are well protected from anything and everything that might seem like a threat to their little ones.

One of those concerns is the type of sunscreen they need to use for their kids. Children spend most of their free time playing outside in the garden or parks. Swimming also happens to be one of their favorite past times.

There is a wide range of opinions and suggestions revolving around the interest of sunscreens. Some prefer the easily available sunscreens from different brands in the market while others indulge in preparing customized homemade sunscreens.

In your further reading, I have tried to bring together the methods of preparing homemade sunscreens along with its perks. I chose to write about the homemade sunscreens because I swear by any homemade product!

First and foremost, let us look into some basic skin protection tips for your baby.

How to Stay Protected From Sun Tanning

• Try to avoid exposing your baby’s skin to the sun during the late morning and early afternoon hours as the rays are hottest during this period.
• If going out during this period is unavoidable, take necessary measures such as dressing your baby in loose, light colored clothes that cover most of the sensitive skin.
• Never forget to take an umbrella to shield your little one even if it’s just a small walk during midday hours.
• Try to create an organic garden, even if it is a small one to provide shade and fresh air for your baby for recreation hours.

SPF Content of Natural Products

Now, the next step is to protect your skin by consistently using the right kind of sunscreen with SPF. SPF, as most of us already know, is the measure of Sun Protection from UVB rays, which contribute to most types of skin cancers and sunburns. There has always been an argument about the SPF of homemade sunscreen from natural products.

Well, in my opinion, this is no rocket science. We can easily estimate the SPF of most of the natural ingredients that we will use for sunscreen. To make it easier for you, I have listed below the SPF of some of the staples for a sunscreen.

• Almond Oil:
  It is widely used to give massages to babies. Extracted from almond seed, this is a perfect sunscreen for babies with a mild SPF of around 5. This will simultaneously allow the skin to take in the sunlight required to synthesize Vitamin D.
• Coconut Oil:
  The SPF of coconut oil ranges between 4 and 6, depending on various factors. The advantage of using coconut oil is that it provides the right amount of protection within a pocket-friendly budget. Coconut oil is much cheaper than almond oils.
• Red Raspberry Seed Oil:
  This is one of the lesser known natural sunscreens you can get your hands on. Even though I feel the SPF of this particular oil which ranges between 25 and 50 is a bit too much for babies, you can use the low concentration version.
• Carrot Seed Oil:
  The same opinion goes for the carrot seed oil as well because it also has an SPF of 35–40. But hands down, it does great justice to the purpose in consideration.
• Shea Butter:
  The SPF lies between 4 and 6, which is just enough for your baby.

Now let us move on to the most important part: Preparing the DIY sunscreens.

Ingredients for Preparing Homemade Sunscreen for Your Babies Skin

The following are the ingredients we will use for making the sunscreen:

• Individual oils:
  We will require 1 oz. of almond oil as a primary ingredient. If you are on a budget, you can opt either for 1 oz. of coconut oil or mix both coconut and almond oil in equal proportions making up to 1 oz.
• Essential oils:
  Essential oils are of many types. The ones I prefer are the lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint essential oils. We will need a total of 30 drops of these oils. The best ratio is 3:2:1 of lavender, eucalyptus and peppermint oils respectively. ( i.e., 15 drops of lavender oil, ten drops of eucalyptus and five drops of peppermint oil)
• Zinc Oxide:
  The non-Nano size zinc oxide acts as a non-toxic, non-irritating, effective broad spectrum sunblock, thus providing the best protection against harmful rays. The particles stiffly hold on to the outermost layer of your skin, absorbing and scattering UVB and UVA rays. This is highly effective in protecting the inner layers of skin as well. A small container of the zinc oxide will last for years. I recommend a 5% labeled zinc oxide as to SPF ranges between 2 and 5.
• Other oils:
  We need 0.1 oz. of either of sunflower, sesame or jojoba oil.
• Shea Butter:
  The next ingredient we require is 0.8 oz. of Shea butter.

Preparation Process of Sunscreen at Home

• Add the individual oils, Shea butter and either of sunflower, sesame or jojoba oil to a makeshift double boiler.
• You can easily make your double boiler by a placing a Pyrex cup in a small pot consisting of a few inches of water.
• Heat the mixture in the double boiler until it thoroughly melts and forms a uniform mixture.
• Now cover your face with a mask that closes your mouth and nose as well to refrain from breathing the fine particles of zinc oxide.
• Measure and add the zinc oxide along with the other ingredients listed above to the Pyrex cup.
• Stir well to form a uniform mixture. Put it in a dark container. Place it in the refrigerator when not using.

Things You Should Know About Using a Sunscreen

• Use the sunscreen laboriously every few hours.
• Increase the frequency of your baby sweats a lot.
• The shelf life of the sunscreen is about six months when placed in the refrigerator.

In addition to these homemade sunscreens, you can also use fruits for healthy baby skin by simply giving small massage to your baby using fresh fruit peels like that of banana.

Hope reading the article was informative and worth your time!

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Originally published at www.babygogo.in on August 30, 2017.