Dear Doctor Mama,

I’m trying to choose a natural sunscreen for my kids but I’ve heard that even some of the ones in the health food stores aren’t always safe. Are there some ingredients that I should stay away from or are there any brands that you could recommend?

Thank you!

Denise in RI

jocelynsart (flickr)

Hi Denise,

I come across the same problem every year. My favorite sunscreen, made by Dr. Hauschka, was discontinued a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve been searching for something that’s both safe and effective.

Last year, I went with one that I found at Whole Foods. The brand was recommended by the Environmental Working Group, but I didn’t write down the name of the specific sunscreen that had the high safety rating from the group. Instead, I assumed that any product from that company was o.k.

Wrong.

I coated my kids unknowingly with toxic chemicals for most of the summer.

Since then, I’ve revisited the EWGs Skin Deep database many times to try to find an acceptable sunscreen.

Here’s the lowdown.

AVOID these sunscreen ingredients: