The startling truth: Sunbathing for babies, both wrong and dangerous

In the world there is no recommendation for sunbathing or sun exposure for children. In addition, sun exposure to children in big cities can cause children to inhale the amount of dust and pollution that seriously affects their health.

MSc Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, Department of Neonatology, Children's Hospital 2, said jaundice is a common problem in newborns, due to indirect bilirubin (bile pigments) in the blood . Mild jaundice is physiological jaundice (children with jaundice in the first 2 weeks after birth, do not combine other unusual symptoms, children still breastfeed well, gain weight, go yellow stool .). Children will gradually get rid of themselves without lighting.

The concept of sunbathing for children who can cure jaundice is wrong.

For pathological jaundice, children often show jaundice appear soon after birth, the level of dark jaundice, the whole body down to the soles of the feet, if the neurological effects of children will have unusual symptoms: lethargic, quitting, crying, contracting, breathing. In the case of children with pathological jaundice, they must be prescribed lighting and may have to change their blood if the indirect bilirubin index is too high to affect the brain, especially in children and mothers disagree on good ABO blood type. Rhesus.

According to Dr. Kim Anh, the concept of sunbathing for children can cure jaundice is wrong and can be dangerous for children because they are not treated promptly. The nature of sunbathing is to make it easier for parents to see that their child's skin color has changed, unable to repel the disease.

If pathological jaundice is not detected and treated promptly, it may cause a child with neurotoxic complications (also called jaundice) because bilirubin indirectly penetrates into the brain, resulting in death of the child. or suffer from cerebral palsy for life."Therefore, in order to identify children with physiological or pathological jaundice, parents need to bring their children to BV with pediatric specialties to be examined, tested and treated promptly for children ," Dr. Kim Anh recommended.

Agreeing with the above point of view, Dr. Nguyen Tri Toan, Head of Victoria Healthcare's Pediatrics Department, said: ' In order to supplement vitamin D for children, in the sun, there must be type B ultraviolet rays (UVB rays). , when there is sunshine in the morning before 10 am and after 3 pm there is no UVB rays. That is sunbathing, early morning sun exposure is useless ".

In the world there are no recommendations for sunbathing or sun exposure for children.

Dr. Toan said that if he wants to give his child sunbathing to synthesize vitamin D, he must give him sunbathing from the frame at 10 am to 3 pm, however the level of UVB, UVA rays in the above time frame is very toxic to the skin. can burn, increase the risk of skin cancer, aging skin wrinkles later. For young children, especially infants, very thin skin, the skin protection system is very poor, so the risk is much higher.