Baby Boy And Mum Suffer Severe Rashes and Burns Due to Sunscreen

A baby boy was hospitalised after suffering severe rashes, while a mum was left in agony after her chest and stomach turned red and flaky, due to a sunscreen reaction.

Mum Jessie Swan, from Queensland, took to social media her complaints and to warn other parents about a Cancer Council Australia sunscreen that she says gave her baby a terrible rash.

Ms Swan said that her three-month-old son, Thomas, was in hospital for three days after a reaction to the 50+ Peppa Pig sunscreen range. She said that she was so upset that she took to the Cancer Council Australia Facebook page to warn other parents about the possible dangers of the charity’s product.

“This is my 3 month old son. He has not been in the sun, he was simply outdoors so I put screen on him just in case.

“We’ve been in hospital for 3 days, 2 nights so far trying to treat this horrible rash/burn caused by your 50+Peppa pig sunscreen.

“DO NOT BUY THIS SUNSCREEN. Please explain how your product could possibly do this?!” she wrote.

She also posted a photo of her baby, which has received a phenomenal reaction gaining more than 8,300 shares and over 3500 comments, mostly from parents who also experienced the same, which surprised her.

“I would expect maybe one or two comments about similar reactions, but I’m appalled by the amount of others who have gone through this. This can’t be right – a product aimed at children should be gentle and safe…

“This initial post was written in anger, and I really don’t want to slam the Cancer Council, I’ve always had no problems with them and believe in supporting a good cause. I just wanted to raise the awareness. I really hope this was a bad batch and little Tommy has unfortunately suffered, however the hundreds of others commenting is disheartening,” Ms Swan said.

Thankfully, Thomas was released from hospital on Tuesday and is slowly improving.

Meanwhile, another mum also complained about the product after she suffered second-degree burns due to the sunscreen.

Mum-of-two Kim Cancellier, 31, from Sydney, who is also Mrs Universe Australia, said she bought the Peppa Pig Cancer Council sunscreen and decided to test it on herself before putting it on her two daughters — a three-year-old and a five-year-old — and the next thing that happened devastated her.

“Instead of acting as a sunscreen and protecting me from the suns rays it had an opposite effect and turned me BRIGHT red, completely and utterly burnt,” Ms Cancellier said in her Facebook post.

“I went to trusty old Google to read reviews only to discover I’m not the only person who has had this issue.”

She said she was disgusted the sunscreen failed to protect her in the two hours she was in the sun at Dee Why beach last month. She added that as a result, she was forced to turn down work opportunities as her skin recovers from the serious burns doctors have said is likely from a chemical reaction.

The Cancer Council of Australia reached out to Ms Swan and Ms Cancellier and issued a statement on its Facebook page. It reads:

“As a cancer charity, Cancer Council’s focus is cancer prevention and awareness. We take the safety and effectiveness of our sunscreens very seriously and respond to all feedback regarding our products.

“This product has been on the market for a number of years. Since it was introduced more than 250,000 bottles have been sold. We have only received a very small number of complaints regarding this product, some of which related to issues with the function of the pump spray, not the sunscreen itself.

“We investigate all feedback regarding our sunscreen products individually. On some occasions, we conclude that there has been an allergic or chemical reaction to particular, but different, ingredients in the product this is why we always recommend doing a small patch test before applying any sunscreen to yourself or other family members.”

A spokesperson said its products are ‘strictly’ regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, were fully compliant and tested to ensure they exceed the SPF level advised on the bottle.

Sources: Kidspot.com.au, Au.news.yahoo.com, and Dailymail.co.uk